Tag Archives: do for others

Life Imitating Cinema…..

this way via streetandstage.comI recently had a long flight and got a chance to watch some movies. The one that intrigued me most was Happiness Therapy.

Short version:

Guy seems to be bipolar, freaks out when he catches his wife having shower sex and has a big fight with the shower sex guy. Wife leaves him. He is released from a Psych hospital to live with his parents and he is hyper-focused on getting his wife back. His father is a bookie and has major OCD issues, expects the son to just sit and hold two remotes while the Eagles play whoever they are playing. Guy meets a girl who is also struggling with her issues and invites him to be her dance partner in a competition, in exchange for giving the ex wife a letter.

As I watched it, I was mesmerized by how simple the lesson was for the world.

Here is my take….

This guy is struggling to deal with his mental stuff and trying to think of ways to get back his wife. The girl gives him a chance to help her fulfill one of her dreams and with that promise, he begins to think of someone other than himself and to think of something other than the ex wife.

He practices the dance moves constantly and he is physically exhausted and seems to be getting more mental clarity.

The girl shows him how to tap into real emotion and how to sit with the feelings, also how to bring the emotions to the dance floor.

Meanwhile his father talks him into going to the stadium, where he gets into another fight and he gets arrested.

His father makes a bookie bet on what score he will get in the dance competition and puts additional pressure on his son.

Lessons for all of us

  1. Do something significant for someone else.
  2. The something must be out of our comfort zone, so we can rewire our brains.
  3. Stay away from people who try to put us back into their dramas, even if those people are family.
  4. Do our best in the new commitment and with feeling and purpose.
  5. When people make bets on whether we do well or not, ignore them, they are toxic.
  6. Give wholeheartedly to the people we are helping.

 

I know that this blog may seem a little “pie in the sky” but it is really a good formula for permanent change.

Watch this movie, Happiness Therapy…it may help to cement these lessons.

Love and light,

Indrani

The extended hand…

 

My daughter and I were just about to embark on a shopping adventure. She was excited to find what she wanted and I was elated to spend time with her. Almost 6 hours with her…my best gift of 2012.

We pulled up to a stop sign and I caught a glimpse of the pan handler out of the corner of my eye. I nodded to her and she approached our car. She came to the passenger side and I motioned for my daughter to give her something.

When we passed her the money she reached her hand into the car for the comfort of the human touch. I reached over and we connected.
She smiled and we blessed each other.

As I drove away, I realized how far I had come. There was a time when I would not have even looked at the pan handler.
Back then, I looked but in judgment.
Back then, I looked and gave a little change.
And then, I began to work with the homeless and saw them as people like me and began to soften to their plight.
Now, I can roll down the window and reach back to grasp an outstretched hand.
We are all good people, and we can learn to be better citizens.

One of my favorite quotes is,

“There is too much good in the worst of us and too much bad in the best of us that it does not behoove any of us to judge the rest of us.”

I cannot remember where I heard it but it is a great anthem by which to love and live.

Happy 2013 and my wish for you is that you suspend judgment and just try to be a better citizen.

Happy New Year!

 

Love & light,

Indrani