The Incredible Lightness of Spirit

"Become sensitive to lightness of spirit." ~ Melody Beattie*

I am in the ballpark, most days. Cheerfulness, lightness, "wearing life like a loose garment" seem to come easier to me now than at any point in my past, including childhood. Chalk it up to a certain maturity, I hope, that frequently comes with passing 50, but also to a definite change of thinking in recent years. For that, I owe much gratitude to a certain subset of friends, and to God as I understand God.

Days like this, a just-right warm June day with a light breeze, blogging from my back yard, the Boyer Babbling Brook singing backup to a windy lead vocal, lightness is stroll-in-the-park easy. But what about those days when the bills are screaming to be paid and the committee in my head are merely screaming for the hell of it?

Ah, there's the challenge. But Ms. Beattie's insights often enlighten me and so I shall endeavor to follow today's advice next time heaviness doesn't just knock but knocks down the door to my mind.

I now have another weapon -- a higher notch on my inner awareness post -- with which to defend my mental castle. I shall let go of the heaviness, listen better to the brook, launch a more fervent prayer for help, and try a little harder to lighten up. It's not that I wasn't aware of the concept before, but good writers/thinkers who speak to me have a marvelous ability to succinctly state what I could only previously grasp as a vague idea.

Any day, every day, can be as good as I allow it to be.


* Melody Beattie, "The Language of Letting Go."