The Two Whos

In 1988,  a song came over the air waves by Bobby McFerrin  called “Don’t Worry. Be Happy.” The song was a simple solution to complex problems, but was a good song to remember when things got hard and you needed to lighten up a bit!    It was the first a cappella song to make it big! Part of the lyrics are “in every life we have some trouble….” and The Whos thought of this  song as they wrote this post.

It has been raining cats and dogs lately.  So, you hear lots of cheers as well as lots of  curses.  People have their own reasons and their own likes and dislikes, so we are happy and not happy accordingly.

A friend of Yun’s loves swimming.  She would swim everyday if she could.  So, Sunny days are her best friends.  She is as cheerful as the sunshine, bubbling with joy for life.   The past months have been unpleasant for her with all the rain and thunder and overcasting sky.  You hear her complaints more about things in life. It seems when the Sun and clouds are not collaborating, nothing else in the world works. She has the excuse  to be unhappy, and she makes it clear and she sticks to it.

Well, it so happens, that an old friend of Yun’s  is a gardener! He loves gardening  and has  a house on the hill with  lots of land to tinker with.  However, friends joke with him and call him  “such a grumpy old man” because he has such strong political positions.  Unfortunately, our political environment has not been to  his liking for many years.   But lately, instead of politics, he sings the praises of  how wonderful the rain has been,  how refreshing the air smells and how lush his garden is now….On and on, he is beaming with cheers and joy.   He is happy for a very good reason, and he makes clear of that.

One day, after a  chat with both of them  back to back, Yun starts to laugh  and marvel at the human’s incredible capacity to be happy or to be unhappy.  The physicist Yun said to the artist  Cece, ” It is almost like in scientific research… one makes a hypothesis, and starts to design an experiment to collect data to prove the hypothesis.  In most cases, one manages to find the data to prove that your  hypothesis is correct!”  Cece giggles too.

Why is it that we allow our minds to take such control  of us that we determine our happiness by the rain or the current political climate or whether we can swim or not?  What if we enjoyed each moment as it presents itself…and what if we could be here now…and relish in the very moment we are in…whether we are driving or walking or working or doing a repetitive task?  Could we perhaps find joy in those little moment by moment things that are happening right now?    What if our mind went astray and went to being unhappy about the political climate?  Could we re-direct it into the here and now and focus on this moment only?

If we decide to be happy, we will find the reasons.  If we decide not to be happy, we can find the reasons too…. The reasons for both are only  in our mind’s eyes.  Make sure that what your mind’s eye sees is working for you… not against you  “Don’t worry, be happy” and make it so!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

Cece works at an agency that supports people with disabilities.  It is a multi- faceted agency that provides many services and supports.  One  part of the agency that is in Corrales,  has 4 greenhouses.   In the fall,  they grow over 8000 poinsettia!  Through out the year they grow  organic wheat grass that gets sold to wheat grass lovers and then the majority is sold  to Keva Juice.  They also grow lots of bedding plants and flowers year round.

Recently they were gifted with an organic farm!  Many departments at the agency have taken turns going out to the farm to team build and do some weeding.  As they found out this morning, weeds abound! In the midst of the weeds are asparagus and berries, garlic, tomatoes and other veggies.  They sell this produce to local restaurants.

The management team arrived at the farm!  Some had  experience…. and some  realized they were better off behind a desk!

Cece received instruction in how to wield a hoe and then it was determined that she would do better with a wheel barrow.  She learned that once her weeds were picked up and piled and balanced perfectly in her wheelbarrow,  then she would cart them a way. Others were pulling weeds in other rows and  when she would come back down the cleaned up row,  she discovered that   more weeds would be thrown “willy nilly” into her cleaned up  row…a metaphor for life…often  we have to deal with other people’s weeds.  But , we have to focus on pulling up the weeds in  our own  lives, taking the trash out to the curb and then  being willing to let the garbage man take the trash away rather than to hold onto it…..all life lessons that need to be learned and re-learned in our lives.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

The Saturday Morning Rendezvous will be a place to stop in and meet up  on a weekend morning.  Have a cup of tea or coffee, a special breakfast,  and relax and catch up from the week’s fast pace.  The Two Whos will focus Saturday’s content on physical wellness , food and fitness of all types.  Come back and rendezvous with us!    See you next  Saturday!  Thanks for visiting.

Gavin is turning 9.  Yun is having a similar  dilemma regarding  what to buy her younger son as she did when her older son  turned 10 (A gift that arouse deep appreciation of a 10 year old?).   Yun is lost again.  Since Gavin’s father will be  hosting  a swimming party for Gavin’s classmates a week later, she knows he will get lots of gifts then!  Yun  has decided that ” over gifting” …with all these  toys  for kids is  over rated when  celebrating one’s birthday.   What could she do  then to make the birthday special for him?

Friends are what come to Yun’s mind.  So,  Yun called upon a  couple of old friends, whose boys were in preschool together with Gavin.  She invited the boys over as a surprise for Gavin.  One of the families moved out of town for three or so years and just moved back to town… So, the boys have not seen seen each other for about 3 years.  That’s a very long time for a 9 year old!

“It is not a traditional birthday party, so no presents please.  Just your presence would be greatly appreciated.”  Having said that to her friends, Yun felt the need to explain to Gavin about having a birthday celebration but without birthday presents.  Gavin’s eyes opened wide upon hearing such  an outlandish idea or nonsense, “what? No presenst for a birthday party?”

“Well, no toy presents, that is.  But people’s presence would be a  nice present by itself, isn’t it?:    Yun is trying to convey the message as clear as she can….that the child’s friendship is the gift. “I guess.”  the boy says reluctantly.   It is hard for him to look at a birthday celebration differently since all he knows about birthday celebrations is nothing but about ice cream cake and presents.

Also, parents are often tempted to invite many little ‘friends’ over, so to see the birthday child’s face lit up seeing a pile of birthday presents, much like Christmas presents.  Yun wonders what else could we bring that puts  sparkles into a child’s eye besides the glittering wrapping papers and ribbons?  Well,   when Gavin greets his “old” friends at the door, he begins to understand that their friendship is the gift and his  eyes are sparking with pure joy and innocence!

Oh,but let’s not forget the cake!  This time, no store brought mini cheese cake.   Although Yun does not bake,  that does not stop her from making a birthday cake for Gavin on the morning of his birthday.  You should have seen Gavin’s eyes light up seeing the candle lit cake ! His mouth was wide open and salivating! He blew out the candles and he ate  the whole cake just as Yun has expected!  Well, Gavin is a good eater, unlike his brother,  but a whole cake for breakfast?

Off course!  Why not?  Especially if you make the cake with brown rice, decorated with  “Gavin’s favorite chili oil” or the “I do not know chili oil” and soy sauce!  That’s his most favorite food in the “whole wild world”. Gavin says it is the world’s  weirdest cake, and he loves it.  Happy birthday, Gavin!

Cece wonders what’s the next crazy idea Yun will have for the boys birthday next year?  Noodle cake or a day of working at a  food bank?  Who knows…Yun is trying to teach her children that gifts that glitter are not to be depended on to create happiness.  More and more stuff does not make one more and more happy!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

Cece was minding her own business one day when  all of a sudden the phone rang.  It was Yun.  “Cece I need a word!”  Cece asked, ” A word?  What kind of word.”  Yun said, ” I just need a word!  I am in big trouble.  I need a word.”  Yun was swallowing food and  she replied with great urgency.  Cece wondered if she had Regis on the line and was playing “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”  On the show,  you could phone a friend and get the answer and Cece thought perhaps  Yun was about to win a lot of money!

Cece could not understand why needing a word would get  Yun in trouble…but apparently Yun was in a great hurry with her sentences being very short and abrupt.  So, Cece  began suggesting words to Yun.  None of the words were satisfactory.  As the ‘conversation’ went on with no words suggested… being accepted, Cece discovered that this was just  like a guessing game!    It turned out that Yun needed a specific and challenging word that would temp and challenge her  fellow Toastmasters in the club meeting.  Yun was running late!  The meeting was to start in 20 minutes and  Yun needed to leave her house  in ten  so as  not to be late!

Well, little did Cece know that Yun needed not only a word, but its part of speech, its derivation, examples of  its use in several sentences  and then needed  to print it out so she could  post it in the meeting!

Finally Yun accepted a word that was given and Cece rushed to get her thesaurus to look up synonyms and get further information for Yun.  Did Cece mention that she had 12 minutes since the start of the call to get this info so Yun would not be late for her meeting?  Yun typed and printed as Cece quickly searched and researched! In between Cece ’s  pausing, Yun had to put make up on, lucky for her, all she uses is lip stick!

Cece was a bit weary,  but she sent Yun off with a “Good Luck!  Let me know how it goes!”    Yun was worried about being late. Would she make it in time?  The Whos are very different in their approach to time.  One is always late and the other is always early!   Sure, she was only 1 minute late!  She  snuck into the meeting room with the mischievous smile… The result? 80% of the attendees used the word in different contexts and Yun counted it as a great success as Word Master for the day!

If you are wondering why Yun had to call Cece last minutes?  Well, who to call when you so screwed up?  Your most reliable friend who helps even in the most confusion and clueless situation.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

Yun and Cece had not actually seen each other for what seemed like a very long time.   They decided to meet for tea and to catch up.    But, they could not find each other and they were even  sitting 2 seats away from each other!  Cece had her hair long and down,  and there is  something in her that sparks the youthfulness of life …

So, when the Whos  finally sat down to chat over the tea, they began to explore the amazement of  how a person looks beautiful and feels joyful.   Life has not been easy for the Whos.   Yun commented , though, that she has never looked or  felt better herself!   Her face is restful, her eyes spark delight and she appears much younger than she did 10 years ago!  She attributes this to the fact that she knows and likes who she is.  Her beliefs and attitudes are in alignment with who she is and what she is doing.   For the Whos,  the long continuing journey into  self discovery has been beautiful,  painful and heavenly rewarding.

But what is beauty?  For women,  there can be so much pressure to remain externally youthful and beautiful.  Thus, the rise of multi million dollar  cosmetics and plastic surgery industries that promote face lifts, tummy tucks and much much more.

So, one day,unexpectedly, Cece found her self in the middle of a conversation, before class on the yoga mat.   A  beautiful woman in  class is thinking about the idea of getting Botox  injections.  Cece learns from her that because the toxins freeze the face,  a person can only have partial  emotional expression.

Many get shots between the eyebrows and Cece wonders what effect this  will have on the light that shines through the eyes…. When  she  meets people, Cece looks to see if there is  light, life and inner beauty  in their eyes rather than emptiness.

The idea of light and inner beauty  is described by the great Egyptian  aesthetic  Isaac Luria.

He believes that every particle in the universe is  a shell that contains sparks of holiness that is light.  Our task according to him is to release these sparks of light and holiness into the world to illuminate the darkness.  This is done by acts of loving kindness, being in harmony with the universe and through higher awareness.  Each moment we have the potential to raise up these holy sparks.  The choices we  make,  the activities we chose,the interactions we have with families and friends and even strangers…everything in life provides opportunity.

Luria  believes that we can mend the world by raising these holy sparks and that we are responsible for doing this.  He believes that this  is the fundamental reason for our being.  He advises that we mend our own souls  by avoiding negativity and gossip,jealousy, chewing on anger…. and much more ….so that we do not create a dark shell over our own hearts.

So, when  Cece hears about Botox…she thinks this is not the way toward beauty..it is through  our actions and interactions…it is by doing beautiful things and by throwing up that light into the darkness that creates healing for ourselves ,  our neighbors and and our planet.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos