Sunday, January 23, 2011

LET’S BE GIDDY!

We have all felt it at least once in our lives.  I don't know about you, 
but I love the feeling of being giddy.  It's like there's no possibility that I can be unhappy or that something will go wrong.   And if I could bottle up stocks of giddiness to get me through the days when everything seems blah, I really would. 

       “Good morning, Monday!”  I’ll bet it’s difficult to say this with real enthusiasm.  And maybe it’s not just for the start of the week or for a workday or school day, but somehow, these days, with all the challenges and realities we have to face, it is really rather difficult to be lively and smiling and actually mean it.  But don’t we just miss that feeling of uncontrollable happiness, as if the muscles on our faces were involuntarily making our mouths open into a grin and we feel lighthearted while the birds were chirping and the sun was shining?
       Of course, giddiness is not or may not mean everything.  It can be the honeymoon phase in a love affair or being at the top of a roller coaster ride before it goes into the loop and almost makes us feel like we’re losing all our insides.  To be giddy may just be a feeling.  Or it can simply be a start.  But it does make us know we are alive, and that wonderful and surprising things are possible to us.  That we are persons who can feel and from our emotions, be moved to act and sprint forward…to something even more meaningful and deep than the initial glory of feeling giddy.
      We can look up the meaning of "giddy" and "giddiness" in the dictionary but somehow they don’t seem to capture the exact sensation that it is when we’re actually feeling it.  Maybe the definitions are correct in saying that there’s a “dizziness, a lightheadedness or a sensation of falling” (www.thefreedictionary.com) but that’s not all there is to it.  Or it’s not necessarily a negative or threatening experience.  Because in reality, being giddy may just be one of the best phenomena we can have as human beings.  When we feel it, it’s just special and amazing.  Probably because we just know that it can usher something momentous and lead us from what can be life-changing for us: whether it be in love, a brilliant idea, or a touching effort from someone.  But whatever the reason, giddiness can never be denied – we just can’t stop ourselves when we feel it.  Also, it’s unpredictable and un-enforceable – we can’t know when it will shake us and we can’t coerce ourselves to become giddy. 
       At the very least, though, even if we can’t contrive ourselves and circumstances to bring us giddiness, we can just always try to be open to that wonderful, unique and lovely state.  Be in the disposition for life’s surprises.  Believe in miracles and magic.  Hold on to the child in us that finds joy even in the simplest of toys.  Accept “romance” from anything and everything.  Stay on the alert for people who smile at us sincerely, who compliment us with honesty and who trust us wholeheartedly.  Treasure and savor the moments when even if unexplainably, we have the conviction that everything will be, that everything is, all right and can be better.  Carry the memories of being loved and cared for that we inevitably collect as we grow up and grow old, even as we grow up and grow old…
       …So, what makes you giddy today? 

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