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 LIVING HAPPY     
UPLIFTING, THOUGHT-PROVOKING NEWS FOR OUR MIND, BODY,AND SPIRIT   

From Carole Kane


  Vol. 2  No. 28                                              December 16, 2012

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Click here to meet our writers, read past issues, and see comments

 

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in this issue
Just an Ordinary Day - by Carole Kane
If I Could Write the Stories in my Head - by Dr. Arthur Lewin
Simpler Life - by Dimitra Savvidou
Elephants Forever? by Dr. Brad Holway
Sleep in Heavenly Peace - contributed by Frank Clark
Think a little, laugh a little

Dear Friends,

Carole Kane

Carole Kane 

M.A., N.C.C. ret.

 

 

Welcome to Living Happy,  a nice way to feel and be our best!  

 

We have lots of interesting things for you this week.  Arthur Lewin muses about the stories in his head and how he would write them, if he would write them...

 

 

Dimitra Savvidou shares her feelings about today's technology and the possibility of a simpler life.

 


Brad Holway wants to visit a herd of elephants in their natural habitat, and tells why this may soon become impossible.

My article discusses an ordinary day, and what that really means.

And we end with a beautiful, very moving picture contributed by Frank Clark, which he calls "Sleep in Heavenly Peace".

 

Our Living Happy Writers Group wish a joyous, happy holiday season to all our friends, no matter what the holiday you celebrate.  We love you, every one!

 

 

Happy reading!

 

Love, Carole XXX OOO

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Just an Ordinary Day                                              by Carole Kane

 

"What's new?"

 

What do we say when someone asks what's new? Quite often, we answer, "Not much. Same old, same old." And we shrug, as if this is something bad. But is it?

 

I'm reminded of when I had the flu few years ago. I had heard of how it felt, but when I experienced it firsthand - BAM! I could barely get out of bed. The huge, five-foot journey to the bathroom became a well-planned strategy (I'll get my feet on the floor, crawl to the door... oooh, maybe I'll wait for a while...") My head hurt, my body hurt, my eyeballs hurt! Eating was impossible. Breathing was a close second. This went on for nearly two weeks. Then one glorious morning I woke up and I could breathe! Nothing hurt anymore! I was even hungry! I actually walked to the kitchen, and thoroughly enjoyed a piece of toast and cup of coffee. A grand euphoria settled over me, as I realized that I was back to normal. Just a regular - beautiful! wonderful! - day.

 

And I'm reminded of many quiet evenings with the family, sharing dinner and small talk; fixing things around the house, planning activities for the kids, paying bills, - nothing exciting, just normal, regular days.  And I realize how extremely blessed I - we - are.  So many people would wish to have such a life.

 

I am reminded, so sadly, of the terrible events of this week in Connecticut, the terrible losses and the destruction of normal, regular days.  Oh, that those families could have their normal, regular, same old, same old days back! 

 

So, when we say that "Nothing's new. Just a regular day," we need to realize that this answer really translates to:

 

"Life is good. I am greatly blessed to be right here, right now. Thank God."

 

 

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If I Could Write the Stories in my Head               by Dr. Arthur Lewin

If I could but write the stories in my head, there would be a bard like no other. If I could only play the music in mind, now that would be a composer! If I could only remember the whole, not just the fleeting fragments of my nightly whimsies, all would say, "My, what a dreamer!" If I could be all that I could be, now that would truly be a man for every season and all reasons.
man daydreaming
But I am what I am, with warts and flaws and gulfs inside and out that I shall never cross. I am perfectly imperfect. I am a human, a screen which reflects, a portal through which to perceive, the galaxies' heave and flow in a seeming timelessness, that, in truth, did begin, and shall end, like me, its sun, its son. . . 

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Simpler Life                                               by Dimitra Savvidou

  

Nobody is in a position to truly walk in the shoes of somebody else. We also can't claim that we remember all about the life of even the closest people to us. Memory fails us or, to put it in a different way, we remember usually what is convenient or what is important (there are two categories of people's memory).

 

Living in the 21st Century - at least in the so called Western Civilization - we forget how life was when we were younger. There was usually meat on the table only once per week, not every day! We were eating beans and fish and a balance of everything. We grew up to be healthy.

 

The TV entered our homes when we were old enough and there was a type of manual parental control over the watching hours and so forth. I am not saying that it was better or worse, this is a personal issue. What I am talking about is life being simpler because it concentrated around a few elements rather than too many.

 

Open Market in Edfu, Egypt
photo by DimitraSavvidou 

 

 This photo is from Edfu in Egypt - a market among so many other markets. It was taken when I was there years ago. I have an obsession with open markets. I love their simplicity. I love their variety and mostly, their colours. As I looked at this photo, I was reminded how simple life can be.

 

It really doesn't take much to make life functioning and comfortable. Sometimes we get lost in complex technicalities and technologies, forgetting that less could be more.  It might be even cheaper, healthier, and socially more advanced and creative.

 

We need to take a few moments and reflect on our life's style; reconsider things and desires that conquer our time, mind and life. What is really important? What part of our life is worthy in quality, and not necessarily quantity, to improve, to focus on, and finally achieve true results? Everything is permissible but not all is beneficial!

 

  

Dimitra Savvidou, M.A.

Writing, Teaching, Counselling

www.lovingministry.net

   www.lovingministry.org 

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Elephants Forever?                                                     by Dr. Brad Holway

During a recent visit to New York, I stood in awe at a trio of skeletons of extinct elephants at the American Museum of Natural History. Fossils of a huge mammoth, an imposing mastodon and a lesser-known gomphotherium formed an impressive tableau.

 

I reflected that not long ago, a blink of an eye in geological time, dozens of elephant species roamed across Africa, Eurasia and North America. One remarkable species, a dwarf variant called "Falconeri's elephant" was only about the size of a Saint Bernard dog.  It existed on the islands of Sicily and Malta until a mere 2500 years ago, when it was exterminated by Iron Age hunters. I wondered how it might have been to own one as a pet - provided, of course, that one had a big backyard.

 

Due to climatic changes and human predation, only the African and Asian species exist today. Both are under extreme pressure from habitat destruction and poachers seeking their ivory. In fact, National Geographic recently had a lead article describing the disastrous effects of the ivory trade on the dwindling elephant population.

 

Elephants in Zambia
Elephants greet the morning  in Zambia
photo by Dimitra Savvidou 

Though I have never seen an elephant in the wild, I hope to see a herd of these awesome beasts ambling across an African savannah or Asian jungle before I die. These magnificent, noble and intelligent creatures are part of our heritage and should be protected so that future generations may behold them in their natural state. I can only hope that our wisdom and our enlightened stewardship of the environment will trump the short-term thirst for ivory.

 

It would be a shameful commentary on humanity if, at some time in the not-too-distant future, the only place to see an elephant would be at the local zoo.

     

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Sleep in Heavenly Peace


Contributed by Frank Clark

 
 
Think a Little, Laugh a Little

christmas trees at beauty counter Good King Wenceslas phoned Domino's for a pizza.
 
The salesgirl asked, 'Do you want your usual?  Deep pan, crisp and even?
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Maria went to the Post Office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards.

"What denomination?" asked the clerk.

"Oh! Good heavens! Have we come to this?" said Maria. "Well give me 50 Methodist and 50 Church of England ones please."

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One Christmas Eve morning, a woman told  her husband, "I just dreamed that you gave me a beautiful diamond necklace.  What do you think it means?"

"You'll know tonight," he said.

That evening the husband came home with a small package and gave it to his wife.  

Delighted, she opened it, only to find a book entitled "The Meaning of Dreams."

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Remember This:
It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you...
yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother
 and offer him your hand.
-- Mother Theresa
Contributed by Susan Pascullo

 Once you choose hope, anything's possible"
- - Christopher Reeve 
contributed by Helene Herman 
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Your Space - For Guest Writers, Ghost Writers, and Commentators

 

THANK YOU! to Arthur Lewin,  Dimitra Savvidou, and Brad Holway for their spectacular essays; and to Frank Clark, Helene Herman, and Susan Pascullo for their beautiful contributions of photos and quotations.  Great work, all! 

 

Would you like to submit an article, around 250 to 300 words?   

     

This Could  be YOU!

Remember, every writer in the Living Happy Writers Group started out by offering a story or article.  You are invited to join this eminent group.  Just submit a story or poem - click here to send it:  Submit an article or poem or story here  I look forward to  reading your work!   

  - - Carole - - 

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