Date Number 1
She told me that she was considering to talk to a life coach to guide her on her search for happiness, on what she was looking for in life. I replied that I was reading a book on the theme of happiness and told her that one of the things that I remembered of it was that searching for happiness makes you unhappy. And then I added, unhappy people search for happiness.
I'm not sure if this is exactly what I said but she - logically - started defending herself by saying:
I'm not unhappy.
I told her that I could see that.
Now I'm not saying that I'm necessarily happy and that I'm not searching for happiness myself but suffice to say that this date didn't lead to a second one.
It helped that we were walking all the time, it makes it easier to talk and to look away, as well as to split up. There's no need to excuse yourself and walk to the rest room, to then send an S.O.S. or escape through the bathroom window.
What about Corona?
In case you wondered about the title to this post... No, her name wasn't Corona. We didn't drink Corona either. In fact, we didn't drink a thing, we just walked.
I'm not sure if it's a brave thing to date in times of corona.
What do you think?
I can't help but think that one ( possible ) date didn't reply to my message due to the whole Corona thing. Perhaps that's just my Ego talking ;>)
Guaranteed Unhappiness - The News
I just checked the ( Dutch ) news - something I try to do as little as I can - and found out there's a first corona casualty in The Netherlands. Now that is exactly why I hardly check the news.
Apparently it was an 86 year old man. I must admit that this is somewhat of a relief. I wonder how many people 80 years and older died of normal flu since the Corona outbreak? Not that the media will tell us that.
Apparently the prime minister tweeted his condolences to the old man's family.
Seriously?
Let's pause for a bit
and take a deep breath in and then let out a sigh...
Date Number 2
I'm having another first date today. I wonder if we will talk about corona. I know she likes wine, so she's probably not into Mexican beer, nor am I these days. In fact, I try to drink as little alcohol as possible.
Let's be honest, I am seriously considering to joke about the C word when we first meet. Dutch people are very much used to greeting each other with three kisses on the cheeks or - if they are nervous, frigid or formal, a mere handshake.
I am the kisses/ hugs type, although I'm used to two kisses in Portugal, so things get somewhat confusing now. The question is...
Will I try to just make it a hug - hugging has been on the rise in the last decade or so - will I go for the three kisses or perhaps even give the shoe greeting a try?
In case you haven't heard about the shoe greeting. I believe two politicians used this type of welcoming each other, possibly as a joke, due to the C virus.
Anyhow, this wasn't meant to be a post on Corona, nor was it meant to be a write up on dating, I hoped to talk a little about happiness.
So let's conclude with the H word.
H is for Happiness.
I will now throw in a couple of lines from the notorious Osho ( a guru known from the Netflix series Wild, Wild Country ) - who was a great writer. I hope those lines make you feel a little better instantly ( be aware that I translated them from Portuguese so they might not exactly contain the same message as the original):
Happiness consists of entering your inner world.
To which he adds: the harder it is to get through, the bigger the reward will be.
If you confront your unhappiness, you will start feeling happy, your unhappiness will start to disappear.
Your unhappiness will ( then ) start to feel like something that is separate from you.
He continues pointing out that the above has always been the case and that, when you realize this, you will feel an explosion of happiness / joy.
I read the above and took notes, while drinking a good cup of coffee, my first in 3 days, with oat milk (according to Osho, this would be considered the first and lowest level of the four levels of happiness: pleasure).
To get back to the aforementioned quote, I won't say I felt joy explode in me instantly but it sure made me feel better. As if a heavy weight was lifted.
( Positive ) Words Don't Stick ( easily )
I can't help but feel though, and I guess it's only human, that these kind of wise words never really stick. We are having way too many thoughts and tend to often focus our attention on the stuff that isn't helpful or kind. This doesn't mean though, that writing these words down and repeating them - I have a cute little notebook for this - doesn't have any effect at all. It's a matter of repetition though, of finding the words that work for you and making them part of your dictionary and or vocabulary.
I hope to be able to spread a little bit of the positivity that I feel right now - and that I felt when I read and wrote these words - over the interwaves to you.
You might wanna read the above words on happiness several times and ponder on their message for a while.
Much love and joy,
Vincent
The photo above this post is an actual picture from today, that I took just before my pleasurable coffee and cheese croissant moment.
Mindful Life is a space within Natural Medicine whose aims are to unite meditators across the Steem blockchain so that we can share and strengthen our own practices. We aim to provide a space to discuss the philosophy, science and practical application of such practices in our lives, to inspire and motivate each other, and to provide support if we might be struggling, connecting with like minded people who might offer solutions.
