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The end-of-January blues

What are the end-of-January blues, you ask?

Well, they actually start way back in the stress and busyness of the holiday season.

Here at Ananda, we catch our collective breath from Christmas only to immediately begin preparing to celebrate Yogananda’s birthday on January 5.

After which it’s time to pull together the music ministry’s report of what happened last year and plans for the new year for the annual Sangha Outreach Ministries presentations the third week of the month.

Come the end of January we’re shifting into high gear with rehearsals for our annual performance of Christ Lives: An Oratorio, plus Ramesha and I are booking tickets for our springtime trip to Switzerland to see his family.

I realize that by the time February arrives — with its full calendar of activities — I feel like I’ve been falling behind since October, with no hope of ever catching up.

And that’s why I’ve got those end-of-January blues… Oh yeah! 🎺🎶

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A perfect evening

Good friends. Beautiful home. Delicious dinner. And an anniversary to celebrate.

It was all completely delightful. Who could ask for more?

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A discovery: random but inspiring

Love this photo that Declan shared with one of his posts. The writing on the side of the boat says: “The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. DON’T GIVE UP!”

A post from the group Camino de Santiago All Routes randomly popped up on my Facebook feed today. I really enjoyed reading it and on an impulse clicked through to the author’s personal profile.

Declan McGuiness is from Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland. An accountant, he sounds like a completely average kind of guy, but I was deeply touched as I read one after another of his Facebook posts.

He writes about suicide prevention and mental health and caring for one another. I love his wisdom and compassion, plus I get a kick out of the Irishness of it all. I can practically hear his accent as I read his words.

Hey lads?
Imagine if you counted your achievements as often as you count your flaws???
Imagine if you counted your wins as often as you count your defeats?
Imagine if you counted your compliments as often as your insults?
Imagine if you counted your pluses as often as your minuses?
Imagine if you gave yourself a break?
Imagine?

You know the wee voice that tells you that you can’t do it?
You can’t climb that hill?
You can’t hike that distance?
You can’t cycle that far?
It does our head in, doesn’t it?
But.
Maybe we are hearing it wrong.
Maybe it’s not actually saying no all the time.
Maybe it’s actually saying be careful climbing that hill.
Maybe it’s actually saying take a break if you are going to hike that distance.
Maybe it’s a actually saying take provisions and spares if you are going to cycle that far.
Maybe it’s not trying to stop us.
Maybe it’s trying to protect us.
Just a thought.
Maybe go ahead and do the things.
But listen to the voice, and take care.
It’s OK not to feel OK.

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Intensity

This is too funny!

I picked this photo but then wanted to make sure I hadn’t titled a past blog post “Intensity.”

Well, I searched my blog and look what I found. 😂

Yep, almost exactly a year ago — on January 24, 2023 — I wrote about the focused intensity of preparing for the annual Sangha presentation, and I was drawn to use the exact same photo!

I guess I could title this my 2nd Annual Intensity Post and call it the start of a new tradition.

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Ananda’s global outreach

Ananda’s outreach touches people in 105 countries (and this is above and beyond our communities, centers and meditation groups)! 

All the staff of Ananda’s Outreach Ministries gathered for two mornings this week to share what our departments did in 2023 and what our intentions are for 2024.

It’s always a bit of a stress to pull the music ministry’s presentation together each year, as we barely recover from the holiday season and suddenly it’s “that time” again.

But I wouldn’t miss these meetings for the world, because I’m always so deeply inspired by everything that my friends and colleagues are doing to share the teachings and bring light to the world.

I absolutely LOVE my work. What a blessing.

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A yellow mongoose

Why a yellow mongoose?

It’s a good question. The answer?

No reason whatsoever except that my brain is done for the day and this photo caught my eye and tickled my funny bone.

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From Sunday music to Don McLean

Our ensemble had a really fun rehearsal before Sunday service yesterday. You know everyone’s enjoying themselves when the rehearsal ends but instead of leaving the dais they stand around chatting.

I finally had to remind the singers that the Sunday service set-up crew was patiently waiting to prepare for the purification ceremony. As I did so, I found myself vaguely remembering some song lyrics about a marching band refusing to yield the field.

I realized the words were from the song, “American Pie” (“Cause the players tried to take the field, The marching band refused to yield”), but when I mentioned it to a few friends (explaining the correlation of the ensemble refusing to yield the dais to the service team) none of them remembered it.

So, of course, I had to go home and look up the lyrics, and in the course of doing so I tuned into the fact that it’s been over fifty years since “American Pie” became a hit.

I also learned that Don McLean sold the original manuscript of the song lyrics for $1.2 million back in 2015. Amazing!

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Serving the light

For years Ramesha and I have done our best to be channels of light in a world that needs all the light it can get.

And now it’s official, because today we received the great blessing of being ordained as Ananda Lightbearers. ✨