Wide Awake Living Newsletter

by Alice Gardner

My Journey into

Laughter!

Yes LAUGHTER!

Somehow a point has been passed where now everything going on in this wild world of ours just makes me want to laugh heartily at the extremity of it all.

What else is there to do?

I know that is not a reasonable argument to make for laughter, but seriously, what are our alternatives? Shall we rush out and stabilize the economy? Shall we all send our cars to the junkyard to stop global warming? Are you laughing yet?

We are not talking about nervous laughter here, based on fear of catastrophe. We are talking about the possibility of right-from-the-belly enjoyment of our predicament, our inability to make things "right" and the break-up of all of our pat answers and predicable outcomes.

Are you objecting that perhaps we could make some headway on things such as the loss of the glaciers or the rate of extinctions if we got deadly serious and tried harder? An good argument can be made that we really must take more of the right actions to set things right in the world, if we can just figure out what they are.

It is worth noticing however, that even when we are laughing, we can still do those things that are within our power to accomplish. Can't we? The most arduous tasks are lightened by laughter and playfulness. Enjoyment of our predicament in no way hampers our ability to take appropriate action when we do see what our own contribution can be.

The bottom line: are we all going to die? Yup. There is truly no escaping it. We all end up there sooner or later anyway, so lets take the journey in good spirits and enjoy the ride. What a ride it is!! People just love to go to scary movies or maybe to go to the amusement park and ride the roller coaster. This is just the real-life variety! Enjoy it fully--we are on the ride of our lives!

Morning

Sunlight touching treetops,
Birds awakening.
Morning rises after night
With a constancy and grace.

While politics swirl
Conflicts rage, economies teeter
Hurricanes roar,
Morning dawns over all
Without apology or praise
But with simple welcoming
Of all that is lit
By its presence.

What kind of love
Embraces this wild world
With such a welcome?
What love is this, that
Contains such
Darkness and strife
When the world
Refuses to conform
To our demands for
Outer peace,
And then wraps us
In such wonder
And grace?

Fear, war, starvation,
And so much else
Are included in the
Grace of morning light
On a darkened world.

In the light’s first
Touch of a leaf
There is something that
Embraces all of what we are
And includes us
In the full circle
Of life as it is.
We see that we are
Something whole
And seamless,
And perfect.

The heart of each morning
Offers with outstretched hands,
An expansion, a release
Out off our self-made prisons
Into a world ruled by a love
That excludes nothing,
A love we can trust,
A love at peace
With all things.

Even this, and this, and
Especially and
Whole-heartedly
This.

by Alice Gardner © 2008

If you wish to explore the above subjects further, visit my blog (where the articles also get posted) and make comments, and/or consider purchasing my book on Amazon.

The book Life Beyond Belief, Everyday Living as Spiritual Practice may also be something that you would like to consider as a holiday gift for the spiritually oriented people in your circle. See the reviews On Amazon, if you would like to consider it.
Blessings, as ever,
Alice

PS-If the formatting of this newsletter is messed up for anyone, please let me know and please tell me what email program you are using to look at it. Thank you. Alice

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