I enjoy this image, but I have no idea what it means. Which leads me to ask, do I need to understand something in order to enjoy it? No, there are lots of things I enjoy that I don't understand. Electricity. Rainbows. Solar power. I enjoy those things, and what's more...I believe in them, even though I don't understand them.

But when it comes to spiritual faith, I have little patience for things I don't understand. Perhaps the difference is that in the case of electricity or rainbows, I can "see" them so I believe they are real. But issues of faith are by definition not concrete entities, so I have a harder time believing them.

I started this discussion using the word "enjoy", not "believe". So the question for me to think about is, can I enjoy something if I can't see it? And if I enjoy something that I can't see, does that mean I believe in it?

"I once read a proverb that said if you lead a meaningful life, you never really die. Instead, you break into 1,000 pieces, each of which stay alive within the people whose lives you've touched along the way.

I am fooling only myself when I say my mother exists now only in the photograph on my bulletin board or in the outline of my hand or in the armful of memories I still hold tight. She lives on in everything I do. Her presence influenced who I was, and her absence influences who I am. Our lives are shaped as much by those who leave us as they are by those who stay. Loss is our legacy. Insight is our gift. Memory is our guide."

~ Hope Edelman ~
American author

from Rey Carr's newsletter "Peer Resources"

Yesterday I received this email from Mark Kokocki, one of the coaches featured in the WelcomeJoy ebook:

Barbra, Thank you for including me in your Welcome Joy ebook. You may have helped changed at least one persons' view of HIV with this simple choice. I will not forget this opportunity.

I responded to Mark by saying:

Mark, it was my privilege. I was enormously touched by your entry. As my husband often says "less is more" and the simplicity of your words carried a big punch. It was one of my favorites. I hope you like the photo that I choose to go along with it.

Below is the photo and Mark's simple but oh-so-powerful entry.

"After living 15 plus years with HIV, I am simply happy to wake up each morning healthy and capable of being a positive force in my world - something many of my friends did not have the chance to experience.....gratitude, joy and peace all rolled into one."

You can contact Mark through his website DropDeadHappy.com

If you liked the article Joy is Not the Same as Happiness, you'll enjoy this other thoughtful contribution from life coach Linda Boos.

What brings you joy? I often hear that question and recently have pondered what it really means.

Here’s my thought: I don’t think anything brings joy. I believe joy is often triggered and brought out by others, but joy is not brought to me. I know this might seem like an insignificant distinction, but let’s take a look at it for a minute.

When we are brought something, it is usually a passive act. We receive and do not necessarily give anything back. It is possible for someone to bring their joy into our life, to allow us to experience their joy and to even bask in their joy with them. But our own joy is not something, that I believe, any person, place or thing brings us. If that were so, many of us, in our current circumstances might not experience our own joy, but only the vicarious joy of others.

I do not see joy as a passive expression, it is not something I am waiting for, it is something that is always with me, always part of me. Many people, places and things trigger my joy – my kids giving me hugs before bed, my dogs licking my face, my cats purring loudly, and not the least – my husband holding me in his arms. For me to sit and wait for someone or something to bring me joy would make me dependent upon the outside world to make me fulfilled.

I learned long ago that the outside can only enhance the inside. Everything I need I carry within. My lifetime of joy is already a part of me; others can only stimulate my joy and cause me to want to let it out, so that others may bask in it.

Linda Boos is a Life Coach who can be contacted at lsboos[at]columbus.rr.com

The following article was written by Elizabeth Jun'en Allen, who is a life coach and former Novice Monastic in the Mountains and Rivers Order at the Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, New York. I am grateful to Elizabeth for permitting me to print her candid and thoughtful article here.

Why do people choose the monastic life?

People chose the monastic life for many complex reasons. Some feel called to it, some don't know what else to do with their lives, some don't know how to live in "regular" society, some don't want to live in "regular" society.

I think it's fair to say that everyone who gets ordained does so because being a monastic somehow makes them feel "better" inside. After ordination, motivations continue to grow and
change, just as people do.

For myself, much of the call to monastic life lay in the fact that I had an inherent sense of myself as bad. I felt that the monastic life was how I could make some good come of my existence. Being at the monastery was the first time I felt good about myself and how I was living my life.

I came to understand this justification and left the order just prior to full ordination. I had completed almost four years in monastic residence, as a lay student, postulant, and novice monastic.

Are monks really that much more evolved?

Not necessarily. They are just people. I have encountered monastics who are no more evolved than you or me. I have encountered those whose commitment and practice blow me away and make me feel humbled to be in their presence. I've encountered "false" monastics who appear

Let the good in me
connect with the good
in others,
until all the world
is transformed through
the compelling power
of love.
— Rebbe Nachman in The Gentle Weapon

In this article, Jacqui Tew shares how her sister's diagnosis with thyriod cancer taught her how to stop worrying about things that she had no control over.

When my sister was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, my need to help her leapt into action. She was ill with cancer three times and then had two back operations. All in all, she stayed in hospital 19 times over eleven years.

At first it was perhaps my family instinct to want to help her. As time went on, I became frustrated at her lack of wanting to help herself.

One great lesson she taught me was that you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink!

Her first cancer was in the thyroid and after having it removed she was put on a daily dose of thyroxin. Initially I used to ask her if she had had her thyroxin tablets for that day and she would say she had not done so. I used to worry because I knew it was essential for her to take this medication.

Joyful living involves finding your own path, moving forward on that path, taking risks, and inspiring others to do the same.

I find my greatest joy when the trail I leave behind me is so appealing that others are motivated to create their unique trails.

Submitted by Marie M. Loeffler, Certified Life Coach. Contact MLoeffler237 [at] aol.com

"It is only when we realize that life is taking us nowhere that it begins to have meaning."

-- P.D. Ospensky