Hello out there. I did this blog post quite a while ago, but thought in today’s adversarial political and cultural environment, it might be relevant. We (okay, I!) judge others much too quickly.
Let’s try, in this new year with relatively few mistakes in it so far, to give each other the benefit of the doubt, to refuse to label somebody or some thing based on initial interactions or our preconceived notions.
What an incredible truth! (And, oh gosh, how it indicts me.)
I LOVE this short video about labeling:
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2018: A Label-Free Year (at least for you and me).
I hope your Father’s Day (and night) 2015 has been a peaceful and joyful one. Mine was/is. Spent time with both daughters and all four grandies. What a blessing to have them all in my Savannah. My cards:
And an incredible Facebook post by older daughter Amy:
“Happy Father’s Day to my very hip and high impact dad! I am blessed to have a dad who taught me to love without discrimination, to have joy in all circumstances, and who creates an environment of safety and acceptance where I am free to develop into my best and truest self.”
What a Difficult and Unparalleled Joy Fatherhood is!
MAY — an incredibly joyful month, don’t you think?
Five Reasons for Happy:
1. An early morning walk along the McQueens-Tybee Island trail (between Savannah and Tybee Island–10 mins from my apartment).
2. Grandson Daniel in his end-of-year Who Am I? Research Biography presentation. (He was Paul McCartney, btw.)
(Okay. okay, maybe I helped him a little with the tri-board.)
(He could only get such coolness from his grandfather. Seriously.)
The kids had to explain their research, poster-board-presentation-style, to the folks in attendance.
They do that kinda stuff nowadays in 2nd Grade?! Research?! All I did in 2nd grade was spend a year of trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to stop crying for mama.
3. Being a judge for the 2015 Savannah Authors Anthology. Such fun!
(I want to be a judge … full time. And get paid. Exorbitantly. Call me if you or yours need high-end judging.)
4. Getting 2015 Beach Ready.
5. Seafood at Safe Harbor in Mayport, FL. (After taking the ferry across the St. John’s River on the south end of Amelia Island.)
I have FOUR grandchildren. (Yes, you’re right, I’m FAR too young. We all know that. It’s a given. But sometimes Mother Nature has a way of bypassing her laws of when people should have grandchildren–and presents them in, well, early, early middle age.)
Anyway, the second-from-the-oldest-grandchild is Gabriel, 5, a rambunctious bundle of pure little boy-ness. He’s often affectionately referred to simply as “G.” In his most recent pre-K school report, the patient-as-a-saint and give-her-a-raise teacher wrote that Gabriel is “smart, funny, with many friends … and has a touch of naughtiness.”
Here’s G (on the far right) with a few school buddies,
And here he is the other night with older brother Daniel (8).
Today I received this text from my daughter/G mom Amy:
This past fall term at SCAD (the Savannah College of Art and Design), where I teach composition to international students, my course topic was happiness studies.
Each week, I introduced a new question, which I told the students had the potential to make them happier–IF they took the time to ask and then answer the question.
Here are the ten questions. I challenge you to ask them to yourself whenever you need a dose of joy.
Dr. Saye’s Top Ten Happiness Questions
1. Just how important is it?
2. Do I realize that I can choose to think a thought that feels better?
3. Why do I sometimes try to control other people? That’s really not my job.
4. What do I see RIGHT NOW that is beautiful?
5. Who has helped me recently?
6. What is a good holiday memory?
7. What do I really, really love?
8. Do I realize that I can take three deep breaths right now and center myself? My breath is my life.
9. Who can I be a blessing to in the next hour or so? How can I do that?
10. Am I paying attention to NOW (and not wasting time regretting the past or worrying about the future)?
I encourage you to print these questions out, put them up some place where you can easily see them, and start asking.
A couple of days ago I encouraged you to consider, and attend to, the blessings that are in your life. I hope you have taken a brief break from the Christmas rush, and done so.
Here’s my Counting Continued:
6. Sitting Down and Sitting Still for a few minutes.
7. A Christmas Visit with my parents (father–91, mother 87).
8. Sparkly Lights.
9. Appreciating my local Savannah Police. Our police men and women are the first folks we usually call when something goes awry in our homes, neighborhoods and cities.
Have you done so this holiday? Blessings come in SO many forms and dressings. I urge you to take a sheet of paper and number your joys. Here is a sampling of mine:
1. I had to miss my seven year-old grandson Daniel’s first piano recital earlier this week. (I was SO frustrated.) Tonight at my family’s early Christmas dinner, I walked in the door and daughter Amy had arranged for Daniel to dress back up in his Calvin Klein suit and play Jingle Bells (as he did at the recital). It melted my heart.
(Okay, I’m not sure about the sunglasses either.)
(Absolute grandfather joy.)
Here’s Daniel at the actual recital:
2. The ability to smell Christmas.
3. Enjoying the power of silly.
4. Hosting a Holiday and Hot Toddy Chili Party Saturday night.
What fun!
Good buddies Ellie, Jamie and Brennan.
I read “A Cup of Christmas Tea” to the twenty-something guests–and asked them to think about a person important in their upbringing to toast at the end of the story. I urge you to do the same. Who encouraged you along your way?
“Let’s raise a cup of Christmas cheer, to family and loved ones far and near.”
So take a few moments, and with Bing, count your blessings:
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5. Tree shadows on a wall during a walk the other night.
What are a few of your Holiday Blessings? Come on, share a few.
The students in my English 123 (Freshman Composition) classes at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) are doing what I call Visual Essays in this, their next-to-the-last week of Fall Quarter 2014. We read two books this term, Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and Tal Ben-Shahar’s Happier, both relating to our course theme of “Happiness and the Exploration of Joy.” The Visual Essay project invites the students to MAKE, rather than write, their papers. Traditional essay requirements are still required: a focus and thesis, structure, detail and support, etc. But this essay morphs into a drawing or painting, a sculpture, a collage, a video, a food, etc. Basically this project is a visual representation of one topic narrowed into a clear thesis/perspective/idea. The challenge: how to “show” their thesis.
Debora Jacob (from Brazil) went to Forsyth Park here in Savannah last Saturday. Here’s her Visual Essay titled “Happiness Shared” on the topic of the smile and its significance.
NealEnJoy 
