WAS talking to a friend of mine the other day and he said, “Sometimes Bob, as I walk in the park, I feel a deep sense of joy! It just comes on me, and for no particular reason, and all I want is to hold on to it and not let it go away!”
I pondered on what he had said as I walked in the same park this morning. Was it the stillness of nature that gave him this incredibly happy feeling? Was it the lovely shades of green that were so different from one tree to another? Was it the duck that was swimming so contentedly in the pond?
Though these scenes were pleasant enough and did make me feel relaxed, still there was no feeling of great happiness on seeing a duck swimming or different shades of green! What was it, I wondered.
I looked at the sky above, the trees that had started gently swaying with the wind, I stared at a squirrel running so carefree from branch to branch, at two birds hopelessly in love with each other and even glanced at couples in the park, walking hand in hand. Where was this great incredible feeling of joy? Nowhere could it be found.
Suddenly I stopped looking, and as I walked I felt the joy my friend had talked about, it enveloped me like a mist creeping up from a valley below and engulfed me with it’s sheer feeling of light-headedness. What had I seen that this joy had come on me?
I looked at the sky, the trees, and the loving couples, but I knew it had not come from any of them. And then the thought came to me with a jolt; the feeling had sprung from inside me. The happiness I was looking for had come from within. All I had done was still myself, and suddenly the sweetest most beautiful feeling cocooned me completely.
I then wondered what I would have to do to see that this feeling remained, and found that I had to do nothing but enjoy it. Enjoy the feeling of being alive, enjoy the feeling of joy within. Don’t look for reasons. There are none, it is just as if your soul within you exudes waves of sheer joy.
I then found that if one lived in this joy, one did not get upset with the irritating situations of everyday life. A little later in the morning, my huge German-Shepherd pulled at his chain and nearly made me fall, “Okay,” I told him, “Be a little careful with your old master!” My dog looked at me quizzically and I could hear his dog wheels churning, “What’s with this new act?” No act, but waves of joy springing from deep within..!
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
