Body, Mind, and Spirit

Finding the Sacred in Everyday Life
Nancy Ballinger

You do not acquire happiness.
Your nature is happiness.
All that is done is to remove unhappiness.
These methods do so.
                                       – Ramana Maharshi

New Year's resolutions! Perusing the magazine stand at the grocery checkout, I realize January editions are once again full of techniques for improving ourselves and finally finding illusive happiness. My favorite cover read: 85 Expert Strategies to improve your Life for Good!  Reduce your debt, lose weight faster, clear clutter, reenergize your style, learn to say no, and be happier. What a year to look forward to…

I'm turning 62 this month and actually looking forward to the coming year, even if I don't lose weight, clear clutter, or reenergize my style. I have been on leave from contributing this column to the Slo Coast Journal during the past year due to a re-occurrence of a chronic illness, Multiple Sclerosis. If you asked me this year, "How are you?" I most likely replied "On the mend!" This is because I have experienced 2011 as an opportunity and chance to grow, learn, and heal - body, mind, and spirit.

There is a tendency, of course, to want this relapse to just be over and to return to my previous life of a year ago. My experience with MS over the past 25 years is that I will indeed go into remission within the next year. What a pity it would be though, to live in the dream that future health will bring happiness rather than experiencing the happiness of this moment!

You may have read in the past about the joy I find kayaking, hiking, and biking with the love of my life, my husband, Ron. Recently, though, our outings more often include a walker or wheelchair, but no less smiles and laugher. Trips to see kids and grandkids — also a great source of happiness — are less frequent now, because of the fatigue that accompanies travel. Skype kisses from grandchildren aren't quite as sloppy, but they are fun for all of us — in a new way. And, of course, there is my other great love, the spiritual community where I am the founding teacher. The group has supported me this year in taking care of my health by assuming many tasks I did that can just as easily (and often better) be done by others. In this way I can fully participate teaching classes, doing writing, offering counseling, and holding our shared vision.

Most of us have an ego-based plan of how we think our life should be that determines our happiness. When life happens on its own terms we can become fearful, or angry that it isn't according to our ideal. Each morning as I wake up, no matter how I feel, I consciously choose to be grateful for the day I have been given. Sometimes my first feeling is pain, sadness or depression, and then I remember that I am truly grateful for my life. My happiness is not contingent on what I can or cannot do, how I look, or what I accomplish that day. I know, as Ramana Maharshi teaches in our introductory quote, that happiness is our inherent nature, and always available. All we have to do is remove the obstacle of thoughts and judgments about how things "should" be to experience it. Not denial but clarity - I chose gratitude and happiness.

I have faith that each life is a spiritual journey and just as it should be. Therefore, everything that happens each day is an opportunity for self-knowing and to awaken to the truth of who and what we are as spiritual beings and part of the great mystery and web of life. Although our true nature or spiritual Self is always the same, it tends to be obscured by our thoughts, emotions, and patterns of behavior. In the silence of meditation we rest in the peace of Self and our highest knowing. Thoughts, emotions, personality arise and we witness their transient nature. We see how they are ever changing and as we release these potential obstructions to Self-knowing, we realize our wholeness and the happiness that is our inherent nature. Our attention is then focused on what we are, rather than what we are not. In this we are we able to live in peace, harmony, and happiness in the world.

The word yoga means returning to our natural state of wholeness. For me, it is a lifetime practice that includes: meditation, study and contemplation, learning to live in integrity with my true highest values and surrendering the sense of being separate. My spiritual journey is of course my own, yet I share it in the belief that it is also not unique and may support and help others. It is my intention to share with you in the months ahead some of what I am learning… about finding the sacred in everyday life.

Practical suggestions for the New Year

• Create a sacred space in your home or yard, designating a quiet area where you can meditate, write in your journal, pray, and rest in solitude
• Contemplate and/or write about your spiritual journey in relation to our introductory quote.
• Start each morning with a conscious choice to be grateful for one thing. Keep it simple and be patient. Enjoy the process. We don't want it to be another "should" for the New Year!

Upcoming meditation class with Nancy Ballinger

Jan. 21, 2012  Meditation Retreat for people in 12 Step recovery  10am-3pm

If you are looking for a loving, safe place to find the sacred in everyday life, Reverend Nancy Ballinger offers spiritual guidance counseling. With over 20 years as a licensed marriage and family therapist and studies in Eastern and Western philosophies she brings a unique, open perspective to her counseling. Sliding scale fee.

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