Day 30: Happiness is . . .

The last day of the month. When I started this 30 day challenge, I had planned to use the concept "Happiness is a journey, not a destination." -- Alfred D. Souza as an excuse to go out and do photography then put up a daily post. I did take pictures everyday, but often it was with my cell phone camera. Things don't always go as you plan, but they always seem to go somewhere. It was a hard project because I began to realize that my happiness circle was relatively small. The simple things near me such as my husband, my dogs, and being out with my camera could easily provide for a happiness moment. That was OK, but I would think in the back of my mind that there were a few people reading my daily posts and I had to look around and see happiness in more places so my friends wouldn't get bored.

That was a good thing, I did find happiness in so many areas of my life.

To end this month, I will say when you find the laughter,laugh along with it.

In moments of joy, immerse yourself in it.

Happiness is a choice. No matter who you are or what is going on in your life.

You get to choose to find it and grasp on to it.

My little world of happiness often revolves around a few things. Each day those things keep me going and opening the door to more and more moments of happiness.

May you find happiness in all that you do.

I don't know what October will bring. I still have a few hours to figure that out.

Dolphin Journey

I had the good fortune of going out on a boat with Dolphin Journeys in Kona, Hawaii. Nancy Sweatt takes small groups out to swim with the dolphins. I contacted her company because of her spiritual connection with the dolphins. She already had a group going out on the one day that I was going to be in Kona. After a couple of emails, they contacted the family and I was invited to join their party. 

The family I joined was kind and friendly and accepted me as one of their own.

The dolphins accepted me in as well. We stopped the boat to watch the dolphins jump and spin out of the water. Kavika, the Captain asked if anyone knew why the dolphins spin like that. No one had and answer. His reply was, "Because they can."

Once in the water, the dolphins seemed to disappear. I asked them to come back and spend some time with me. I began to hear clicking a chirping, but still did not see anything. Then in my peripheral vision, I saw a pair swimming toward me. The first visit there were 7 or 8 dolphins. They came so close and they swam along at my pace. After a little while, they were ready to move more quickly. The headed toward the surface, their tail fins right in front of me and they swam out of sight.



A little while later, the clicking and singing began again. Slowly a couple of dolphins appeared and then more and more. They were under me and beside me. So close that I could reach out my arm and touch them. I was one of them. They did not make me work to keep up, they swam with me. I kicked and watched. Amazed, content, wanting to remember every moment. There were mothers and babies, pairs and quartets rubbing against one another, they were turning and spinning below me. Often two of them would swim together, one up-side-down the other above and they would be touching their fins together. So happy it seemed to be in connection with each other.


As I watched and absorbed noticing their coloration dark to light from top to bottom, one drifted up next to me. I turned to look at the beautiful creature. It looked me in the eye. I looked back and it began to swim around me in a circle. I turned on my side and joined in the circle swim. Together we went around my back arched to water caressing me and a dolphin playing with me.


There was no other world at that time. It was just me and the dolphins. I was, for a little while, a part of their family.

25. That is the number of dolphins that I swam with during that magical journey. 25. "As you go though major life changes, expect the best and your optimism will be rewarded." That is what Doreen Virtue wrote about the number 25 in her book Angel Numbers 101.


I am blessed. I am thankful. I shall spin whenever I can.

Volcano

Darkness

Stars light up the sky.

Specs of orange glow in the distance

A slow flow down the mountain

Under foot, cooled lava back as the night

Pele moves at her own pace

In her own direction

This night she moves off in the distance

We watch from a home build on

Pele's black remains

Fire and a sparkling sky meet at the end of the road.

Honu 'Ea - Hawksbill Turtle

I drew a card from my Hawaiian Oracle Card deck - Animal Spirit Guides from the Land of Light by Rima A. Morrell, PhD (http://www.hunalight.com/)after coming home from our vacation in Hawaii; Three days after visiting Lawai International Center.(http://www.lawaicenter.org/).

The card was Hawksbill turtle. The message "Like Honu 'Ea your are reaching your potential. You have the ability to see beneath the surface of the sea and understand that nothing is solid unless your thinking makes it so. He Honu ka 'aina he mea pane'e wale. 'Land is like a turtle; it moves on.' At most we can pass land onto our heirs, but we can take nothing with us when we leave the earth except the qualities our soul has grown. So, why not concentrate on these?"

The shingon shrines at Lawai Center sit on the back of Hawksbill turtle. My trip was all about moving forward and growing my soul. What a wonderful gift to receive this card. A reminder in the face of going back to work and dealing with more winter weather.