It's the A to Zed Challenge! I'll be posting the first half of the month from Ottawa where I'm staying with my youngest and his partner and their newest - a little guy who was born the end of March. Yay!
Theme? Writing and Life is what comes to me... how to balance the writing life with the other tugs you may have...
The ABCDEaria of the Writing Life -
M is for Merry
To be merry is a gift and it bestows on the person who is merry as well as those she is around. Having a talent for joy is no little feat. It is like most talents one hears about - it takes work. It may come naturally to some more than others, I don't doubt that, but it needs tending all the same. My brother has a talent for merriness and I have watched how he takes care of it over the years. Life has handed him, on average, the same sorts of lemons and diamond mix we all get. Which would you rather be handed on the desert? Not diamonds, you can be sure. My brother gets that and seems to have made a conscious decision to like what he has, whether up or down, gold or dross, he enjoys the hell out of it. To be merry isn't to be confused with giddy or silly.
In the King James Version of the bible you may find this verse:
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Luke 12:19
Solomon said " A merry heart doeth good like medicine."
John Lyly said " A merry companion is as good as a wagon."
Being on the look out for opportunities to be merry makes me sure to balance out my life of art and ...well...life. I cannot take myself too seriously and that my pals, is a damn good thing.
So take your medicine, develop your merry muscle.
3 comments:
It's the glass half full or half empty...we can make a choice.
Jan - I think being merry has a lot to do with how we choose to see the world, and what we choose to do about it. This is a wonderful reminder that we can choose to upbeat about life.
I think as we grow up we forget how to be merry and enjoy life. We need to remind ourselves that there is still joy, we just need to spread a little of it with a smile or kind word.
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