The Best Medicine (Maybe)

I went to sleep smiling last night for the first time in a long time.

Trying to make some sense of the day and of the world, I usually watch Eckhart Tolle talks on YouTube or videos about the quantum nature of the universe before going to bed. And that was my exact intention last night but you know how it can be with YouTube – a serendipitous “wrong” click can bring you to the unexpected right place.

I somehow found myself watching Louie C.K., Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld and Ricky Gervais having a semi serious sit-down about comedy.

I didn’t uncover any answers to the Big Questions which are always ricocheting around in my head, but at least I wasn’t sad. In fact, I was pretty happy.

But maybe that is the answer.

Maybe, when you break it down, our search for enlightenment is actually a more adult way of admitting that what we’re just trying to somehow regain the smiles of our childhood.

We strive for inner peace so we can help work on world peace but maybe the truth is – we simply and purely just miss being happy more than we’re sad. Or worried. Or stressed.

If this is the case, it seems like I skipped over the steps by watching those comedic virtuosos last night. Why watch videos of Buddha level gurus when you’re really just trying to lightheartedly laugh your ass off? Just find something that leads to lightheartedly laughing your ass off and voila, you’re good to go.

But, unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Not really. Because laughter, although lovely, doesn’t last.

YouTube is just another drug. And like weed or whisky, you can’t partake in it all day.

Life always sneaks back in. And although the particle theorists and ancient sages might be right when then say that everything is an illusion, we still have to live in it.

That’s why we strive for enlightenment. Because we want to maintain a light heart after the YouTube clip ends. We want to smile through whatever life throws at us. We want “happy” to be our natural state. Of course there’s a lot in life that will rattle us, but we’d like to return to happiness after the slings and arrows have settled.

How do we get there?

Together.

Together through kindness. Together through less expectation – of ourselves and each other.

And yes, together through laughter.

thank you for spending this time with me,
gabe

www.LiveLikeAFruitFly.com

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10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1

Handel’s “Concerto Grosso in F Major” is gorgeously cinematic and inspires with such simplicity and spaciousness.

It’s in my headphones now while I’m sipping a coffee at Starbucks and staring at leafless trees through a window. Birds fly in and out of frame. It’s still bright, but the sun will soon set.

My goal was to sit here and force myself to write something that contributes beauty to this world. Something out of thin air. Something that stirs souls.

But how can I compete with Handel or this water colored sky or these trees or the mysterious essence of life which surrounds me in here?

I can’t. I just can’t.

All I can do is allow myself to receive these gifts in this moment.

Maybe that’s the secret to adding beauty to the world when we’re in between ideas. We can breathe consciously and give ourselves the permission to become fully permeable to the beauty right in front of us when the opportunity arises.

It probably arises more often than we think.

And when it does, we should abide there. While we still can.

I wish everyone a healthy, happy new year –
gabe