"...And the way to be happy is to make someone happy and to have a little heaven down here.."
What if I were to tell you that life and heaven were intertwined? That life, as we know it, as we live it, and as we experience it, is really all about finding happiness in self-actualization?
Just this morning I was listening to a RadioLab podcast, from season 1; the 1st episode, actually. And a woman, a mother was recounting here experience during and after a mental breakdown of sorts* (I'll have to listen to that bit again).
Anyway, it was all a sudden 'attack,' and she'd lost grip of herself, that is, the reserved and orderly personality she'd so meticulously cultivated her whole life, and which her daughter had grown fond of.
The interesting thing is that, when asked whether, at the moment of her 'breakdown' or 'attack,' when she fell out of consciousness, she had one of those hyped, famed 'near-death, end of the tunnel' experiences (whose narratives Youtube is all but short of nowadays), she said, "Not really!" She actually has speaks of having been a farmer in Vietnam (I think). It was all very strange and questionable if you ask me.
The point is, she changed. She was now oblivious of her past reservations, her innate restraints. The daughter confesses that she's always happily singing, especially if there's an audience. What does that say?
A moment ago, I was thinking about an casual acquaintance of mine. She posted on Facebook yesterday evening about her long lost late sister. "Long lost" because she only just found out they were biological sisters. "Late," well, that's obvious- she only recently died. Anyway, I liked the post, to vaguely confer my condolences.. and right now I was just wondering, "What does she think about me liking such an intimate, personal post?" Granted, she's been known to, quite publicly, shame people on Facebook, so my concerns were warranted. "But," I thought "at least I didn't comment below something like, "that's what you get for being a mean b* on Facebook."
I'm getting to the part where I link the two scenarios.
Well here it is:
Being free may include being bold, but only in a good way. It means allowing yourself to be happy, to enjoy, to love and embrace life! It doesn't mean having the guts to post a hurtful comment on Facebook, or undertake any such destructive behavior.
The mother, as I mentioned before, didn't have or 'conceptualize' any near-death experience, or envision heaven, as we conventionally perceive it.
That's because she's already 'IN' heaven. She has here little heaven down here.
And so, what I'm saying is, "we must abandon, and in fact, forget, our inner repressions of self."
How we do that, I hope to ponder upon in the coming days.
Stay tuned, and LOVE "YOU."
