#yearofyes2017

About to get some grub overlooking the river. #visitsavannah #riverstreet #stpatricksweekend #yearofyes2017 #healing #atleaders #chooseATL #ubuntu😎 #creative_savannah #creative_ATL (at Top Deck Savannah)

Day 2 late lunch!! Energy is coming back, but sure does wear quickly 😄Parade was nice and everyone is having a great time,but it appears the crowds are not my thing anymore 😌 Nice to ride out to Whitemarsh Island with Mark and Adelaide for a break from the crowd. #creative_ATL #visitsavannah #creative_savannah #chooseATL #atleaders #ubuntu😎 #yearofyes2017 #healing (at Papa's BBQ & Seafood)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! :) Yesterday was a good day getting back out into the world. :) So nice seeing and interacting with people. :) Today is going to be more steps in the healing direction :) Today in "The Book of Joy - Lasting Happiness in a Changing World" by His Holiness Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the book goes over the two religious leaders sitting down for lunch but the conversation transitions into the topics of bringing together religious traditions and the great challenge we have today for the need of tolerance. Seeing that there are over 7 billion people on this earth, it is not possible for everyone to be Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, and the list goes on. We have to live together. In order to do this and live happily, we must respect each others traditions. They have concluded, there is nothing wrong with faiths, the problem is with the faithful. The problem is intolerance and fanaticism which is flaring all around the world. As I sit here and piece together this message today and what it is saying to me, I realize that I am guilty of this very thing. Not the intolerance or fanaticism, but the inward skepticism when I encounter things, ideas, and situations that are not familiar. I really like the Dalai Lama's take on it. He was brought up with much formality and that formality breeds nervousness and block understanding. He says now he meets people on a human to human level with no formality. On this road to Joy, my practice today and moving forward is to greet each person on a human to human level with no formality. You see, when we are born there is no formality, When we die there is no formality. Formality is artificial, man created and it creates additional barriers. Irrespective of our beliefs we are all the same human beings and we all want a happy life. :) #chooseATL #atleaders #visitsavannah #yearofyes2017 #ubuntu😎 #stpatricksday (at Backwoods Hollar)

Winding down Day 1 of recovery with dinner. #pulledchicken #greenbeans #slaw time for rest now and on to day 2. #chooseATL #atleaders #visitsavannah #yearofyes2017 #ubuntu😎 (at Sandfly BBQ)

Lunch on Day 1 of recovery!! Thank you Travis and Alan for taking me out for a nice lunch. #grilledshrimps #grilledveggies #rice #visitsavannah #creative_savannah #creative_ATL #atleaders #chooseATL #yearofyes2017 #healing #ubuntu😎 (at Wasabis Downtown)

Good Monday Morning!! Today's contemplation comes from "The Book of Joy- Lasting Happiness in a Changing World," by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The two of them start it off discussing what we have discussed many times here. The main problem with people pursuing Joy and Happiness is that people are focused exclusively on external, materialistic values and are not concerned at all with their inner values. It is very difficult to follow this profound revelation. When you are pursuing Happiness, you are not going to find it, it is very elusive. You most certainly don't find it by saying, "I am going to forget about everything and just pursue happiness." It's wonderful to discover that what we want is not actually Happiness. What we really want is Joy and Joy subsumes Happiness. Joy is the far greater thing. So, what is this thing called Joy? Joy seems to blanket a wide expanse of emotions. Paul Ekman has written that Joy is associated the feelings as varied as: pleasure, amusement, contentment, excitement, relief, wonder, ecstasy or bliss, exultation, radiant pride, unhealthy jubilation, elevation, gratitude, rejoicing, delight or enchantment, and spiritual radiance. This helpful mapping of Joy conveys its complexity and it's subtlery. Joy can span from the pleasure of others good fortune to the pleasure of others bad fortune. Joy certainly does embrace all of these human experiences but lasting Joy--Joy as a way of being is born from deep well being and benevolence. The question here is how can we cultivate joy as a way of being and not just a temporary feeling? Tomorrow we will come a step closer to answering that question. :) #atleaders #visitsavannah #chooseATL #creative_savannah #creative_ATL #yearofyes2017 #healing #😄 (at Savannah, Georgia)

Good Friday Morning!! :) Things went well yesterday after all of the labs came back. I am on the road to recovery :) Now, more rest, complete taking all of the meds, and start light activity next week. :) I am looking forward to getting back on task at the gym with Kimberly Wiley Saxon the next few weeks then with Ray Potts and Trey Harris when I return to Atlanta. You see, the gym is the best therapy to keep my id, ego and super ego in line. :) Today I will take a look at Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's "Eight Steps To Happiness." Learning to Cherish Others is the practice of the day. What is the "ultimate, supreme goal of human life? For many it is material possessions, like cars, houses, boats, etc. Many try to find the meaning of life in relationships with family and their circle of friends. All of these things make us superficially happy for a very short period of time, but they also consume most of our time with worry and suffering. None of these things mentioned can give us the pure everlasting happiness that all of us, in out heart of hearts, long for. It is only logical, seeing that we cannot take any of these things with us when we die, that we need not look to them for happiness. We are faced with a choice: either we can continue to squander our life pursuing worldly enjoyments that give no real satisfaction and disappear when we die, or we can dedicate our lived to realizing our full spiritual potential. All we need to do in order to start realizing our spiritual potential is to change our object of cherishing. Now, instead of cherishing ourselves above all others, we need to flip the switch. Starting today, learn and practice the art of cherishing others over ourselves. Once we start doing this, all other spiritual realizations will naturally start to flow. #atleaders #choose_atl #creative_savnnah #creative_ATL #tgif #visitsavannah #yearofyes2017 #healing #springisintheair (at Savannah, Georgia)