The river of life runs through some interesting places…don’t it?
I recently helped a female version of Puddleglum move to a new apartment in the city.
Now, I am decidedly not an oppressively happy person; My life is a bit to ironic for that. I do however try to keep an upbeat attitude, even if it is seasoned with a bit of sarcasm coming from a congenital defect in my left foot (see my post on the sarcasm bone)!
Sweet Puddle, however, was enough to make even Pollyanna commit hara kiri. Nothing we did was good enough. We weren’t working fast enough. We couldn’t give enough. She didn’t have enough this…that..or the other and a few days later the whole move was a stupid idea forced on her by people who were just plain mean. Needless to say I barely escaped with my life or my sanctification.
In a conversation with her I tried to be encouraging. “At least you’re in. It’s a new place. Tell me one thing that has been good about this move.”
Y’know I thought she would at least mention the team of people who had come to help her. What I got was, “Nothing…There is nothing to be happy about!”
Like I said… interesting places.
Through the years I have met many Puddleglums and wondered what it is that inspires them to see that there is nothing to be happy about. Recently I’ve been tempted to become one myself. In the process I’ve learned something: It’s not that there is nothing to be happy about; It’s that something used to define happiness has turned to nothing.
In this lady who was forced to move, what blinded her to happiness was the removal of her familiar surroundings. The river was taking her somewhere she didn’t want to go. The river takes us all to places we would rather not go.
We can choose to lose our joy.
We can choose to say “There’s nothing to be happy about.”
We can also choose to realize, that statement is a lie and that nothing really has something inside of it if we just look deep enough…something we can be happy about. If nothing else being left with nothing gives us a chance to start a new adventure.
What new adventures are you on?
Reinventing the We'll 