Don't Worry, Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin)

I am most definitely a *wallow* kinda woman... and I am prone to immerse myself in an emotion until I can no longer cry another tear/feel another heart twinge/bear another self-pitying moment - when I finally reach that "life chose me after all" (Dar) epiphany, damn the torpedoes! The lows might be low, but god love those highs - I always manage to find my way through to the other side, with an extensive gratitude list to show for it... :-)

SONG: Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin

BOOK: The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It by David Niven

POEM: Feeling Sorry for Myself by Charles Harper Webb

I start with a groan, swelling to a moan,

rising to a keen, ascending

to a shriek that tapers off in a thin wail.

I hug myself and, whimpering,

rock back and forth on my heels.

No one has ever known such sadness.

No one can grasp how I feel.

I smash an egg over each eye.

I smear my face with coal and pepper.

I wear a paper bag soaked through

with spoiled watermelon and pork grease.

I shred my happy past - my books,

pictures, and poems, published or not.

I'll never fly fish again.

I'll never make love again.

I'll never sit outside and watch night

stretch its starry tent over the sky.

There will be no more metaphors.

I am more sorrowful than a sorrowing man.

Life has no more meaning to me

than a life without meaning.

My heart slows. My blood congeals

to brown, vein-clogging mush.

My stomach goes on strike; my colon

bars its door. People assume

I'm terminal. They imagine what

would make them feel the way I look,

and project their paltry problems onto me.

As if they could fathom my misery

by waterwinging over its abyss!

My pain is too heavy to lift,

too vast to measure, too ineffable to name,

and incalculably too precious to share.

I dig my grave in a landfill, and topple in.

I rub dirt and dog droppings in my hair.

I've sunk so low it's funny; so I start to giggle.

Then to chortle. Then to roar. Mothers

clutch their bleating kids, and rush away.

Gangbangers dash to the far side of the street.

I crawl out of my grave, strip, and shower

with a gunk-filled water hose.

I shake and shiver, grinning, in the filthy air.

QUOTE: "What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life." ~ Leo Buscaglia

Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)

There *must* be a Joni composition my first week of blogging - Dave Carter (another of my musical deities) will probably be tomorrow! I've attempted to keep the songs/books/poems/quotes thematic - with all the wonderful resources and inspirations at my disposal, the intention shouldn't be difficult to maintain.

SONG: Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell

BOOK: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

POEM: How to Live by Charles Harper Webb

"I don't know how to live."
–Sharon Olds

Eat lots of steak and salmon and Thai curry and mu shu
pork and fresh green beans and baked potatoes
and fresh strawberries with vanilla ice cream.
Kick-box three days a week. Stay strong and lean.
Go fly-fishing every chance you get, with friends

who'll teach you secrets of the stream. Play guitar
in a rock band. Read Dostoyevsky, Whitman, Kafka,
Shakespeare, Twain. Collect Uncle Scrooge comics.
See Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, and everything Monty Python made.
Love freely. Treat ex-partners as kindly

as you can. Wish them as well as you're able.
Snorkel with moray eels and yellow tangs. Watch
spinner dolphins earn their name as your panga slam-
bams over glittering seas. Try not to lie; it sours
the soul. But being a patsy sours it too. If you cause

a car wreck, and aren't hurt, but someone is, apologize
silently. Learn from your mistake. Walk gratefully
away. Let your insurance handle it. Never drive drunk.
Don't be a drunk, or any kind of "aholic." It's bad
English, and bad news. Don't berate yourself. If you lose

a game or prize you've earned, remember the winners
history forgets. Remember them if you do win. Enjoy
success. Have kids if you want and can afford them,
but don't make them your reason-to-be. Spare them that
misery. Take them to the beach. Mail order sea

monkeys once in your life. Give someone the full-on
ass-kicking he (or she) has earned. Keep a box turtle
in good health for twenty years. If you get sick, don't thrive
on suffering. There's nothing noble about pain. Die
if you need to, the best way you can. (You define best.)

Go to church if it helps you. Grow tomatoes to put store-
bought in perspective. Listen to Elvis and Bach. Unless
you're tone deaf, own Perlman's "Meditation from Thais."
Don't look for hidden meanings in a cardinal's song.
Don't think TV characters talk to you; that's crazy.

Don't be too sane. Work hard. Loaf easily. Have good
friends, and be good to them. Be immoderate
in moderation. Spend little time anesthetized. Dive
the Great Barrier Reef. Don't touch the coral. Watch
for sea snakes. Smile for the camera. Don't say "Cheese."

QUOTE: "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." ~ Albert Einstein