“We create most of our suffering, so it should be logical that we also have the ability to create more joy. It simply depends on the attitudes, the perspectives, and the reactions we bring to situations and to our relationships with other people. When it comes to personal happiness there is a lot that we as individuals can do.”
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
It’s 11: 52 AM on day 2316 of my journey towards independence and I managed to pray, read Isaiah 41:10 and have breakfast.
Yesterday I finished reading The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by the 14th Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Abrams it’s a profound yet simple book about the keys to having joy and living a joyful life (I love that both His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu emphasized that being of service and looking outward from one’s own suffering were at the core of living a joyful life (it’s so true)).
Thank you superhero Catherine Constantinides for sending me the book I will treasure it always because of the wonderful lessons in the book and because of the beautiful inscription you wrote in it.
Isaiah 41:10 is interesting reading in this moment when the nations plot and scheme evil against Israel in the so-called Peace Conference in Paris. Tomorrow, they will make their schemes known in the UN. The protection that God promises to Israel is also a promise to destroy the nations that plot against Israel as we see in 41:11.
“Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish…”
If God keeps his promises (as we believe He does), we know that France has placed itself into God’s judgment. We shall not wonder why, however, even as we mourn the socio-economic fall of France.