Make believe you carried a bag with dreams that you left with people each night.  What are some within the bag?

Make believe you could perform  your dream act for the circus.  What would you do?

Share with us.

The key to happiness lies in ”strength of mind, inner serenity and a quality like steadfastness,” says the Dalai Lama in an interview published in The Washington Post Nov. 6, 2010.    I have no doubt that inner serenity is one of the keys to happiness; it is something that is missing from my life and something which I am trying to cultivate, but with little success.   I find myself searching for peace and quiet to calm me down from all the rigors of life, but it is a difficult battle.  I’m not sure when, if ever, I will succeed.

What about you?  What do you think is the key to happiness?  Share with us.

Listen to a calming, beautiful piece of music. What pictures come into your head?

Share with us.

I was reading a book review of ”Driving on the Rim” by Thomas McGuane which quotes a character who observes that ”of all the mysteries of life, nothing was more mysterious than the return of happiness.”  That quote seemed to touch me because I can remember many times, in going through unhappy periods. when  I thought that joy and happiness would never return.  But then a time  finally, with some grace, comes when the clouds are lifted — even if temporarily — and I was able to experience once again the pleasure that also accompanies life.   Those of the moments when I give thanks, when I try to show appreciation for the good that has re-entered my life.

What about you?  Do you remember how it felt when happiness returned to your life after a time of sadness.  What was it like for you?  Can you remember?

Imagine for a moment you were one of the miners who had been trapped for many weeks deep below in the mine in Chile and were finally rescued this week.  While waiting for rescue, you had vowed to yourself that if you ever got out of the mine alive you would change your life for the better.  How will you live your life now?

Please share with us.

While imprisoned in China for fighting for human rights and a more democratic political system, Liu Xiaobo last Friday won the Nobel Peace Prize. The 54-year-old former literature professor was one of the main authors of Charter ’08, a pro-democracy manifesto that calls for expanded liberties and the end to single-party rule in China.  He was convicted last December of ”inciting subversion of the state.” The Chinese government has denounced Mr. Liu’s award as ”blasphemy” and has imposed a blackout on news about it.  Mr. Liu’s wife, Liu Xia,  has been placed under house arrest. A Wall Street Journal commentator asked this week, ”How powerful can a state be if it is terrified of a single man?”

I ask myself where does Mr. Liu get his courage to fight for his beliefs and to live through the terrible ordeal of losing his own freedom and having to live in a jail.   I’m not sure I would have his strength or convictions.  What about you?

Make believe you invested a new season.  What kind of weather would there be?  Your season’s name?

There was an obituary in The New York Times this week (”Eileen Nearne, Wartime Spy, Dies at 89”, September 22, 2010) about the exploits of a British spy who bravely fought against the Nazis during World War II.  She was one of 39 British women who were parachuted into France as secret agents by the British to conduct espionage and sabotage being enemy lines.  After several narrow escapes, she was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to concentration camps. Savagely beaten and tortured by the Gestapo, she never gave up any secrets — she was only 23 years old at the time.   She was forced to do very hard labor, such as road repair for 12 hours a day at the camps, but eventually she escaped.  Asked after the war how she managed to keep up hope, Ms. Nearne replied: ”The will to live.  Willpower.  That’s the most important.  You should not let yourself go.  It seemed that the end would never come, but I always believed in destiny, and I had a hope.”

”If you are a person who is drowning,” she said, ”you put all your efforts into trying to swim.”

I’m not sure I could be as brave as Ms. Nearne was, but her words will  truly inspire me as I  confront the dark times in my own life.  What are the words of comfort you remember as your fight your own battles and try to keep up hope?  Please share with us.

For Jewish people these recent days are the holiest in the year, a time when they review their lives during the past year. They think about the sins they may have committed and try to atone for them as they await God’s decision on whether they will be given another year of life.  In some ways it is a sweet time because it marks the beginning of a new year,  but in  most other ways it is a very severe, even frightening period when people question themselves and worry about what God has decided for them. Who wouldn’t be afraid, even sad?

I try my best each of my days to lead a useful, helpful life, but I have also experienced much sickness and lost many people whom I loved.   I have learned there are no guarantees about anything in life, about whether our health will be good or bad, about whether we will stay alive or die, about whether good or bad things will come into our lives.  We can only pray for the best and struggle as mightily as we can to accept each day with all its beauty and, yes,  even its pain, and continue to march steadily ahead in life and in the world.

These thoughts come to me as I mull over some recently articles I read that caught my attention.

In one, I  read about a place of worship where Jews and Christians gather each week to pray and sing and to participate in a ritual in which people place rocks representing  their concerns and troubles  a bowl.  The rock seems, to me, to be a good symbol of trouble.

Then I  read about an American psychiatrist who works in Gaza to help Palestinian refugees and those whose families have been hurt by political violence.  He tries to help them find anchor as they live lives of hardship and pain.  At one workshop in his program, children were asked to draw three images: themselves, their biggest worry and what it looks like after their problem is solved. Perhaps in doing so, they will find some hope or safety in their spirit.

In another newspaper I saw a photo of the New York harbor where for the past eight years New York Buddhist Church members and other have gathered at a pier to hear music and prayers and to place lanterns in the Hudson River as a tribute to those lost in the terrorist attacks.  People write the names or messages of peace on the lanterns, a tradition that is observed each hear in Horoshima, Japan, in honor of the victims of the atomic bombing 65 years ago.  I thought this was such a beautiful gesture.

Each of the things I read about, and which are reported above,  are ways for people to deal with the pain in their lives and that of others and to find a way to gather strength as they continue living in the days ahead.  So, the questions that come to me are:

.What rock of concern would I place in a bowl?

.What would I draw to describe my biggest worry and what would it look like if the worry were diminished or went away?

.And, lastly, what message of prayer or hope would I place on a lantern floating in the water?

I will think about this but I want to ask: How will you answer those questions, too?

Share with us if you wish. Happy New Year!  May it bring you peace and joy and good health.