I just read this from a yahoo group I belong to. It was such a lovely little posting that I wanted to write it here and keep it somewhere I can see it again. Enjoy.
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Happily May I walk.
Happily, with abundance, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant colors, may I walk.
Happily, with abundant rain, may I walk.
Happily, on a trail of abundant pollen, may I walk.
Happily, with abundance, may I walk.
Happily, may I walk.
~ Hopi Night Chant
Where does happiness come from? Today we are told that happiness comes from holding a perfect job, having a perfect body, being in a perfect relationship. But the Hopi and other ancient people of the Americas made happiness something simpler, and more profound. To them, happiness was being attuned to the natural world around us - and fulfilling one's duties toward that world.
For the world does not just exist outside ourselves. We interact with it at every turn. Our actions have consequences: just as surely as today's weather will affect our way of dressing to go outdoors, our actions affect our world. At this moment, the liquefied bodies of dinosaurs are being burned to heat our air;
waters are being directed from their natural sources into our homes; fuel is being burned at a distant site and carried to our buildings for electricity. Even as we sit still, reading, we consume the products of
the earth. We are never separate from her, not for an instant. Let us grow more aware of this deep connection, and find not only happiness but responsibility within it.
by Patricia Monaghan - From "The Goddess Companion"