These dear friends are to “blame” for tonight’s abbreviated blog post.
We spent the evening eating and sharing and laughing, which meant that Ramesha and I got home rather late.
Of course, it was great fun and well worth it.
Laughing with friends
Ending the week with a laugh
I feel this is the perfect way to end my rather up and down week. After all, laughter is good for both body and soul.
Hope everyone reading this has a lovely weekend.
Appreciating Betty White
I was vaguely aware of Betty White, but mostly from back in the days when I watched network television — namely Mary Tyler Moore and then The Golden Girls.
But with her passing I started to tune-in to what an amazing person she was, and tonight we watched the delightful documentary, “Betty White: First Lady of Television.”
I believe she was truly a great soul who brought a lot of light into this world (not to mention laughter!).
It’s on Netflix but only until January 11. Go watch it, quick!
Sunday: day of rest…NOT!
This was one of those Sundays…
Up early for rehearsal before Sunday service.
More apartment clearing in the afternoon.
Then off to the office to work for a while.
Now it’s 8:00pm and I’m done. 😂
Swamiji’s laughter
One of the things I loved most about Swami Kriyananda was his laugh. It was so warm and infectious, with so much joy flowing through it.
I also loved how much he loved to laugh!
When I was living in Assisi and becoming better friends with Ramesha (he was still Fabio then, of course), I realized that one of the things I was coming to love about him was his laugh.
In fact, the first gift I gave Ramesha was a photo of Swamiji in Palo Alto — laughing!
United in God, music, and laughter
We met through our spiritual community, so a love for God was what we shared before we even became acquainted.
We laughed a lot as our friendship grew. In fact, the first gift I ever gave him was a favorite photo of Swami Kriyananda laughing uproariously.
But I’m pretty sure love started to grow the first time we rehearsed together for a concert. It was like recognizing a kindred spirit (and, yes, we recently finished watching Anne of Green Gables!). 😄
The pictures above are from the weekend of our wedding at Ananda Assisi (we had two ceremonies, in order to accommodate family on both continents).
Coping with the pandemic via music
Wait for it… wait for it….
BAM!
Oh my goodness, I love everything about this so much. 😂
The good and the bad
The good: this morning’s workday was wonderful! The best part was spending time with dear friends (outdoors and safely masked, of course), sharing laughter and stories. But it was also great fun being in the fresh air, doing something that’s outside our regular flow, and helping to beautify the Expanding Light grounds.
The bad: my hands, especially the left, are really sore from pulling weeds all morning! So this is enough typing for tonight. 🖐😂
Jerome K Jerome
If you enjoy reading PG Wodehouse (as I know many of my friends do), I suggest you also give English humorist, Jerome K Jerome, a try.
I read his Three Men in a Boat for the first time when I was nineteen years old. I had borrowed it from my father, who didn’t get his copy back for…oh, about twenty years or so. Having that book had become essential to my well-being because I could pick it up at any time and be assured of reading something that would make me burst out laughing.
In fact, I realize that I should have gotten it out last night when I was feeling so glum (yes, I eventually purchased my own copy so that I could return my dad’s).
Before writing this blog post, I google Jerome K Jerome and started reading quotes from the book. Sure enough, I was soon laughing out loud. Here are just a few. If you like them, you’ll know what to do…! 😂
“With me, it was my liver that was out of order. […] I had the symptoms, beyond all mistake, the chief among them being “a general disinclination to work of any kind.”
What I suffer in that way no tongue can tell. From my earliest infancy I have been a martyr to it. As a boy, the disease hardly ever left me for a day. They did not know, then, that it was my liver. Medical science was in a far less advanced state than now, and they used to put it down to laziness.”
― Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
“It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.”
― Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
“George got out his banjo after supper, and wanted to play it, but Harris objected: he said he had got a headache, and did not feel strong enough to stand it. George thought the music might do him good—said music often soothed the nerves and took away a headache; and he twanged two or three notes, just to show Harris what it was like. Harris said he would rather have the headache.”
― Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
Into the truth that we’re all one
Tonight’s session with the Living Discipleship participants was “beyond imagination of expectancy”!
They’re all so experienced and so committed, with most of them already serving as powerful leaders in their home communities. The majority already sing in (or direct!) Ananda choirs, and the ones who don’t (yet) are open and eager to sing with the group.
For a variety of reasons we went up with only a very loose idea of how the evening would unfold. So how did it unfold?
We sang a lot and laughed almost more than we sang! We had given them a handout titled “Music as a Spiritual Tool” and the group ended up spontaneously experiencing how humorous music raises energy in the spine and lifts us high above life’s challenges, where we’re able to see things from a positive perspective.
But the absolute high point of the evening for me came towards the end, after we sang Brothers. According to our outline the next song would have been Many Hands Make a Miracle. But we felt guided to sing O Master instead. Words are inadequate to describe the feeling as we sang the words: “…into the light, the inner sun, into the truth that we’re all one.” The sense of unity, of oneness, was palpable.
That was the end of the session, but no one wanted to be the first to break the circle. Finally, someone suggested we end by standing up to sing Thy Light Within Us Shining. So we did…it was wonderful…and we all stood there not wanting to break the circle!
Then someone suggested we really end with Peace and–my oh my!–the bliss level just went through the roof! I’ve had a lot of powerful experiences with Ananda Music in twenty years, but this was right up there in the top five. Unbelievable.