[from Marsha. Only time I’ve ever heard the statement “be of good cheer” was in some Christmas song. What is it that cheerleaders do? How could we apply that to our everyday life?]
The dictionary says:
Noun 1. shout of encouragement, praise, or joy.
- cheerfulness, optimism, or confidence.
From #110 at a workshop our teacher described the ‘dream state’ or ‘sleep state’ as when we just react mechanically to stimuli; and if it’s something we don’t like, we try to get rid of it and if it’s something we do like, we try to hang on to it by methods appropriate for a child but not an adult. See website and picture of man for the methods……
Here begins the ideas:
And if you wake up out of your “dream state” long enough to consciously be awake enough, you could have your inner feeling rather optimum. The most optimum inner feeling I like best is laughin’. See the joke. And the best joke I see is the one I played on myself for a long long time. And if one sees the joke; one, of course, is not making anything very important – is not dead serious which most everybody is. You know getting someone to smile sometimes is like pullin’ teeth.
So you see that our inner feeling can be optimum when we see the joke in things. How would your nutrition get along? There has been many tests run that if you’re eating when you’re sad and/or anxious, that all the digestive juices don’t work – the food just lays there and rots. And, of course, no matter how good a food was when you dropped it in there, it lays and decays because you’re sad, angry or anxious and pourin’ something other than digestive juices on it, so it rots. And rotten expensive food is just as rotten as cheap stuff, right?
And there is other indications that when you’re enjoying yourself, havin’ a ball, seeing the joke in things that the digestive juices are rollin’ freely and it digests the food, cleans up the whole deal. So the optimum of nutrition is not only the food but also the inner feeling of the person that eats it, right? But if you can see a wonderful time, seeing the joke as you look at “what’s goin’ on” or “what you’re doing” and having a ball observing those, then the food digests. We have a little statement around the place that says the food tastes good when it is prepared with TLC – that is the best seasoning there is with it – “tender loving care” because we’re enjoying cooking and eating it.
Missy Diane cooked lunch the other day and she said nobody would eat it because she was all pushed out of shape when she cooked it. It smelled awful. And she finally went and threw it in the garbage pail. She said she would never even offer to serve it again because she was “pushed out of shape” about something when she cooked it; and it obviously wasn’t very appetizing. And she is a wonderful cook — has the technical know how and prepares beautiful meals, but this one particular moment, she had her buttons pushed somewheres – some little thing she wanted to look at; and that meal was no great shakes. But any meal that’s prepared with TLC and served likewise, why you keep things goin’.
I used to pay a “chameleon” (a woman at the front desk) to work in my medical office when I did general practice. She was a tall skinny gal that most people wouldn’t consider very attractive; but she was an expert chameleon at seeing the joke in things (harmless jokes, not like the caustic humor on TV sit coms). And when people walked in, she kept the reception room constantly in laughter; and there was 14 chairs and then some additional chairs startin’ out in the hall; and they were usually full. We were movin’ people pretty rapidly; and there was never anybody that was really feelin’ badly when they got into the private office because they already had a good laugh and were feelin’ pretty good.
There was one guy came in said I thought I was in a doctor’s office – there’s a bunch of people out there that are laughin’ and nobody’s sick here. I said, naturally that’s what it’s here for — a doctor’s office is to get people well. Well, he didn’t see the joke so he didn’t stay. There was another guy who noticed the wonderful mood in the place and commented when he got into my office. He said, “Well, everybody’s so happy, do I have to pay?” I said, “You’d better believe it!”
So when you can really enjoy yourself and laugh, you are feelin’ pretty good. And when you’re stressed you’re pretty well out of shape – you can’t feel real tense and up tight while you’re laughin’. Did you ever try it?
But you see, there is a little order out that you shouldn’t laugh because that way you’re not taking things seriously. I’ve even heard it said that laughter is the work of the devil.
But the great teacher said “be of good cheer – and in nothing be anxious”. Is that in the Holy Scripture? That’s another one of the things about going along with “judge not”. In nothing be anxious; and “be of good cheer”. What is good cheer? Is that sittin’ around with a long face moanin’ and worryin’ and whimperin’ and mumblin’ in your beer when your talkin’?
So break out with joy, be of good cheer and in nothing be anxious – judge not and be awake. All these go all along pretty well together ‘cause if you’re awake, I’ll guarantee you, you’ll be of good cheer ‘cause there’s so many unbelievable jokes going on, and you’re the biggest one. Can you see that sir?
(Maybe.)
So as an exercise, we’re not gonna keep these commandments (that we’ve heard and read about through the years) for this week. We’re gonna go directly opposed to them. We’re going to make everthing serious like we’ve been doing all the time anyway, only we reacted and did them unconsciously. We’re gonna worry and fret – we’re gonna stay asleep and do everything mechanically. We’re gonna make everything important and find out the cause of it – what we can blame it on, okay? And we obviously are not gonna be of good cheer.
If you really break out laughin’, you feel kind of guilty about it, don’t you? Especially when everybody is all seriousness around you.
In nothing be anxious, but we’ve been anxious about the kids, the family, the automobile, the finances, the food, the doctor and about this and that. What have you not been anxious about this week? Tell me one thing you weren’t anxious about last week. So this week we’re gonna deliberately follow it the way we have been all along these many years; and next week you might find it’ll be a little easier to be of good cheer.
I get calls all day long every day. The “stuff” that pours through my telephone wire didn’t sound like good cheer – stopped up the septic tank and run all over the floor and had to tear up the carpet to clean it up. Is that like bein’ of good cheer? I won’t buy any of it.
How about you Esther?
(I’ve been pretty anxious.)
And when you was anxious, you was lookin to see how to get out of bein’ anxious, so you were judging something.
(I was judging, yes. I was sound asleep.)
Sound asleep or you wouldn’t have been making anything important, is that right? So you haven’t been much of a follower of the teachings in the last few days, is that it? So you’re deliberately not gonna follow the teachings this week, okay?
(Okay.)
Oh good, have fun.
[from Marsha: If we look at that word “cheer”, how could we express it both to ourselves and others. So if we take the idea of “How do I want to feel, and “think” of the word “cheer”. Then how would or could I act out the word “cheer”? Then after 30 minutes of acting it out, I will feel it and be able to express it. When I observe someone who’s cheerful, what do they do? How is their face? What do they say? What a nice exercise to experiment with through this very day.]