The Healing Power of Joy and Raccoon With His Pumpkin

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of men of old; seek what they sought.
  --Basho


". . . men are, that they might have joy."  2 Nephi 2:25


The Healing Power of Joy


"Joy renews us in wondrous ways.  Norman Cousins told a story about his visit with Pablo Casals, then nearly ninety.  Every morning at eight o'clock, he saw Casals emerge from his room, crippled and bent over with rheumatoid arthritis, breathing with difficulty because of emphysema.


As he watched Casals walk painfully across the room to the piano, cousins said, "I was not prepared for the miracle that was about to happen.  The fingers slowly unlocked and reached toward the keys like the buds of a plant toward the sunlight.  His back straightened.  He seemed to breathe more 'fully' as he played Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (German: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier),with precision and grace.  Casals then rose, straight and tall, walked briskly to the kitchen, enjoyed his breakfast, and went out for a walk before tackling the day's paperwork.  Casal's love of music, the joy he felt in playing, filled his body and soul so completely that there was no room for pain or weakness.  His daily ritual was a repeated demonstration of the healing power of joy."


  --From The Tao of Personal Leadership by Diane Dreher (I recommend you visit her web site.  The Tao books are great).
Outlaw, the Raccoon and his JOY!

Is there something good to eat in here?