Tuesday, February 12, 2019

11 Ways to Choose Happiness Over Suffering

Your Soul Cafe: Conversations that Open Hearts and Inspire Actions
"I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises." ~Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Isn’t it odd that a martyred Roman Catholic priest who suffered for his faith would now symbolize one of the world’s greatest celebrations of love?! ’Tis a puzzlement why the name of the celibate Saint Valentine--born AD 269, Terni, Italy and died 269 AD, Rome--is synonymous with lovers and the expressions of affection and love. According to the National Retail Federation, these loving expressions will generate $20.7 billion (that's a "b") to the American economy!

Known mostly through legends, this mysterious character's painful death came because he tried to help others escape the cruel life of Roman prisons. Another more romantic story suggests that the-then imprisoned Valentine sent the first “valentine” greeting to a girl, perhaps the jailor’s daughter, after falling in love with her, and signed it, “From your Valentine.”

Yes, the truth remains as dark as any chocolate—but the love story’s appeal of this heroic, romantic man rippled out and landed in the Middle Ages where St. Valentine became a popular saint in England and France. 
The rest is history.



What rings true is that as the Catholic Patron Saint of Lovers, Valentine is associated with the virtue of love--the reason for life with all two and four-footed creatures. It is is through the expression and acceptance of love, that everyone and everything enjoys the delirium of expanded health, wealth, and happiness--including an affair with pizza!

Yes, Carl Sagan, the famous American author and cosmologist, calls us “star stuff’ and we are much more…
We are love.
You are love.
I am love.

We are designed for happiness in all its forms and expressions.

Saint Valentine and Elizabeth Gilbert might both agree with the Sacred Traveler Oracle message that appeared this morning: 
Five Ways to Choose Passion and Pleasure: 
 “Savor your life and find joy in the moment. Live deliciously. Love often and fully. Cherish your friendships. Fill your life with the people, experiences, and places that you give you delight and joy…”

Five More Ways for You, the Hero, to choose happiness:
* Release by remembering, “When the horse is dead, get off!”
* Write yourself a pink permission slip to be happy and; a love letter with 7 things you appreciate about yourself.
* Focus on what’s now splendiferous instead of being caught up in the dance of anger of drama.
* Allow your senses to be satiated and saturated!
Perhaps you heard, “I love you to the moon and back and, I love me to the moon and back!" or these whispers from Elizabeth Gilbert...



And perhaps, one final way to choose happiness:

To learn more about starting your new year over, check out my
19-Point Checklist: Create a Personal Book Title & Vision 
for 
Your 2019 Hero's Journey
Download my free gift --no email required!

10 comments:

  1. Wonderful blog, so many great points to it. Love, self love, self care and happiness are points being reinforced by God, The Angels and the Stars. There is much encouragement from the Divine. I hope this is the year where we all truly find ourselves and see the beauty in life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your kind words. Yes, so far, 2019 has been a portal of great success on so many levels.

      Delete
  2. I too have found it ironic that this day of love is named after a catholic martyr. In the medieval times, during the 12th Century at the height of Christendom in Europe and before the branching off of different sects of Christianity, Eleanor of Acuqitaine and her daughter by the king of France, Marie De Champaigne, encouraged and were patrons of a movement known as the Art of Courtly Love, written by Andreas Capellanus. For me, Valentine's Day just isn't named right...hmmm Lovely article AND your retreat looks yummy!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Appreciating this additional history! Never knew. I like the idea of the Art of Courtly Love. Want to join us in Italy?

      Delete
  3. Lore what a fabulous celebration of love! I am inspired by " “Savor your life and find joy in the moment. Live deliciously. Love often and fully. Cherish your friendships. Fill your life with the people, experiences, and places that you give you delight and joy…” I am reading Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant right now and so resonate with this wisdom to savor life and find joy in the moment as self-nurturing practices that help us cultivate resilience. I am also inspired by your Tuscan Writing Retreat and how you continue to show up boldly and bravely to serve! Thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I adore Elizabeth Gilbert. I've just re-read Big Magic for the third time. Life is meant to be an adventure, not a spectator sport.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awww thank you Lore.
    I love the five steps.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm so excited for you that your retreat is filling so fast! That's wonderful! I still have yet to read Elizabeth Gilbert's books although I have listened to almost every interview with her on YouTube! It's definitely on my to do list!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a fantastic read this is, Lore! "When the horse is dead... get off!" I love it! So true and we tend to try to beat it to death when the person, place, activity, career that is calling us is right there in plain sight if only our eyes and heart were open to it! Thank you and Happy Valentine's Day!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lore, Elizabeth Gilbert's work has such a fresh energy to it..its infectious. And that affair with pizza...oh my she read my mind ;) Thank you for sharing those details about St. Valentine..some I knew, some not so much.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Featured Post

Reflections from the Joys of Plans B, C, D, E and...

Your Soul Café: Conversations that Open Hearts and Inspire Actions “ Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans ...