no dead cats: finding your curiosity tribe

SEEKING Peace  & Joy

Hello it’s me again—that  is I will be using a lot of personal pronouns like in the previous post and like all the posts I am only claiming. These are the thoughts that  create the compas I use to travel by...and if these ideas become part of your compass or “you are here” marks on your map then by all means they are yours to use and share.  

With this I  titled. This entry. No dead Cats”—Building a curious tribe—to follow up on the idea of being. Brave enough to  state “I don’t Know.   

What Killed the cat?  Look I am the first to admit I am  not a cat person, however, the idiom /saying curiosity  killed the cat” is just plain dangerous.   Seeking  peace and joy is an active  process that  is enhanced by experimenting and connecting with others in multiple sets of circumstances.  Killing  Curiosity is a  sure-fire  barrier to growth of knowledge, wisdom, sharing, the building of community, and that’s only the  tip of a very ugly iceberg.  Any system or individual who discourages curious minds and souls is saying in no uncertain terms.  Don’t question the status quo which I either agree with or control.  This is a power  thing not a well-being thing.  Someone who  tells you of this cat-killing is not truly concerned about. You at all.   

You see ideas and questions might be thought of as  “cogs” in the Peace and joy machine.  If you have an idea. It spins and your outreach are the  little sprocket things (technical  term) that can link into someone else’s idea or questions and  thus create a larger thought/question/creativity/action engine.  Taking out the curiosity gears significantly reduces the  utility of  ideas and creative abilities.   Your curiosity might be the link between two ideas or an idea and an action etc.... 

Finding a Curiosity Tribe

Well step one is declaring your curiosity by answering your call to question  ideas that  are being  placed in front of you.  No you don’t need to be a conspiracy. Theorists of the world’s  greatest skeptic... you do have to wonder. Out loud when you come across something that makes you wonder.  Those people who  are willing to enhance or enlarge your questions before  providing ‘THE  answer you need are likely members of a curiosity tribe.  The point is if you demonstrate  the willingness to risk asking questions then you make the leap and the net will appear.

Next, ask people what they read...No this is not a singles bar... however. Think about this a second.   Reading requires a commitment. To obtain materials, time to  read them, and respects that the topic is  not likely a flash in the pan.  You are not likely to read about the video that has gone viral, especially. A book about it.  You are seeking people who are committed  to questioning  and spending time to  enhance their.knolwledge.   

Seek out folks who ask questions for a living... even if the purpose for these questions is not always  the generation of wisdom.   Take for example social workers, teachers, real estate agents, medics, and law enforcement officers.  They may have a purpose in their questioning, however if you have  a question that intrigues them they become a strong (if temporary)  member of your curiosity tribe.   A key question to ask them is “other than (insert professional stuff) what do you  have interests in or  how do you spend your time?  You see some people naturally  know the power of curiosity whether they. Realize it is a whole different story.  

Use social media... 

Not to provide answers...like I’m doing here... but to share the questions you have... and the ideas and connections you make.  Sharing odd connections is a way to ask “so here’;s a connection I maker—what connections do you make?”   

Then listen!!! 

Oh and observe in group settings who else is listening.   Who can’t wait to add to the  conversation so much that they stop listening?   Or even more who has to. Be the “topper”?   You all know  people who are the. Topper...they have to have had the craziest time, the most to drink, the best car, the worst injuries, and they have to let as many people know about it as is possible.  Toppers are not  generally great curiosity tribe. Members.  

Finally, make sure you spend  some time around childsren on a regular basis if possible.  many children are curosity experts and seek information and sask questions a lot... learn from them.  Study the look they give you when your answer has been a discount of their questions... you are killing the cat... 

o 

Well... these are just a few ideas about seeking a curious  tribe... 

to sum it Be curious and show it.

Look for people who depend upon curiosity. 

Look for people who are listening because they are feeding their curiosity oh and listen yourself too.

Finally learn from children because they are. Natural experts before we. Teach the. Not to. Be... (that’s an editorial for another day).

So.. tomorrow?  The blessing of thinking too much... and other  strange things.

For now may your life bear an interesting. Balance between the  questions you are answering and the answers you are questioning.

I don’t know the movement and it’s questions

 “I DON’T KNOW”—The Curious  Key to Unlocking. Your Comfort  Zone?

Ok,ay over the next few entries, I will be using the  pronoun I because. Everything said in these. Entries is something I experience or have experienced and has a current way in the way I approach  the present moment.  Like everything. Else  I write here I “believe”  my experience is shared by many——-wait for it—-However—

I DON’T  KNOW 

So... here goes...

You arrive at the hospital with  a friend/spouse/ who is minutes away from  giving birth.  You figure there are only minutes if not seconds to  get  the soon to be  parent to. The delivery room.  Luckily just as you grab a wheelchair from the outside and  rip through the door you see a nurse and ask “Which way to Labor and Delivery?” Now what you don’t know is  that this nurse doesn’t  even work at this hospital, he is an emergency services worker from a life flight. Unit from a  different city.  Now this. Nurse knows where. The emergency.room, cafeteria, and business office are and has never seen any deliveries in those parts of the hospital.  Would. You be angry if he said, “I don’t know?”   What was your expectation in that situation?   

well right now we. Are living in a  strange time of change and there is a lot of  things “I don’t know”.and I don’t know who. Does.  On the other hand as I explore my thoughts and feelings to gain some perspective on this state of affairs I can’t help but see there are choices to be made.  I could  take this uncertainty d as something to be hated and feared and use a lot of energy. Trying to figure out who is to blame for it.  I could  decide  not knowing is my fault because I  missed something somewhere and be afraid I will make other mistakes  so there I sit afraid again and uncertain.  On the other hand—wait  I just. Gave you two other instances so how many hands  do I have?  Well more than two... So anyway another choice I have is to say “I don’t  know—yet but I am curious  about this and then put  tools of discovery into motion.    In short I can choose to live in fear tending to make  a good number of partially ignorant statements or I could  embrace disconvery and ask  many enlightened questions.  

Seeking peace and joy for me means asking the questions.   

Here is my  “I don’t know”. Questions  “starter pack.”  

Question 1.  How many times. Have I wondered about this?   

The more complicated version of this question is:  Why and when do I need to make a choice related to this thing I don’t know?    This boils down to  another simple question—Is knowing about this  important or urgent?   Can you think of things that are important to know at some point, but you don’t need to know them right now?   Conversely are there things like (what’s for dinner?” That have  some urgency but not so much. Importance (you’ll likely eat  again tomorrow.)

I have heard people say that if you have too many urgent  questions, you may not have figured out. What is really important and that makes  some sense to me.   

Question  2.  Is this something I can know?  

So that big jar of jelly beans at the county fair sits there  wanting you to guess “how many?”   Can you watch a video or read a puzzle book and find a way to make a better guess?   sure.. so you can know how to approach this.   However  you can’t know  there are two rolls of toilet paper buried in the jar to make it look like there are more  sticky pieces of candy in there than there really are.   So can you really know?  Maybe not...except if you count you will know so  maybe instead of asking  cant I know—maybe  the question  is “how can I learn about this?”  Then once  you decide to move to  figuring out how to know—then you will come up against the question “do I want to use the energy to know? Or do I really need to know... So that ties right into the question of What is important and what is. Urgent—right?   

A big benefit of  reflecting upon  “Can” is the choice factor... First you get to. Decide. If the reason. You don’t know is. That you can’t or you don’t want to, or someone else really doesn’t want you to know.  So admitting. You don’t know  opens up all these  fabulous learning  opportunities.   final question for today...

Question 3. Why do I (or why should I expect to know?    

I often find. I trip up my peace and joy by not grasping  my expectations.  I can readily say my  family, coworkers, friends, etc.  expect me  to  know so I had better  either know or act like I do.    The sneaky kicker here is ...it’s all my expectation.   You see it is probably the fact that. My friends, family, etc do have expectations, however what falls into my   Realm is not. Their expectations—it’s what I expect to happen if I fail to match their expectations... While I can’t  take responsibility for your expectations, I do think it is possible to take responsibility  for decisions I make  based upon my expectations of what your expectations mean for my experiences.   

Okay That’s enough to bounce out there for  today... 

Tomorrow  more questions and  some thoughts on finding  your curious  tribe.   

What else  am I going to. Do today....I don’t  know.. and I’m proud to say so.

America: land of the brave I don’t know

 AMERICA’S GREATEST CHALLENGE IN THE “NEW ERA”

I don’t  know

I don’t. Know

Idon’t know 

I don’t know I Know I don’t  know and 

I don’t know when I will know and I’ll survive it.

Oh and you don’t know?  Oh and together we will still find a  common ground without declaring  a winner?   Oh and  we both believe that I don’t know is a temporary state so the  sentence I don’t know could always or most always end with. One word of. Hope, promise, commitment and togetherness...

YET!

SeekingPeace andJoy in the uncertain,messy space called life in these times.   

In the late  1890s people living  in New York and Boston were in a real jam.  Traffic problems had become so massive and the streets so unhealthy that. No one knew  how a solution  could ever be found.   The problem... horse crap and dead horses in the streets.  

Well take a look outside...any dead horses?—any horse crap?   Well... did we learn anything from history?  Seems... Not!

You see... in seeking peace and joy the most daunting matter for so many is  to admit not knowing because if you say I don’t know it’s really hard for  others to figure out. Which side you are on.  If. Others can’t figure out which side you are on—which side of what—that doesn’t matter—then how are they going to define you  in simple terms and try to control your energy?   On the other hand if you can say “I don’t know” or even better “I don’t know yet”  you give yourself permission to explore and to learn and to take personal responsibility for what you. Find and act upon.   The question is—can we work our way through the fear long enough to  allow ourselves and others to  sincerely embrace “I don’t know”. With curiosity instead of fear?   

Well that’s the question for the next. Three. Entries... So  buckle up who knows what the sea three. Posts  will  cover?  

I don’t  Know—Yet

P.s. I do have a few ideas

Peace and Joy be with you 

Let it Bee? Adopting a swarm mentality in these interesting times

Let It Bee—

...And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in  front of me...

I suspect someday an entry will be devoted  entirely to how the Beatles work on my journey of seeking peace and joy... but  right now that would be just another stop on a long and winding road toward. The things  shared. Today... so for now I get this writing back to where it once belonged.  

well I said let it Bee for a couple of reasons.  

first, it’s hard to say how many different  types of bees there are... There are Queen Bees now that’s not a type but it was the first thing I thought of.  There are yellow jackets, bumble bees, honey bees sweat bees,  —there might be “Sue” bees because  there is Sue bee honey.  There are those Killer African Bees and the ones from the Miami dolphins and from Saturday Night Live.   Of course if you  a Mississippi River Rat  and follow  Midwest League Baseball (if and when it existed and existed) you know there  are/were Burlington bees such as Vida Blue and Paul Molitor just to name a few.   anyway bees have been the topic of this  rambling mass of entries before as I  mentioned how many bees it took to make a spoonful of honey which is like 80,00 working for a year.   As I recall the entry talked about the  marvelous. Characteristic of honey being both. Antibiotic and anticeptic so it can heal cuts and not  grow germs within  it’s structure.  It dsoesn’t spoil if it is sealed and I mean doesn’t spoil like after thousands of years—now if my rice crispies  lwould stay fresh  longer I would be set for life on breakfast.  As it is the only thing that goes snap crackle. Pop in the morning is my  joints... Anyway there are a lot of bees and their mains function is to work together to make  honey and. To go around making  plants grow  better.  Oh and they.dance to communicate which  makes them semi-drunken college students and concert goers who can’t possible. Talk because the music is too loud.   anyway bees  do these  very cool things, however, for reasons we haven’t figured out they are disappearing at a rapid rate.  Why is a mystery... unlike why the Burlington Bees might disappear...(because  major league team owners. Are profit mongers who are not generally tied to the communities that have supported  their sport for. A century.  ....

Okay back to  peace and joy..

So in the spirit of seeking peace and joy there is a scientist (remember science?)  who tried to compensate  for the falling bee population by inventing a small drone that would fly around and do  some pollination.  Unfortunately. The drone, no matter how  small, had to be built with significant mass and would tend to crush many young  plants.  I guess it was a killer bee too?   So this scientist gets frustrated and decides to  do something fun with his  child to regain some joy.  Now  there’s not much more fun  than blowing bubbles and watching  kids laugh  and run around popping them.   Well. These bubbles would float through the air, land gently on. A plant and pop.  so what if these bubbles could be modified to  contain the pollen materials usually carried b y bees?   Well it turns out they can and did work quite well.  Imagine  botanical  gardens  with bubble machines?  How  delightful would that be?  So  sometimes stopping to seek a little simple joy pays off—well I might argue. More than sometimes... but  the next time you hear of an athlete being in a bubble think about how fragile. A bubble is and also think about  the uses of  bubbles we  may only have scratched the surface of.  I mean so far its  doing dishes, taking baths, and now  giving  bees a rest...what’s next?   Okay and providing a great prop for Lawrence. Well —if you don’t remember  Lawrence he was Pre-Beatles mostly lol..

 So one more thought about  pollination and cross-pollenation.  Part of seeking peace and joy. For me is opening up  and listening and reading so that I can grow different ideas to share and then have others expand on them.   Sometimes that means hearing something I  might not understand or like and now here’s  where the 

“Let it Bee”. Comes in

Instead of doing my best to kill  the idea I don’t like I try to let it. Pollinate a while.... I try to let it enhance my thinking or. Sometimes I try to add my pollen to it to see what grows.  You see ideas are sort of like bees in that  you can take  a bunch of them and spread them out to see what. They produce within the minds of  different folks.  It is likely some. Pretty  beautiful things might happen.   

 So next. Time you hear or read something that. Catches you sideways let it Bee for a sec...

So... before I sign off today I want to send out some  thoughts of gratitude even though it’s not quite thank you Thursday... 

Someone at the bank yesterday asked  what I do with my time.... I said I write this blog and do this podcast.   I then realized that  this page. Has had  over 16,000 views in the 1.75 years I’ve been  piling it on and over 50 views per entry—wow thank you.... Also the podcast  (link below) has had downloads in. Over 20 countries and the number of downloads this month reached an all time high thanks to listeners in places  like Ireland , India, Bolivia, Great Britain (come on France ...surrender)  and Germany... Oh yes. Canada —‘eh” and here in the U.S.   

Some readers and listeners have sent ideas about what I should do with. My efforts and while a few are biologically  impossible, many have been inspiring and  I am so thankful that  people share... you know you are like  a wonderful swarm of  folks making the world a better place.

Now... I often get comments that I share songs and then don’t sing the words loud enough or clearly and I pretty much should. Caption the songs because the words are.far more meaningful than the tunes... and this last offering is  no different so I’’ wrap up  today with  the lyrics (as written —not necessarily performed )

Title  —Junkyard Wings

By Jim Whalen—inspired by  Don Whalen and so many others..

Galileo  gazed through his telescope 

Then he winked right at the pope —who asked 

Are we at the center. Galileo  said nope

Please don’t hang me from your rope—please don’t hang me from your rope

Then came our warrior. Susan B.

Said till all can vote none can be free

 She found some men. Who would agree 

And we took a step toward liberty—took a step towards liberty

Chorus 

Why Can we embrace  what change brings?

Act like Servants even when we’re  kings

Listen. When the wise soul sings

Dawn our neon. Halos  and junkyard  wings

My friend Bobby says bre grateful  yes for what you’ve got

If they ask you why? Ask them why not?

Try to add something to someone else’s pot

And know that. This  really means a lot

Try to find the flower in the weeds

Help your sister (or neighbor) when she/he bleeds

share your fruit and plant some seeds

Show your. Love in words and deeds 

Chorus repeat final verse with a little variation —Chorus..

Tomorrow?   Who knows maybe. I’ll write about the Bee-Attitudes? 

Has anyone seen my neon halo

Just a little musical relief for the weekend

happiness can be expensive but joy is priceless

JOY WEEK IV:  JOHN & YOKO

Well here it is the end of “Joy Week 2020.”  Why the end?   There’s never enough joy right?  There are still some acronyms that  could be  employed.... I mean what about Jigs Offending Yoda?   

Well there will be Joy Week 2021 or at least I’m behaving as if...  

Anyway... in seeking peace and joy this final  entry for the  “week” is another plea for  staying in the present moment even when the present moment seems a little uncertain.   In fact, the present moment is all there is even though as I just said people, including  yours truly, can behave as if there will be future moments over which they  have some control.  

Another concept that needs some pondering is “joy” itself.   

the  World’s  Largest Consumer Product?—Happiness!

Happinesas is that thing at the “if and when” rainbow.   If you have  all these things or gain  one of these in a certain way then you can or should be. Happy.   Here are some things on the “if/then happy list...

 A good job

A lot of money

A nice house, car/house

A pfunctional family

A body that matches  today’s notions of  healthy and/or pretty/handsome/young

Oh the list goes on...the goal posts are. Generally moving...

Happy is somewhere you end up... Yoy in my world is not  the same....

Joy is like peace and action a dynamic a process, an environment, —a fluid state a flow.  

Joy is in the experience of teaching a fellow human. A concept so that they can use the wisdom you shared to solve other challenges.   Joy is in the moment you jam on the  steady inspiring base line or chord progression so that the soloist nods ever so slightly and floats an incredible melody over the top.  Joy is in bouncing  the pass toward the corner as your shooting forward pivots from the  side of the  lane and appears in the perfect place to grab, jump and swish as you  turn to take your defensive position.  You is planning the perfect menu in late July because  your neighbor’s garden grows the best green beans and your tomatoes  will be perfect by the picnic on Saturday.  Joy doesn’t. Care if the shot bounces off the rime or it rains.  Joy doesn’t  care if the lead guitar has a string break.  Joy in the the engagement... Joy is not. The applause it is in the having a song in your heart and doing the singing with  the choir or your whole school or  just in your car so that you have a smile to share along the road.  

So what  this whole seeking joy thing is about  has to with becoming engaged with. Your values and the  outer world where you share them with others or you give. Others hope or the strength to have/do hope (Hard work Optimism Persistence and Experiment).  

Now to the Acronym for Today

John Outlasts. Yoko

Now here’s a question for you...how many Yokos do you know?   I assume. That in the  time  (ate 60’s. And early 70s there may have. Been a lot of  young women with that name  in the orient.  Now how many can any of us name.   On the other hand how many. People named John do you know?    So on strength of name  alone our former Beatle has an advantage.   

Also, and I  am not 100%  sure...but it seems to me... Yoko gave a lot to charity, however, the wealth camer from  products that she did in her  own best interest.   JHohn included her and supported her and even named a band after her.  Those were signs of love and admiration and should be supported.  John wrote hundreds of songs, dozens of which many of you have heard or performed.  John was no saint however there is evidence he  worked to  have a social impact and to do things that represented his values.   Yoko did not break up the Beatles.   I repeat Yoko did not  end the Fab Four.   After a lot of years everyone  seeks new relationships and eventually because of a little thing called. Mortality  even the most stable and perminent  relationships  “end” in a sense.  

The point is... John outlasts Yoko because he shared more of the time when he was engaged in contributing to a greater good.   He was. Dedicated to growth, but not only his growth, the growth of popular music as an art form, the use fo music to deliver a social comment.   Yoko did that some, however, not  as eloquently and persistent as John and so John Outlasts.Yoko.... 

John Was engaged in  seeking and spreading  engagement in seeking joy.   He created music that required us to reflect on our purpose... Do I agree with all his ideas... like imagine there’s no heaven?  Nope...however..I do understand the  value of doing things to help humankind because that’s the arena we have access to most of the time.  I mean what would you do if these were the moments  that counted instead of  if I do good then. I get to go to he3aven... Maybe just maybe it can be a little more like if I  care for my fellow man then I’m helping  God/The Universe create a  heaven here on earth in the same moments?  

Okay... this has been some heavy stuff... I feel  a couple of songs coming on. Over the weekend so look for links or videos...

Thanks for engaging in  the effort toward peace and being a warrior in the army to spread. Joy.y

Joy week III who’s circus is this anyway

 Joy Week III —Whalt do we Juggle?

So far during “Joy week 1

2020”. We’ve  fought “jabs of yesterday”, considered the debate concerning. JellO over  Yogurt, pondered. Whether  or not Jesus Outlawed Yo-yos (and other needed religious reforms) and that brings us  to here and now —-the place we always are and the. Best time to do something wonderful.   

So  what’s the acronym?  Well.. I have two days left so  I went through the list of possibles a few minutes ago and pulled out.my favorite two.   for the Finale the winner was John Outlasts Yoko  leaving  today’s  winner

JUGGLING OUTDATED YARDSTICKS

Here are some popular. “Yardsticks”

Make more money....

Own More Coolk Stuff.. Ofr Own less. Stuff

Eat healthier. Food

Exercise. More

Keep. All your Hair except in places where it’s not attractive

Keep your original Hair Color

Drive A Car that  matches your ideal personality

Wear Clothes that  match your. Income or the income you want

Make your Teeth Whiter and your smile straighter

—feel free to add. A few of your own

In short get your. Crap together, pay attention to the norms,  work at showing folks you know what’s acceptable and cool... get self-help if you  aren’t quite up to these things and there are plenty of books, blogs,  YouTube videos out there  top make all that happen....

Well it seems. That there are  an endless stream  of yardsticks available for each of us to measure  our worthiness against.   And while I think we should  keep learning and allow ourself growth, I wonder how often we set up barriers to peace and joy by JUGGLING OUTDATED YARDSTICKS” and how much time we spend juggling. Obnoxious yardsticks as well.   

There’s nothing wrong with some —a few self-imposed  “goals if they  come from a value or purpose and they are your way of communicating  that purpose internally or externally, however seeking. Joy requires that  you feel  them in line with  your best  intentions and skills or gifts and they are shareable with others also seeking  joy in the same way.  accomplishing  an athletic  goal  can help your body release the internal good stuff (that’s  a scientific term for  dopamine ). That reduces stress—because stress kills.   Singing  can do the same things but I don’t expect  you all to  (ACRONYM ALERT) Join Oriental yodelers.   

Unfortunately, we carry around. Al lot of yardsticks handed to us by  our culture, our parents, our. Careers, and we rarely  examine the utility or the importance of these and thus when we “fail to measure  up” we pour a smooth layer of guilt on our everyday exzperiences.   

How many of you remember to clean your. Plate because there are starving kids  in India or China or somewhere?  After all we can’t just throw out. Good food.  How many of you  are afraid to leave a lamp on or a door open because  “what do you think we are trying to do ?  Heat the Outside?”   While we might not  act accordingly our minds and our hearts get. Caught by these yardsticks nearly every time a donor is left open or  those overcooked  peas are left rolling  around near that dab of potatoes and gravy.  

at my house growing up we had those yardsticks and  many more like no singing at the table which often led to standing next to the table. And finishing a song... I guess the birthday song. Was an exception to that. Yardstick and. The no spitting yardstick as often candles were  blo2n and sprayed out... and no hats at the table during. Dinner which meant  hair could fall in the food but you’d better not have  the nerve to advertise  Ford, the Green Bay Packers, Case, or John Deere while eating every last crumb of meatloaf even if it had too much Ketchup and  a few too many onions in an overbaked crust.  

OOkay putting aside hairy overbaked meatloaf for a minute let’s  sum up a bit

It’s  not a crime to find some actions and some signs that help you feel better  about demonstrating  your acts fit your purposes.  Unfortunately other folks. Throw there purposes. And their actions at you and the matching expectations or yardsticks come  right along.   Then you have some that you. May not be using or may not me useful, but you haven’t put them down, so you’re juggling so many and they are often outdated and sometimes obnoxious.   

When seeking joy it’s not a bad idea to take a moment  once in a while...like after you’ve said a word or two of gratitude... to list your expectations for the day and the expectations you had yesterday... that makes an excellent  opportunity to  find some outdated ones to set down and leave behind.   

It’s not always so b ad to. Juggle but  sometimes life gives you chainsaws and puts you ona unicycle w2ith a flat tire and pushes you down  a bumpy hill at those times maybe  what we are juggling needs to be modified—just saying...

Well enough for today...  Tommorrow. We will wrap up Joy. Week considering. John and Yoko and continue our. Quest to give peace a chance.

Did Jesus outlaw yo-yos and rules of faith for a modern age

JOY WEEK III—HOLY TRINITY. BATMAN

So according  to my religion—not get into the difference between.religion and faith just yet—I was born with original sin.  In fact everyone  was born with original sin which leads me. To the question how many sins are there?  If each of. Us has an original one there must be a bunch of sins I was never. Taught or my imagination is too feeble to  comprehend.   Many of us know about. “No meat on Friday” do were some  infants born.with a Big Mac in their. Mouth on  Friday the 13th?  If so I Bert they are glad they didn’t have teeth to get those pesky  sesame  seeds caught in.  By the way what is a “sesame?  It must be some sort of shrub  because I  don’t think I’ve seen as flower or tree with that name.  Then again I’ve never seen an avocado  in the wild. That I know of.   

Anyway let’s get back to. Joy Week

My acronym for Joy  today is 

JESUS OUTLAWED  YO-YOS

Right off you may think I’m making fun of  religion...well of course I am—I take my faith very seriously but the rules of religion have me confused and irritated  quite often which  in my view gives me  a few options for leading my  best life while seeking. Peace. And joy.   

The first option is just follow the rules that I learn and hope the others following  these rules will  help me seek joy and share in it.   

The second is to ignore all the rules that don’t make any sense or all of them and live only by the golden rule.... I think that this has been my plan for a while—up until recently.

Finally, a third option—follow the rules that fit with the golden rule, pray about all the rules and believe the ones that seem to fall in line with the spiritual side of faith whether or not the religious parts have any merits, and then  through contemplation create some rules a or guides for my own spirit—and you guessed it—this entry is about that...

 So far I have only. Developed three rules  regarding  seeking joy.

The Rules for Seeking Joy

Rule One (also an acronym for Joy). 

Jump Outside. Yourself

At  least twice a day choose any stranger you encounter or might encounter—for example I have a fancy. Ice cube tray.  Somebody  invented that.  What.must the life of an ice cube tray inventor  be like?   Is it a lifetime achievement to  invent one new or innovative style of tray?  Are there  any special. Industry awards for people who have  done this socially  valuable  task?  Is the prize the Crystal  Cube?  If I can jump outside myself a couple times a day I usually get more connected with others and can tap into their positive energy.  So that’s  one rule.

Second Rule—also  an Acronym —The. “Joke’s On You

The. Second. Rule is—

YE SHALL REMEMBER  THAT SOMETIMES THE UNIVERSE IS  MESSING WITH YOU JUST FOR FUN

did you  ever think this would be funny if. It weren’t. Really happening  to me?  Well if we take a minute to think about  the fact the universe and the wishes of the Great spirit. Are not always directly focused on you then you might be able to see that you are part of  something  odd that is designed to make someone. Else laugh and maybe. That someone really needs a smile today and maybe. Later today you will run into a smiling person  and there will be a little glint of gratitude in their eyes and that’ because you accepted the notion that sometimes the joke is on you.   

The third Rule...sorry no acronym —

That’ll shalt understand Joy as. You understand  spray paint....

If you keep your joy all  covered up or  held inside  that  is not  going to  get it done.  Like  spray paint you must spread. Joy  both  a little close and from a distance.  You must see that  little droplets can  make a whole surface. Change and that strong winds can sometimes make your joy go. Off target so  you will have to pay attention.  the point is  you. Need to  spread your joy...

so my. New little holy trinity of Joy is summed up as follows

seeking Joy means Jumping outside. Yourself to  see and create joy with and within others

Second —and  I know I repeat this theme. A Lot... Sometimes you are the target of a sense of humor that  helps the universe  show  others how to smile...in short it isn’t always all about you so sometimes you are going  to be the  target.. and the Joke is on you.

finally  Thou Shalt Spread the Joy for you are not the only one seeking it.   

Now Back to Jesus and theYoyos—I was pullling together some thought for today and for the podcast I wanted to record when some strange song lyrics that mix the concepts of seeking and joy and religious rules started. Emerging in a  song filter.  I won’t  write all the lyrics to the song below.... but here are a few.

Jesus  Outlawed Yo-yos—the musical

Well.you can’t eat meat on Fridays...but now it’s only  during  lent

But I broke that rule before  it was. Changed wonder where those sins went

Now I think the Buddah can eat a Friday ham and cheese, but I may be mistaken

He can have a pork chop on Good Friday but he’s not keen on  eggs and bacon?  

I don’t know how any Mortal soul 

Can  know each and. Every Rule 

But  Jesus  must have outlawed  Yo-yos 

Because they weren’t  Allowed. At school.

More Joy tomorrow....