Joy Based Living

I see light in you. As easy as it is for you to see the color of someone’s eyes, that’s how clearly and easily I see light in you.

It offends me when people in leadership positions don’t see it in the people they lead.

It offends me when business people don’t see it in their employees.

When teachers don’t see it in their students.

When politicians don’t see it in their citizens.

When religious leaders don’t see it in their congregants.

It amazes me when friends don’t notice the light in their friends’ eyes.

Many people notice another person’s weight before they notice the light in their eyes. Not because weight is more “obvious” but because culturally, we have made it more important. WE IMBUE MEANING. WE DECIDE WHERE TO SHINE THE SPOTLIGHT OF “WHAT’S IMPORTANT.” THIS IS OUR SUPERPOWER.

When we ignore the light in ourselves and each other, we dumb ourselves down. We settle for a lot less. We don’t hold ourselves accountable to what really matters.

And then… we search outside of ourselves for a fix (insert your addiction here).

AND THEN, we wonder why we’re stressed and can’t solve things personally or globally.

In the land of the FREE, we are supposed to celebrate, embrace and honor our freedom. RIGHT? But what in heaven’s name does that mean?

Religious freedom is our story of origin.

However, we’re rapidly transforming as a culture in the USA and as a species globally. We’re riding on tsunami-sized waves of science and technology and evidence-based research and logic. We don’t “need” religion anymore. As exciting as that is… YES, it is so refreshing in so many ways!…  what makes me sad is that way too many people have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

Many people have lost their sense of SPIRIT, their sense of relatedness with the infinite field of possibility that exists within us and all around us. We need to WAKE THAT UP! Reignite it. Add fuel to the divine flame that burns within. What does SPIRIT feel like?

To me, SPIRIT feels like wonder and awe. It feels like expansion and possibility. It feels like deep faith. I can’t imagine trying to step forward in any great way without it.

I never want to get to the point where I’m so blinded by the science that I lose sense of the awe. – Tom Bilyeu quoting an unnamed ornithologist

The Statue of Liberty is BREAKING SHACKLES as she steps forward with her right foot. When I learned this just a few months ago (on July 4th, actually,) I was WOWED! All this time I thought she was just standing still. What do the shackles represent? They are shackles of oppression.

But now what? Now that she’s broken the shackles, What’s the rest of the story? Where does she go? What is she lighting the way TO?

“The torch is a symbol of enlightenment. The Statue of Liberty’s torch lights the way to freedom showing us the path to Liberty. Even the Statue’s official name represents her most important symbol “Liberty Enlightening the World”.

– National Park Service

Enlightenment? Liberty? What does that mean for us as human beings? Free to do WHAT?

I believe we are here to imitate, express and reflect the DIVINE. We are here to BE DIVINE. What does the DIVINE do? The DIVINE creates. What does creation feel like? It feels like taking LEAPS into new possibilities.

SALTO MORTALE is an Italian phrase I learned from Seth Godin. It means “the dangerous leap” or “the leap into the void.” I love this photograph by artist Yves Klein, painstakingly photoshopped in the early 1900’s, around a hundred years ago.

Salto Mortale is the idea that we can throw ourselves off and grow wings on the way down. It’s the idea that the moment of LEAPING is exactly when we are most alive. HELL YES!!!! When we are leaping, when we are most alive, is when the light in our eyes is the brightest, truest expression of our SPIRIT.

Here’s my charge to you:

LEAP, and you’ll flex the muscle that I call “the light in your eyes.”

LEAP, and you’ll embody the ideals that the Statue of Liberty stands for. (Cool Factoid: The French architect who designed Lady Liberty was obsessed with The Constitution of the United States of America.)

LEAP, and you’ll attract other people who also value the aliveness of eye-light.

LEAP, and the people who DON’T value the light in your eyes will eventually leave your vicinity because it makes them uncomfortable.

LEAP, and you’ll strengthen your faith muscles.

LEAP, and you’ll HONOR your divinity as well as your humanity.

LEAP, and you’ll inspire others who really want to leap but who’ve been afraid to.

LEAP, and you’ll never regret NOT leaping.

If you don’t leap… well… let’s not go there… it’s just too depressing. And besides, you’re here, reading this post, because something in YOU looooves feeling really ALIVE!

The light in your eyes is the reason I get up in the morning. Seeing the light in someone’s eyes get brighter is ALMOST the greatest impact I can have on someone. The ripple effect they have on others is THE greatest.

What lights up your eyes?

Much love,

Debbie Happy Cohen

aka Happy D! and Reverend SASSY SHORTS!

ps. Dogs are another story. The light in their eyes seems to be ever-constant. But it’s especially sparkly if there’s bacon around.