(Photo Diamante Eco Park Costa Rica)
This simple counsel, "never lose your sense of curiosity and wonder," is printed inside the lip of a mug from Costa Rica. The inquisitive expression of the ring-tailed lemur caricature instantly cheers me; the vivid tropical orange, yellow, and greens shout, "Pura Vida!" Pure Life! I giggle at my acquiring this at an overpriced gift shop at Diamante Nature Park. "What am I thinking, I've forked out for the travel here, spent a fortune on zip-lining, and I'm gonna spend more money on a coffee mug!" "Geesh Mom! You don't need another fricking cup!" Both are valid points!
(Copyright 2022 Shawn Axten) This mug was the only physical memento from our family adventure of snorkeling, sailing, zip-lining, chatting with locals in broken Spanish, and learning the culture - right before the world shut down in 2020 from COVID-19. Que Suerte! Well, that and a slowly-savored bag of local coffee beans. The memories are lovely, yet to my disappointment, I don't always take the time to conjure them up. Remembering happy moments takes practice, time, and effort. I am often so lost in the frustrations of the day that I don't stop and say, " ... but, I remember a fragment in time framed in kindness, in a foreign country, laughing with my wonderful children and spouse - and I choose to think of that - with just this breath." Please! I am not promoting buying tchotchke to clutter your home. Refer to the book The Chotchky Challenge, by Barry Dennis. Instead, I am encouraging us to surf through the oceans of Kodachrome moments in our lives, the sips of accumulated joy, and to memorize the feeling of presence!
(Photo Diamante Eco Park Costa Rica)
Truthfully, during a personal program to rewire my nervous system toward health, joy, and freedom - Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS) by Annie Hopper - I practiced unfolding the juicy details of peak life experiences like origami flowers. Feeling the moment again, in present-time, with each new sensuous detail popping to the light, bringing a heartful of joy, and recognition of LIVING! The shock to me was that having lived years with chronic Lyme infection, mind fog, muscle, and joint pain, crushing fatigue, paralysis, and seizures, overwhelm at making it through the daily demands of work, raising a family, maintaining relationships, and self-care, I was at a complete loss to remember a "happy moment." Seriously, it was an actual challenge to find a special time, and then not just glance longingly (knowing it would never come again) but to feel the sensuous expression of life captured instantly by my nervous system long ago. I felt frozen, stiff, and numb. Like looking at a freeze-frame moment of joy in someone else's movie, I was too stunned by the fight, flight, or freeze reaction to my daily life challenges to truly feel the memory.
(Copyright 2022 Candace Pringle) As I practiced spending 30 minutes a day allowing a mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical "re-enactment" of the experience to come alive, writing down each subtle nuance, I began to thaw emotionally. I remembered how it felt to be happy. Hmm, ... yes, practicing joy, and retraining my nervous system to allow this as an option in the menu of emotional life experiences available to me, now. As astounding as it was to know I had forgotten how to be truly joyful, it was also miraculous how many more wonderful memories flooded my consciousness, each rich and poignantly UNFORGETTABLE, simply by creating an opening to the storehouse! I chose to use the newly acquired key to the vault, a veritable warehouse of joy, and to train its access like a champion athlete patterning in a precision physical performance, accessible at any instant without thought and effort. Neurological research, long ago, determined that the brain cannot distinguish between having an experience and remembering an experience.
(Copyright 2022 Shawn Axten) It is scary to think of the thoughts or memories that I do allow to change my neural patterns and body chemistry. Try it! Pick a dastardly event in the daily news and notice how awful, heartbroken, or pissed off you AND your body feel. Now, stop, take a refreshing breath, and think of your first dirt bike ride, or a friend giving you a high five for the winning goal or assist, or the birth of your sister's first child. Feel the instant difference in your mind, body, and spirit. Feel the awe and wonder of life, and the immense joy right at your grasp - right this very second!
(Copyright 2022 Bruce Axten) The chore of applying this training to break old habits was cumbersome at first. I would notice an old challenge or symptom trigger and I would dramatize it. Then I would say or think, "stop, I choose to experience this in a new way," and I would open my vault of joy and let it flow through me. That might look like seeing a piled up messy kitchen, "shoot, I'm exhausted, I need to get work done and to help the kids with homework, and get dinner started, and ...Aaagh! I can't do this!" Instead, I would stop, breathe, open my vault until I felt the flow of joy, experience a time of joyous celebration, then project it into the future feeling myself do a celebration dance as the shining kitchen laughs with me; I'd put some fun music on and dive in, realizing that I have an endless supply of fuel to carry me through each task. I also had to develop the subtle skill of listening to my body, knowing when to ask for help, prioritizing to leave things on the list for the next day, and when to take a nap, always celebrating being alive.
(Copyright 2022 Sarah Lage) I AM! I am here now. "Pura Vida! Nunca Pierdas la Curiosidad y el Asombro." Let that coffee cup wisdom shine your moment in a different direction. Through the challenging yet rich holiday season, practice the way you want your life to feel, and tiny step-by-step, more joyous moments will catch you along your path. You might find yourself zip-lining in Costa Rica, or sipping a blissful warm cup of remembrance - both just as remarkably satisfying. Bon voyage, and joyful practicing!
(Copyright 2022 Shawn Axten) Love, Light, and Laughter, Asha Shawn
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