How great is it to have survived several cancers, western medicine and running an entrepreneurial business and retire to paradise? Well, it is great, really great. But there is an art to surviving in paradise. First, you have to be able to identify and safely avoid contact with the vipers, crocodiles, dart frogs, pumas and hallucinogenic toads. And then there are the poisonous critters in the rainforest and coffee fields to beware of. Having written this with tongue in cheek, I have found in reality that my tongue has become bloodied and lacerated from exercising extreme restraint not to use it when confronted with less than enlightened behavior of the imported two-leggeds here.
My sensitivities and spirit have been disheartened and brutalized over the last year by the rapid decline of human decency and civility in our homeland. But apparently the exercise of that carte blanche negativity is rampant globally. Not by everyone everywhere, but by alarmingly increasing numbers. I have a silk banner fluttering in the wind on my office wall that says, “There is no way to happiness, Happiness is the way.” It is my daily reminder that happiness is a state of being that transcends the day-to-day challenges, hurts, duties and responsibilities we must slog through. I used to be on a path to find happiness. Now I endeavor to live it. Every day. No matter the unkindness and slings and arrows and poisons and darts hurled at me and at those I hold dear.
I wake every day next to my beloved husband, and together we gaze out at the most beautiful and inspiring view imaginable, and we say thank you. Through the years and the trials and tribulations of our marriage, we have worked to achieve a loving understanding and acceptance of each other. We share each day in a state of peace and mutuality. We are grateful for the like-minded people who have graced us with their time and energies, appreciating that quality, not quantity is what counts. What we seek in our coterie is genuine respect and heart-felt sincerity, free from all of the negative influences and agendas motivated by jealousy, fear and intimidation.
So while survival in paradise is, from a spiritual POV, rife with the same perils as found in the gritty civilized world, it can be done. With grace and style and love and respect.
Namaste.
Apr. 8, 2018
Judy Richter 