10 Moments of happiness

  A new year seems like a good time to look at happiness.  I've also been influenced by Lin Yutang's book The Importance of Living.  In Chapter 6, "The Feast of Life" he recounts Chin Shengt'an's Thirty-three Happy Moments.  This list caused me to think of some of my own happy moments.  They are not earth-shattering,  not necessarily long-lived, but joyful.  I made a list of happinesses that sprang to mind without too much concentration.  I discovered that  just thinking about my moments of happiness made me happy.  

   Lin Yutang says that happiness must include the senses, not just thoughts.  Most of my happy times are those in which I was completely in the moment, no thoughts, just experiencing.  

                                           My Ten Moments of Happiness in random order

1.   Two years after we were married, my husband and I bought Eurail passes and traveled in Europe.  We took a boat across Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.  We got off at Mt. Pilatus and took a cable car to the top.  When we got out of the car, we were met with a "Sound of Music" mountain scene--tall snow-topped mountains, a green meadow with little yellow flowers, and little paths and roads disappearing into the distance.  I had never seen anything so beautiful.  Spontaneously, tears filled my eyes and I was literally speechless.

2.  When my daughter was about ten, we went to Sugar Mountain Ski Resort with a friend and her son.  She went to visit her daughter at college in Boone. While she went to the college,  my daughter and I decided to try to ski, though we'd never even seen a pair of skis.  We rented equipment wearing our jeans and Florida coats and headed for the Beginners' slope.  Using a tow rope we got to the top of the gentle slope.  Going down was ecstatic.  We were skiing!  Though I imagine anyone else would have doubted that.  Snow was falling, the air was cold and we were totally in the very exciting moment.   

3.  During a trip to England, my husband and I rented a car to travel around.  As an English teacher who had taught The Canterbury Tales for years, I had to see Canterbury.  We walked through the ancient gate into the city and there was Canterbury Cathedral looking just like it did in the English book photo.  Just like the Swiss mountains, the scene with all the personal history I brought to it made me cry.  We toured the cathedral and all the time I had a sense of awe--this is it, this is where the Canterbury characters were traveling.

                                                         Gate into city of Canterbury.

                                                     Outside area of Canterbury Cathedral.

4.  Analyzing my moments of happiness, most of them have been during travel.  Seeing new places, obviously makes me happy.  One of the most memorable travel moments for both my husband and myself was at another cathedral, The Basicilica of Sacre Coeur of Paris.  It sits on top of a very tall hill to the north of the main part of the city in an area favored by artists, Montmartre.  Just being there was happy for me, but then we went into the Cathedral.  It was late afternoon and time for vespers.  As we sat looking at the altar, nuns all in white filed into the choir area.  Then they started singing.   Their voices were high with pure tones.  There was no musical instrument accompaniment.  It would have been superfluous.  Angels singing could not have been more beautiful.  I have no words to truly describe their sound.  

                                                                     Sacre Coeur

5.  One moment not related to travel was the first time I saw my baby daughter.  She was born just before the natural birth movement.  My generation preferred to be out cold during the delivery.  She was born at 12:20am, but I did not awaken until after noon the next day.  A nurse brought the little pink-blanketed bundle to me after I could focus.  She lay there on my arm, silently.  She was the most beautiful being I had ever seen.  It was love at first sight.  I've had friends say, "That can't be true.  Mother-baby bonding takes weeks." Not for me.  I loved her instantly and totally and really have never stopped.  

6., 7., 8.  Many of my recent travel happinesses have been in New York City.  It is the most exciting city!  The streets just vibrate and there is so very much to do and see.  Here are photos of three of my favorite moments:

                                           At  the Metropolitan Opera "La Boheme" at 

                                           Lincoln Center.  I'm trying to look like it is not my

                                           first time there.

                                           My husband and I enjoy a NY Harbor Tour.

                                    

                                              With my daughter and granddaughter at a Broadway

                                             musical.  The three of us went to NYC to celebrate

                                             my granddaughter's high school graduation.  We had

                                             a fantastic weekend.

9.  My daughter and her family lived in England for four years.  I visited many times.  One Christmas when my husband traveled with me, the two of us and my daughter's family went ice skating at a rink at Hampton Court Palace, one of King Henry VIII's palaces.  It was exhilarating to skate with the palace in the background and just to be in such a historic place. I just loved it!

Skating rink at Hampton Court Palace.  This photo is an

internet photo, not taken by me.

10.  Finally, nothing makes me as happy as a parade, especially small town parades that

bring out the firetrucks, police motorcycles, and even ambulances.  All of us say at the 

annual Opening of the Beaches Parade here in Jacksonville, that there better not be an

emergency while a parade is happening.  In fact, all the emergency vehicles are slowly progressing down the streets in a line.  Small town parades are creative.  Bands, marchers, all those involved seem so happy to be there.  A parade is just joyous.  

Take a moment to think about your happiness.  You probably have more than you realize.

        

                                                                              

                                                                                

                                         

                                               

                                                    

   

Chocolate, the food of love

                                                   The title graphic for my chocolate site

    

    A few years ago, I wrote and maintained a web site called "Let them eat chocolate."  It contained articles about chocolate, chocolate recipes, and as many things chocolate as I could find.  It is one interest I dropped.  I did learn a lot about chocolate.  Recently, I was looking through some of my material and came across an article called "Chocolate and the Libido."  I decided to reprint it on this page. It is a subject that is still interesting.

   One enjoyable aspect of chocolate history is the lore associated with chocolate as an aphrodisiac or libido enhancer. Stories are still around about the Aztec, Montezuma, emperor of the13th century Mexican region. He is said to have drunk 50 cups of chocolate every day from a golden goblet.

     Since Montezuma had a harem of 600 wives, he possibly felt some pressure to enhance his sexual prowess. Women, of course, were not permitted to drink chocolate. Chocolate was considered a royal aphrodiasic and only the gods and rulers were supposed to drink it. Montezuma's chocolate drink was a combination of ground cocoa beans, hot peppers and ground vanilla beans. The European explorers who tried it were not impressed.

    Chilies, curries and other spicy foods have physiological effects--raised heart and blood pressure rates--similar to the physical reactions of sex. Perhaps the hot peppers helped Montezuma believe he was sexually enhanced. Centuries later, Spanish Queen Isabella's cook substituted sugar for the hot peppers. The new sweet drink instantly became the rage.

     Casanova, the famous Italian lover, thought chocolate aided his libido. He preferred drinking chocolate to champagne before going out on his nightly adventures. In his memoirs, he writes of drinking chocolate for breakfast.

     Chocolate is the favorite gift of love. Millions of heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are sold  every Valentine's Day. It was Richard Cadbury, son of the founder of Cadbury Ltd, who created the heart-shaped candy box for Valentine's Day in 1861.

      Stories of chocolate as an aphrodisiac are interesting, but is there any scientific evidence that chocolate enhances the libido? Much has been written on the subject. Some research proposes that the neurotransmitter in falling in love may be phenylethylamine (PEA), which is found in chocolate. It can heighten senses, raise blood pressure and sugar levels and give a feeling of well being. Chocolate also contains substances that stimulate the brain in ways similar to marijuana and coffee.  Chocolate contains theobromine, a mild stimulant and phenlethylamine, a euphoric.

      On the other side of the question, Randy Cornelius in his book The Science of Emotion writes, "The true aphrodisiacs are our beliefs about certain things. If you believe chocolate is a food of love and romance, that belief sparks the romantic flames when it is given as a gift." Have the aphrodisiac properties proclaimed all these years only been in our heads?

List of my favorite things

     1.  "Raindrops on roses. . . " No, just kidding, but I do like flowers, preferably those that are delivered to the door in a box.

My granddaughter performing in "Oklahoma" summer theater

      2.  Musical plays, especially on Broadway, where excellence reigns.  This fall, I saw my first New York Met opera at Lincoln Center.  Now, I'm a fan.  Bad opera is very, very bad, and I've seen a few, but the Met was wonderful!  Excellence is good.  Musical theater runs in the family.  My granddaughter
is a musical theater major in her college sophomore year.
     3.  Satirical humor.  Jonathan Stewart is my very favorite on television for satire and the New Yorker magazine cartoons come in second.
     4.  A well-written book and magazines and newspapers.  I've always been a news hound.  The NY Times satisfies that need best.
     5.   Teens, especially ones I used to teach.  They can be so honest and so hopeful.  Even when they are perfectly horrible, there's a vulnerability that's redeeming.
     6.  My dear husband who cheerfully puts up with all my weirdnesses and supports my causes. 
     7.  Strong, aromatic cups of coffee, but not after 3 pm unless I want to stay awake all night.
     8.  Computers and the Internet, the best technology of my lifetime, and iphones.  How did we ever do without them?
     9.  Foreign travel and U.S. travel to places new to me.  This summer I'm going to Greece for the first time.  I've wanted to go since seeing ancient ruins photos in my high school Latin book.
   10.  Visting and being visited by my beautiful, smart, thoughtful, kind daughter and her family.

   That's my current list--not in order of preference.  The list my change next week.  What's on your list?