LUCKINESS AND BLESSEDNESS

Loving your life and loving everyone who is in your life. Loving your enemies as well as your friends and then you will not have any enemies, they all will become friends, it is your choice who they are and what function they all play in your life.

Appreciating each day for its sunniness and every night for its sunsets and moonlighted nights. Never allowing yourself to wade in waters too deep, keeping afloat with all that you do, sticking to all of your convictions, believing what you want to believe.

Uniting differences, so what is opposite in polarity becomes at oneness and therefore is peaceful. Having two loves and making them one huge love, more to love means more love will be there for you.

Wishing others "good luck" even if you do not understand luck and cannot comprehend it. What is luck? The luck of the Irish? Luck is another word for a miracle that happens in your life. When we have G-d given miracles, this means we have "luck".

Being lucky to be in love and to have others who love you back. Being at peace as you wish others to have luck and then becoming lucky yourself. Being lucky to have others, to be lucky in other words means to be blessed.

FORGIVING FORGETTING REJOICING AT YOUR NEXT MEAL

Forgiveness, understanding, mistrust and false accusations, gossip, spreading rumors, always agreeing, never to upset an apple cart when it has no apples. Fluffing off forgetting not allowing it to upset you, easy flowing, a river with no ripples, not a solution to a problem, instead saying there is no problem that needs to be solved.

Drinking and feasting, drowning out bad experiences, wondering why and being slow to anger, keeping safe and secure, warm in winter, alone on an island in a crowd, feet continually dancing and tapping to an inner music that others do not hear.

Playing a game and losing so the other feels he has won when there is no prize to boost anyone's self-pride.

Knowing secrets about the universe, knowing what color to make your favorite, not liking the color that they like.

Hearing ignited flashes of words of hate and seeing the words burn up in a hot fire of good riddance, never to be heard again or said again.

Perceiving someone's fear and converting it to love. Not being there for another because no one is there for you, so taking the bull by the horn and leading him to water.

Talking to someone who imagines the worse and says the worst is the truth and tries to intervene when they imagine all is blackness instead of light. Shields of armor going up and blocking cyberspace, disconnecting lines of communications, gossipers saying others are guilty of the gossiping.

Slanderers writing lies and not apologizing saying their lies are white. Going on living even when you have to walk through puddles of their mud everyday. Knowing that G-d is always with you and the mud puddles will not splash because your sunlight is brighter than theirs and your clouds are not as dense.

People trying to stir up the dredges from the bottom of a soup bowl and then to take your spoon away. Not to worry because your next meal will be just as hot and delicious as your last.

A DAILY WALK WITH TORAH ON YOUR TONGUE

BH
"This is the Golden Altar, on which the priest would offer incense twice a day, every morning and afternoon. It was placed in the inner Sanctuary, near the Golden Menorah." [Chabad.org]

Standing, upright, self-pride, encouragement, daring, number one, opening Ark doors every morning, reading Torah, sweetly singing second Aliyah, stained glass windows trickling sunlight through colored panels of cut glass, reflections of prismatic rainbow lights pouring in and dancing on the purple velvety carpet, siddurs placed uniformly in the shelves of each bench in the synagogue, books that are read and reread, book bindings repaired, glued and strengthened, books of the colors blue and maroon, containing words of wisdom, "to do what you love to do everyday."

Tying on tefillin on your left arm, pulling it tight, pumping up the arm at the elbow and securing the leather box, counting seven times and wrapping the end of the leather strap on your hand forming a shin and wrapping it 3 times around your middle finger, a connection to G-d, a place of equal rights, both men and women wearing tefillin, full and equal access to the Kotel, women reading Torah at the Kotel and having full human rights to it all.

Praying and kissing the yellow brick, bowing one's head, wrapping one's head in a tallit, privacy, a one-to-one union with G-d. Women Rabbis leading the prayer worship services, women Cantors singing and leading the songs, men and women sitting egalitarian style lovingly one woman next to one man, filling the Sanctuary with a count over ten to form a minyan, at least ten coming back day after day, able to pray the Kaddish for dead mothers and fathers, more in a minyan because the women count.

Israel believing in the equal rights of women, supporting their women, lawful protection of women reading Torah at the Kotel, a belief in women being as strong as men, both genders having strength, equal strength, not one gender having strength at the expense of the other gender being weak.

Children growing up emotionally close to both parents, loving both parents, have nurturing from both the mother and the father, easier to obey the commandment "To honor Father and Mother." Therefore it  becomes easier to believe in a true one Almighty G-d with both parents being respected even when they are wrong.

Obeying the Commandments without fear, not giving up on a belief in G-d if someone tries to take Him away from you, keeping words of The Torah in your memory at all times, carry the words with you into the day everywhere you go, not letting someone take the words away from you.

Believing in loving-kindness and understanding, compassion, mercy and justice, and never letting this go.

FOOLISHLY FOOLING BEING A FOOL

"Three things you must know to be an adult:
• Don’t fool yourself.
• Don’t fool others.
• Don’t let others fool you.
—and do it all without trying to impress anybody."

Rabbi Shalom DovBer of Lubavitch, to his son before his bar mitzvah. Sefer Ha'Sichot 5704

[Chabad.org]

 

First of all, do not fool yourself. Convincing yourself, making up lies to follow for yourself, changing reality as you see it so you can be happy with your lot, fooling around like a fool not having a place not having a reason to be, putting on a mask that is actually transparent but not to you, laughing at other's misfortunes when your misfortunes are greater, not being able to do things but lying and saying you are, saying to others to fool them that you are endowed in great financial fortune, lies attracting people like bees to honey, finding out that there is no honey, not generous because you cannot financially afford it, saying you are rich to others to fool them that you are generous, the poor man is hated even by other poor people, poor people have no friends, poor people are despised even by their neighbors.

Trying to impress someone, lying and putting on a painted face, paint over the face but with obvious skin showing through, having small unimpressive eyes, using eye make-up to fool others into thinking you have big beautiful eyes.

Knowing the truths and not believing lies. People who cannot see and not knowing Braille, saying they can see and then never learning. People not seeing and so not believing. If you can see it you can believe it. Laughing at someone who is in greater health than you are, saying you are in greater health than they. Having bad experiences, denying them and pretending a life of innocence, not healing from the experiences.

Feeling a pain in your head vanishing as you connect with someone who shows concern. Only a fool acts like a fool. Foolishly pretending you are someone who you are not. Foolishly being arrogant but having nothing and having no one. Hiding truths, disobeying and disrespecting others, trying to stay afloat in a pirate ship war where the other boats point their canons at you. Not shooting first and staying afloat.

Steering clear of those who try to fool you, not being fooled, not fooling yourself. Enjoying all that comes your way as you deserve it and others do not, biting into a big juicy apple when cannot share it, having apples when others do not, others trying to have apples too, wanting to take your apple away.

Foolishly trying to be the apple of someone's eye even when they do not like apples and have no eyes.  

HAPPINESS

About being "happy" in a state of the giggles, laughter out loud gregariously, overeating stuffing oneself to sniggle, to chuckle, laughing at others when they fail, a sense of happiness that tips blows off your wig, slapstick, black humor, sarcasm, the Three Stooges knocking out each other's teeth, silent movies to laugh not knowing what you are laughing at, to not be able to stop laughing, needing to catch your breath, tickled, tumultuous.

To stiffen your body with good time after good time, seeing stars in a heaven instead of a ceiling, roaring at someone when they make a mistake, seeing someone fall on your discarded banana peal, finding fault everywhere with everyone and laughing at them into the ground, to be happy when someone loses, to win a contest and to then begin to squeal like a pig, to talk loudly attracting the attention of others as if you are in a spotlight, to think all eyes are upon you following you, to think you are a big deal, to be happy about these falsehoods, to be happy but not to be thankful to G-d, to steal happiness from others as they then become unhappy.

To must force a smile at someone else's will, to be smiley, to wink at others and confuse them as to your intentions, to be in a happy state of mind tripping clumsily in dance steps through tulips breathing heavy, feeling glorious as if everything every place is a tipsy tulip garden where to jerkily jump rope.

Not seeing the hopelessness of the hungry, ignoring someone who is suffering, to always be happy at another's expense, kicking down a beggar and being happy because you still have money in your pocket, happiness coming and you cannot stop it, mood swinging upwards higher and higher, not coming down-to-earth, unstable sappy outlandish emotions, laughing when there is nothing to laugh at, imagining something at which to laugh, not being able to stop.

Giggly, bubbly, like a kid, sucking on suckers, a second childhood, nothing to get done that matters, happily throwing all your goals out the window, skipping galloping kicking autumn leaves, not going anywhere, tossing out responsibility. In a fit of laughter when someone needs you, not being able to come down out of a second heaven, energies soaring and seizing.

Laughing yourself to death.

YOUR LIFE BEING AS BEAUTIFUL AS A RAINBOW

Chutzpah: guts, bravery, courage, nerve, doing what you think is right despite all odds, staying alive when others would rather see you dead, considering yourself to have value and keeping your head up, your chin up, standing upward straight, step after step continuing on your inspired path, word and word idea after idea, continuing your work and not giving up, not giving in.

Realizing that what you do is indispensable to someone's life, you and your work may be the entire world to someone who receives its benefits, what you continue to do, what you do everyday like clockwork matters. Your existence is integrally linked with the existence of others, so what you do matters, what you say matters, what you do for others matters, and also what they do for you matters.

You matter and if you were not in this world, your loss would matter to others, you and all you do exists for a reason, a reason to keep others alive, to keep a family together or work on your job continuing. You are not just filling up space, you ARE the space and without you all you do would stop, there would be people who miss you, a great void and waste would accompany this emptiness.

The love you give out and the love you receive are great enough to form a rainbow over the Earth, to be without you would be to be without all the colors of the world. You are valuable, significant, important. You matter, and all you say and do matters.

Keep on keepin' on so the rainbows continue to light up colors in your life and in the lives of others.

LIVING ALONE VS. LIVING TOGETHER

Living alone, lonesome, lonely, by oneself, no company, an empty house, an empty nest, no movement, TV only sign of life, no one to depend on, eating at an empty table, having an empty cupboard that only you fill, no one with whom to go shopping, doing only one load of laundry, no one to see how you dress or what you wear, no dinner conversation, no one with whom to laugh, trying to defend yourself in a war that is all in your mind, no warriors, no one cares, a false sense of grandiosity, dissing everyone who does not live alone, pretending you are rich to defend your reputation, calling the desperation of aloneness an existence of peace, peace with yourself because you cannot have peace with anyone else, being in control and trying to control others, no one with whom to bounce ideas off of or brainstorm with, not even owning a cat, having only one chair in your family room den so that no one else sits with you, not being able to control your speech saying words others do not like to hear, having friends who do not come over and whom you do not entertain, keeping a distance from all people, not trusting anyone, not going to or throwing parties, having only a few emotionally close relationships, always locking all your doors always fearing a break in, knowing only the neighborhood squirrel not talking to the guy who lives next door, telling no one you are lonesome, calling aloneness "privacy" to give it a positive twist, never being open with anyone to find a shoulder to cry on, instead mourning a dead family, mourning the loss of everyone but not replacing lost relationships, having a sour grapes attitude and claiming your lifestyle is the best of all possible lifestyles, not being able to get along with others, hiding, living in secrets, never opening your door when someone rings your doorbell, not answering your phone, ignoring someone who says hello when he walks by, having false hopes for a better existence, wishing you were dead, not curing illnesses when you get them, depending on your children to do everything for you, expecting help but never thanking anyone, no one with whom to compromise, no need to be diplomatic, being always inside yourself, no one who needs you, no one who wants you, nobody with whom to chat, no one to help you make decisions, nothing living and breathing in your environment other than you, an absence of love, no one to love you no one for you to love, coming home to an empty house, no one waiting for you to come home, no reason for you to do anything or be anywhere, no one keeping track, a free spirit really meaning you are not missed and are not accounted for, not contributing to anyone else's existence and no one contributing to yours, seeing as what others have being better than what you have, making phone calls to fill the void but never having the void filled.

Coming out of your closet and being with others, opening up yourself to a world of others not being afraid of people, exchanging smiles in passing, sitting in your family den with your family, singing with others and perfecting your singing voice, learning from others and teaching others, giving someone information to better their life, telling someone a story that will entertain them, throwing a birthday party for someone, dining with two or more, always having someone to eat with, to cook for, owning a dishwasher so clean up is not a problem, asking someone how he is doing how he is feeling, not just living for yourself, having a companion, pleasing someone, giving generously to someone, hugging another to keep warm and cozy, worshipping G-d with another, sharing your clothing with someone, giving someone a gift, reading someone a story, encouraging another in his pursuits, being there when he needs you, having someone there when you need them.

Having the best of everything: Letting another know that what is theirs is theirs, and what is yours is theirs.

A TREE OF LIFE THAT NEVER STOPS GROWING

Meditatively and sleepily waking up after a mantra becomes sweet song drowsing me into a sleepless day of nodding off but without an afternoon nap.

Meditation visions in the center of one's forehead as a diamond pressed in between her eyes. Having a focus purposefully to perceive the unperceivable, to feel everything everywhere and in every moment.

To feel light as a feather upon gentle whispery persuasion to defy gravity as you lift yourself up to lightly lighten a little candle. To cover one's eyes from the brightness, to open one's eyes not to cover so she sees the unseen, seeing a flash of white light when all around is dismal darkness.

To groan from the bottom of the belly like the fish who ate Jonah, to feel the source of your strength being weakness itself, taking weakness and harnessing it to hop over obstacles that do not exist.

To uncover your eyes again, to not be wary of opposition as if it never was, to skip over adversity like over a broken white picket fence that is not around your home, having a non-reaction to words that were never said, listening only to what you choose to not hear.

Having a non-reaction to obstacles, blinking them away as though they do not exist, walls that come tumbling down with Jericho. Broken brick of a wall that is easy to climb.

To keep upright as you go surfing on a lake without water waves, without a surfboard, without floating.

To be uniting but without a handshake.

Being in a world wherever you want to be, riding to the stars without a rocket.

Consistency, cunning, continuous beating of a drum without a deep bass rhythm that does not vibrate.

Step by step: "Those who drown you will be drowned and someone will drown them. He who banishes you will be banished, and he who banishes them will be banished." [Torah]

A Tree Of Life once planted that grows like a vine from Jack and the Beanstalk spilling seeds like children that never grow up.

Owning your own chair, your own comfort, seeing only what you want to see, touching only what you want to touch.

Bitter waters forever generation to generation. Sweetened by the fruit of a tree branch from a Tree of Life that never stops growing.

LETTING OUT STEAM FROM YOUR KETTLE

Steam kettle over boiling, bubbles getting bigger and bigger and bubbling more and more violently, seething at the nozzle, tipping its lid, blowing it off in a huff of gustiness, boiling kettle lid lifting off, a rocket towards the outer space, hot water spilling everywhere, getting burned, scalded, blisters popping and blood in the neck spurting.

Having no complaints, no wounds, no pains, nothing to say, no one who will listen, words to be used against you, tipping the seesaw up and down, a scale that measures too full, a problem full of more problems needing to be solved, a bad apple in a basket.

No worries, nothing to tell anyone, a tightly closed bag of secrets, steam inside getting hotter and hotter, lid beginning to lift, another blow out, another time to shoot off to the stars, a rocket of hot boiling water with no complaints.

No way we can help you, looking for another to complain, not secreting any secrets, drinking hot black tea, a sip a day keeps the doctor at bay.

WORHIPPING RATS ON GROUNDHOG DAY

Groundhog holiday, the worship of a rat, vermin guiding one's future and the prediction of your weather.

The origin being associated with the Pagan goddess Saint Brigid, dating back before 100 CE., wanting weather predictions to rain on your gardens, to pick your tomatoes, harnessing a bolt of lightening as your spear, canning the sound of thunder and dancing to it as it jolts you, stepping between raindrops, clouds, and crosses, multiple god worship, the impurities of rat worship.

Tiptoeing through the tulips over groundhog territory, not pausing on a mound of dirt, wiping the soil dust from your sandals, and climbing Mount Sinai with Moses instead.

Keeping the faith, one G-d, one G-d Echad, one G-d Almighty, Elohim, to wipe out dirt and vermin from the Earth, to keep one's backyards clean, to steer clear of Pagan worship, to stay pure and dutiful, to love your neighbor, to exterminate pests, to set traps and clean the Earth of rats so there will be no rat worship, no spreading of the Bubonic Plague, no fleas.

A VALENTINE THAT IS NOT THE COLOR RED

Scientifically, sickly getting blasts of atheism in an empty city, a place of nothing, a place of ism-ness with the closure of chapel doors, the removal of holiness, the distraught of not having a love for the divine, a puff of the disappearance of a mystical smoke-filled cloud, a sunset without colors, a rainbow of light as nothing more than a pot of gold containing no coins.

A day for a valentine that is not red, a color that instead hollers the colorlessness of a heart that does not pump, a heckle of a scary Halloween so we learn to wean, a day that means nothing except what someone else says it means.

A holiday that is not a holy day, a day that follows the sun instead of the moon, not following a new moon but instead a full moon like a wolf, a man walking on the moon but only once in a blue moon, and that is the end, that is all there is.

A yellow harvest moon without a harvest, an empty dining room table of an empty-nester cooking for two instead of for you.

A song that no one sings. A song beating on a drum as a heartbeat, that is your heartbeat, a heartbeat so that you can feel love, to love to ask a question, questioning love itself. Love not being a legal right without marriage, love being everything but with no one.

Not to love, not to feel. Not to feel love. Feeling the love that is missing as a waterfall overflowing, no daily requirement of vitamins in your foods, having lunch without her, being in love with no one at every bite, eating heartless tasteless foods.

Being the source and creator of your own love as prepared for you on your own plate, loving being forthcoming creatively and unconditionally, to love everyone, everywhere, on your own island, in a big city, in the absence of redness, in the presence of all colors, with a beating heart that beats every color.

Riding a horse of a different color in The Land Of Oz and following a carrot on a horse's nose, being in love as a Valentine that is not the color red.

 

SWEETENING YOUR RIVER NILE WITH THE WORDS OF THE TORAH

Bowing from the waist in a full bend over and over again facing east, standing on one foot shifting body weight from side to side, the Kaddish is coming, the room is filling up, counting everyone as they enter the chapel, Torah inside the Ark beckoning from behind the Ark's cabinet doors, it cries from the inside asking to be removed, to be opened, a Torah is life and a Torah is alive.

Throwing a piece of wood into the River Nile to sweeten its bitter waters, being waters that become holy waters, a Torah is a piece of wood so sweet, a fruit tree, not to have its fruits picked until its third year.

Tossing a Torah quote into the dinner table conversation to sweeten the wine, hearing words of wisdom as the waters become sweet, and even sweeter knowing we have our prayers, to pray and to daven inside or outside a temple.

G-d is "macom," He is everywhere. He is our own words as we sweetly whisper a blessing, as we stand out on a seashore sandy shoreline singing the Shema as loud as our lungs can gasp! Again sweetening the waters as we sweeten our words.

To see each water wave come in one after the other, sweetened as the Nile with the words of The Torah as a winding branch of wood, a winding ram's horn shofar, a woodwind like an oboe playing in an orchestra of dune grass brushing against each other with castanets sounding from a cricket's legs clicking, as the sea is sweetened. Walking home with a sweet smile upon your face.

Sweet words, sweet waters, sweet singing, sweet golden raisins, sweetly smiling.