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Life has never been better because for the first time in a long time, I have a puppy. He’s a 9 week old lab pup named Gibson (see pic during his first haircut which he needed b/c he got peed on by his 2 year old lab cousin Cooper).

Formerly a germ freak, I don’t care that Gibson was tongue-shining his cousin Cooper’s ballsack before jumping into my lap and licking me on the lips.  Always concerned with cleanliness, I’m the first to admit Gibson has left my condo looking (and sometimes smelling) like the upper deck men’s bathroom at an Oakland Raider game. Never would I have thought that watching in real-time a living being drop a deuce on my kitchen floor would actually provoke laughter if not the laughter of a desperate dog dad with limited knowledge on training a puppy.

My formula for happiness has been reduced to lying on the floor, getting licked and nibbled, and staring into the eyes of another being whose only worry in the world is to eat, play, and sleep.

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Govan Brown* was a local legend in New York City. A city bus driver for more than 20 years who retired in 1988, Govan drove over 220,000 miles and was almost always pleasant, cheerful, and personable. It might be hard to understand how Govan found all of the above in driving a bus through the worst possible traffic, but one man’s grid is another man’s labyrinth. Said his boss, “Govan so mastered being happy with himself, happy with life, and happy with people that nobody can touch him.”

Maybe you know someone (or maybe you are) like Govan Brown…lucky enough to have found their unique place in the world. A Harvard psychologist, Howard Gardner, researched those rare people who, like Govan Brown, have found overwhelming joy in seemingly underwhelming careers. There are 3 factors that go into finding such joy: Engagement, excellence, ethics.  Govan strived for excellence by entertaining his passengers with a lively monologue on the places they were passing and their history, alerts of great sales, his reviews of movies at theaters they passed and highlights of museum exhibits. Ever so engaged in his daily encounters, Govan was known to greet a toddler with a handshake, spend at least two minutes giving directions to a teenager, and wish just about everyone a nice day as they disembarked. His ethics and morals were without question. As deacon of a Baptist church, Govan viewed his passengers, too, as a “flock” whose needs he tended.

Lying on the floor yesterday morning practicing yoga,  Gibson, the tiny lab pup, began licking my face as if he hadn’t been loved in 30 years let alone his 9 weeks of life. Thanks to Gibson, I now understand Govan Brown’s secret. Life is less about climbing the  peaks and more about finding the grooves.

*Govan Brown info inspired by NY TIMES (11-15-08)

Visit here to read the NY Times story: When Chocolate and Chakras Collide

It’s not easy being a newborn baby and trying to communicate. A baby cries, smiles, lunges, lurches, bangs, and shrieks hoping to get across a message and receive a response from Mommy or Daddy. In the same way, an adult burns sage, sings hymns, prays, invokes and shouts…trying to communicate with the Divine.

Some of us are like difficult babies, whining and whimpering in our pursuit of revelation.  And some of us are easier, finding Perfection in a warm blanket on a rainy Sunday, or a delicious plate of amatriciana when you’re mouthwatering hungry.

So here’s my question. What kind of baby are YOU?

–Happy-Go-Lucky Baby: you take life as it comes, usually smiling, happy for the warm day, the new face, the hot bath, the simple pleasures. Some common problems and how you respond: Your flight is canceled and you need to spend the night in O’Hare? You’ll just get work done. The Viagara doesn’t seem to be working anymore? Being the sweety that you are, you’ll keep things alive and well by giving the gift of Janeson Rayne’s innovative Magic Banana.

–Dirty Baby: you are ahead of the curve, walking at 6 months, talking at 9 months, mustache at 5 years old, hitting on 2nd grade teacher at 8 years old, virginity out the window at 12 years old. Your flight is canceled and you need to spend the night in O’Hare? Nothing phases you so long as you got a few blankets and the imagination. The Vigara doesn’t seem to be working anymore? Heck, who needs Viagara when you got a Marlboro 110, a slice of raw bacon covered in Tabasco, and a couple spritzes of One Man Show.

–Colic Baby: you have, shall we say, digestive issues and what some might call The Dirty Elves (see above pic) working overtime in your lowers. Your flight is canceled and you need to spend the night in O’Hare?  You clear out the waiting area with a Starbucks Squealer. The Viagra doesn’t seem to be working anymore? Doesn’t matter. Nobody wants to date you anyway as every time you go on a date, you subject the other to the Pomodoro Punchout or the Chardonnay Cooker or worst of all, The Dried Apricot Annihilation.

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Thinking back on the last few years, I realized my faith was virtually nonexistent. I worked, traveled, networked…but rarely prayed. I was like the guy at the gym with the giant upper body and tiny chicken legs…way out of balance. Without some way of letting go and establishing belief in something (anything) greater than one’s own self, our annoying vibration is no different and no less disgusting than a Burrito Butt Belch.

Might it be possible that one’s style and scent of Communication have the power to expedite a Response?  George Bernard Shaw said, “Most people do not pray, they only beg.” And while on occasion you might acknowledge the outstretched hand of a beggar, you’d much more likely be lured to the sweet sage and song on the other side of the block.

California’s oldest living tree is a Jurupa Oak in Riverside County, California reported to be 13,000 years old. If you were to plant a Juropa Oak seedling in the surrounding terrain, experts doubt it would take root. In fact, you’d have to travel 30 miles to find another Juropa Oak. Such is this particular 13,000 year old tree’s amazing ability to last through the ages in conditions not favorable to its existance. What can be learned from an organism with such endurance?

When the trunk of the Jurupa Oak is destroyed by burning, new shoots pop up all around it from the roots.  Similarly, pine tree cones will store their seeds for years until the heat of forest fires causes the pines to open up and release the seeds. In other words, the most enduring species in our world, things that live thousands of years, depend on fire to trigger regeneration and rebirth.

In 2009, so many of us experienced a different kind of fire that incinerated our finances if not our emotional well-being.  In the heat of the moment, these fires are brutally painful. But in the years to come, we will perceive the smoldering fires of 2009 as necessary means to a brilliant and beautiful future. Here are 3 reasons why…

1. New Direction

For so many of us, it feels like someone took a blowtorch to our savings and nest egg which are now smoldering remnants of what once was a healthy forest of assets. We can be pissed and bitter for so long but notice how the heat of those emotions, as they effect the pine cone, can also reveal within you new life, new freedom, a new path…so long as you get back on your feet and move the ball forward. S.I. Hayakawa said, “Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, ‘I have failed three times,’ and what happens when he says, ‘I am a failure.’ ”

2. Enriched Life Experience

I couldn’t help but look at the above picture of the 13,000 year old Juropa Oak with reverence. For cryin’ out loud, the thing has been around since the Ice Age. There are a certain group of humans who you might say have a durability comparable to the ancient Juropa Oak. The Abkhasian* people of Central Asia routinely live into their 90’s and 100’s and often report only having been sick once in an entire lifetime. Part of their ability to live happily with great longevity is the fact that in their culture, one’s status increases with age. The elderly are seen as beautiful with silver hair and wrinkles being signs of wisdom and maturity. In the Abkhasian language, there is not a term for “old people.” Rather, they are referred to as “long-living people.” *

Things are much different in America where we tend to totally forget about our elders. Why? Compared to the Abkhasians, we have litte respect for life experience whether in the old, middle aged, or young.  Any hardship you have endured adds to your character, wisdom, and perspective. And anyone who knows their ass from their elbow will, like the Abkhasian, respect one who has been through hell and highwater. Helen Keller said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”

3. Stronger Relationships

The Vilcabamban* people of Ecuador’s Andes Mountains are another indigenous culture that is revered for its peoples’ ability to live happy lives deep into old age. One notable quality of the Vilcabambans…they don’t armor themselves against the pain of life and “they have not withdrawn from one another into shells.” They consider struggle to be part of the process. The Vilcabamban live in close-knit families and help one another through tough times. “Their spirits are connected to each other, their smiles all the deeper for all they have known and shared.”  *

Like the Vilcabamban, the 13,000 Juropa Oak is in essence more than one tree, it is a close family of trees having cloned itself many times over. And that family of trees, in spite of residing in over-populated over-polluted Southern California, lives on year after year. That is the most important lesson that we can learn from this ancient tree. To endure life successfully means not that you have avoided the greatest hardships and dodged the hottest fires. Rather, you’ve used those hardships and fires to make you stronger, to reveal new emotions, to deepen your roots, to enhance your relations.

*from HEALTHY AT 100 by John Robbins