Happiness

My Heart Leaps Up ~ A Poem by William Wordsworth

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When Your Heart Still Leaps: What a Rainbow Can Teach Us About Staying Young Forever

My Heart Leaps Up

William Wordsworth

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

Source

Reflection

Wordsworth’s My Heart Leaps Up invites us to pause and cherish the moments that make our hearts leap, just as a rainbow does. He reminds us that wonder isn’t just for the young—it’s the golden thread binding all stages of our life. To lose that wonder is, in a way, to stop truly living.

Three Questions to Dive Deeper

  1. When was the last time something in nature made your heart leap, and how did it affect your mood or thoughts that day?
  2. How do you interpret the line, “The Child is father of the Man” in your own journey through life?
  3. What does natural piety mean to you, and how might it guide your daily choices or relationships?

Healthy Tips: Happiness: The Steady Flame, Not the Fireworks

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Health Tip: Happiness gets a lot of press, but it’s often misunderstood. It’s not the sugar rush of emotions. It’s more like a steady flame in the fireplace—not flashy, but warming everything it touches.

Practical example: Think of the satisfaction of sitting on the porch after mowing the lawn, a glass of water in hand, a cool breeze blowing. You’re not giddy. You’re not chasing anything. You’re simply there. That’s happiness. This emotional sense helps you recognize contentment, alignment, peace. It says, “You’re okay here.” And sometimes, that’s everything.

Teaser for Post 5: We’ll wrap the series with the emotional sense that ties all the others together—one that turns insight into connection.

Healthy Tips: Joy Is Not a Mood—It’s a Message

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”Healthy Tip: Joy isn’t the loud cousin of happiness, throwing confetti around at every party. Joy is subtle, sacred, and often surprisingly quiet. It doesn’t require ideal conditions; it can show up in the middle of chaos.

Practical example: A friend told me once that after her father’s funeral, the family gathered in the kitchen. Someone cracked a joke. Everyone burst out laughing through tears. That, she said, was joy. It didn’t erase the grief. It accompanied it.

Joy isn’t a detour from reality — it’s a deep acknowledgment of it. When you sense joy, pay attention. Your emotional senses are telling you, “This moment matters.”

Teaser for Post 3: Why sorrow deserves a seat at the table—and how it makes us more human, not more broken.

Healthy Tip: The Sixth Sense You Actually Use Every Day (And Didn’t Learn in Biology)”

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For the next 5 posts beginning today I will focus on our emotional senses and how we can use our emotional senses to promote emotional health.

Healthy Tip: We all know the big five senses — sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. They get all the attention, all the textbook love. But what about the senses that don’t show up in the anatomy charts? The ones that speak in whispers, not signals? I’m talking about your emotional senses.

Emotions like joy, sorrow, and happiness aren’t just moods that pass through like a summer breeze. They’re more like internal instruments — quiet sensors attuned to life’s deeper truths. When something is right, you feel joy. When something is missing, you feel sorrow. When you’re aligned with what matters most, you feel happiness.

Practical example: Ever meet someone and instantly feel at peace around them? You can’t explain it, but something inside says, “Yes. This feels right.” That’s not magic or mystery — it’s your emotional sense doing its job.

These emotional senses guide our choices, shape our relationships, and help us heal. They may not be visible, but they are very real.

Teaser for Post 2: Coming next: The quiet magic of joy—how to recognize it, nurture it, and let it surprise you.

Rising With the Early Birds

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I’m an early riser. It’s still dark out when I wander through the house opening the shutters to my windows. As soon as the soon rises, I want it to light it up. When I looked outside I saw the dark sky filled with stars. I heard the birds singing, and I was, for a moment, filled with awe and gratitude. These are precious moments when you know everything will work out. Hope your day is filled with them.

Black Oaks ~ A Poem by Mary Oliver

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Black Oaks

Mary Oliver

Okay, not one can write a symphony, or a dictionary,

or even a letter to an old friend, full of remembrance
and comfort.

Not one can manage a single sound though the blue jays
carp and whistle all day in the branches, without
the push of the wind.

But to tell the truth after a while I’m pale with longing
for their thick bodies ruckled with lichen

and you can’t keep me from the woods, from the tonnage

of their shoulders, and their shining green hair.

Today is a day like any other: twenty-four hours, a
little sunshine, a little rain.

Listen, says ambition, nervously shifting her weight from
one boot to another — why don’t you get going?

For there I am, in the mossy shadows, under the trees.

And to tell the truth I don’t want to let go of the wrists
of idleness, I don’t want to sell my life for money,

I don’t even want to come in out of the rain.

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The World’s Music ~ A Poem by Gabriel Setoun

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The World’s Music

Gabriel Setoun

The world’s a very happy place,
 Where every child should dance and sing,
And always have a smiling face,
 And never sulk for anything.

I waken when the morning’s come,
 And feel the air and light alive
With strange sweet music like the hum
 Of bees about their busy hive.

The linnets play among the leaves
 At hide-and-seek, and chirp and sing;
While, flashing to and from the eaves,
 The swallows twitter on the wing.

The twigs that shake, and boughs that sway;
 And tall old trees you could not climb;
And winds that come, but cannot stay,
 Are singing gaily all the time.

From dawn to dark the old mill-wheel
 Makes music, going round and round;
And dusty-white with flour and meal,
 The miller whistles to its sound.

And if you listen to the rain
 Where leaves and birds and bees are dumb,
You hear it pattering on the pane
 Like Andrew beating on his drum.

The coals beneath the kettle croon,
 And clap their hands and dance in glee;
And even the kettle hums a tune
 To tell you when it’s time for tea.

The world is such a happy place
 That children, whether big or small,
Should always have a smiling face,
 And never, never sulk at all.

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New Podcast: Wildflowers Through Ash: Finding Strength in Sorrow

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In this moving episode, Ray shares a personal memory from a road trip along Route 66 with his late wife—a moment of unexpected beauty at Sunset Crater, where fragile wildflowers grew from volcanic ash. That moment gave birth to the phrase that became his anchor through grief: Life wins. Life always wins. With reflections from the poet David Whyte, mystic Hafiz, and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, Ray explores how life continues to call us forward, even in the depths of loss. Tune in for a story of hope, healing, and the quiet strength that carries us through the darkest moments.

Health Tips: Laugh So Hard Your Stress Files a Restraining Order

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Who needs therapy when you’ve got cat videos, awkward memories, and that one friend who turns every serious moment into stand-up comedy? Laughter isn’t just contagious—it’s medicinal. And unlike kale, it actually tastes good.

Laugh It Out (Humor Therapy)

Why it works: Laughter releases endorphins and lowers stress hormones. It’s basically yoga for your insides.

How: Watch a funny video, recall an absurd memory, or talk to your funny friend (you know the one).

New Podcast: From Grief to Choosing to Live

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In this episode, we reflect on how grief shifts when we stop asking why and begin to accept what is. Inspired by Paulo Coelho’s wisdom and poems by Bruce Kiskaddon and Mary Oliver, we explore how choosing to live—fully and courageously—transforms our pain into purpose, wonder, and connection.

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