ESSAY # 1 Hair-balls and laughter

Good day dear friend.

I hope you will allow me to address you as a “dear friend” in this group email. My typing skills, and lack of physical dexterity are such that what would take a person of average skills maybe 15 to 30 minutes to complete will take me an hour or two. I mean no disrespect and hope you also think of me as a dear friend of yours.

Some (most?) of you will know that after about a year of  being on Face book, I have decided that it was not quite satisfying what I am trying to
accomplish. That said, I am not clear, myself, on what it is that I am trying to facilitate. Community; conversation; observation; sharing; etc.

What I, personally, am not so keen on: joining any organization; having a specific agenda; converting anyone or claiming ownership.

Here I go.

Today I wish to say something about “hair-balls and laughter”.
(Transparency requires that I reveal that I am not a cat fan nor am I a frequent laugher.)

I have an unhealthy attraction to the woes of the world. Unhealthy in much the same way as the practice of tornado chasing or rushing forward to get a close-up view of  a multi-vehicle crash and catching a glimpse of victims, both the dead and the survivors.

Like other addictions, attraction to the woes of the world is a constant threat to my sobriety. Oh, I can handle just one world calamity. No I cannot!

I must be constantly aware of the power and pull of the darkness. Turn quickly away from the dark and re-direct myself to the light. The light
will save me; and it will attract ever more light to me.

One would think that repeated lessons will produce lesson learned. Not so with addictions; hiding as they do just beyond the light. But there are ways to jolt the light into the power of an outdoor search light that crosses the night sky to draw you to a grand opening of a new business. This jolt of light will drive the darkness back into smallest corner of our being.
This jolt of light serves much the same purpose as does the coughing up a hair-ball does for a cat. Once expelled, the cat is relieved and is so more at peace. The cat will accept that there will be hair-balls to be expelled in the future but for this moment there is total peace.

How can I find my way to jolt my light? Reflect on things that you turn to nourish your soul. For me that will be music, books, friends, reflection, prayer. But these are my on-going sources of light.

But what can I turn to for a real jolt? Earlier today I was talking with one of my brothers to whom I  was recently re-connected. There was instant recognition that a powerful love bond remained undiminished over time and space. So we have immediate access to intimate conversation. I was down and everything I was saying had a negative edge (the woes of the world pushing back) and then he said something that was so funny and caught me
completely off guard that I laughed out-loud. And it jolted my light! It expelled my hair-ball!

It so lifted me up that I felt renewed. As to the power of laughter; no doubt.
To love and laugh: doesn’t get any better than that. (Michael Z; this one is for you!)