8 January ~ Epiphany ~ Companions matter

With whom are you traveling?  With whom are you associating?  With whom are you spending your time?  It matters.  Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked.  Happy are they who do not walk with those who do nothing but gripe and complain.  Happy are they who do not linger with "energy vampires"(hat-tip to Jon Gordon for that term).  Keep your positive energy, keep your spirits high.  The journey is long, the pilgrimage to see the Lord is also best spent if you allow God to be with you along the way.  Happy are we if we keep counsel with the good, if we plant ourselves by streams of living water, if we allow good fruit to be produced in our lives.  Prosperity and happiness, true prosperity and true happiness will be with us if we stick to the good.

Psalm 1

1Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of

the wicked, *

nor lingered in the way of sinners,

nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

2Their delight is in the law of the LORD, *

and they meditate on his law day and night.

3They are like trees planted by streams of water,

bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *

everything they do shall prosper.

The Happiest Person in the World

Over at "On Not Being a Sausage," Professor Deirdre Good (of General Theological Seminary) has an interesting post on Matthieu Ricard who is known as "the Happiest Person in the World." And, you can hear a BBC Radio program about him HERE.

I'm going to try to get a bit happier; not an altogether bad New Year's Resolution!



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Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk, has been called the “happiest person in the world”. Emily Kasriel in the BBC World Service program "Heart and Soul" finds out from him what happiness is.

First, a sense of direction is very important. A sense of flourishing comes from inside, where the mind translates all the circumstances. This gives inner strength and freedom. Genuine happiness comes from altruistic love, inner peace, and not on external circumstances such as things that give us pleasure like meals with friends. Putting hopes and fears outside of us is ultimately disappointing.

In general make distinctions between mental emotions that are toxic: hatred, anger, jealousy. Cultivate inner love and peace and genuine compassion. This involves training. We need to first evoke compassion by thinking of an image such as a child we love and how much we wish health and happiness for that child. Do not let that thinking and imagining go but cultivate it. This is what we practice.

Read Deirdre's post HERE. See the BBC coverage HERE.