The Autobahn and the Art of Happiness
World Cup 2006: Wandering Europe
SNAPSHOTS:
1. Paris et Les Invalides
2. Zidane, Ribery, et le Trocadero at Midnight
3. Aller a Strasbourg
5. What Happened in Berlin
6. My Birthday: Berlin in Summer
7. Back in the Thick of It: Ghana v USA
8. Sam's Army, Cognitive Dissonance, and Facepaint
9. Born in the USA
10. "USA!" he yelled. "USA!"
11. And our best player left the field on a stretcher.
12. We watched happily as the scores of passing Ghanai...
 Spinning Fire at Brandenberg Gate (Berlin) |
A week went by and I crossed into Germany, stopping in Berlin and Nuremburg, traveling with Noémie, a social worker and party girl whom I'd met at Burningman 2004.
Noémie and I zipped around Deutschland on the Autobahn, watching sleek black Mercedes-Benz sedans fly by us at 10,000 miles per hour. Cars here in Europe are smaller than our American ones, but they go much faster. Noémie's was a tiny Toyota, and when I drove we cruised at a cautious 95 mph. We'd stop at the rest areas, which are surprisingly nice here, and stock up on picnic supplies and beer. Then we'd resume our breakneck stroll.
Sipping a beer, piloting us through the undulating emerald hills of Bavaria, listening to funky bass-heavy Marcus Miller jazz rhythms on the stereo, I thought to myself, cheap thrills are the best thrills. Noémie would take a turn driving and I would reach for her honey-brown classical guitar from the back seat and play whatever tune first came to mind.
The greatest skill we can learn in life might be the skill of being happy. Not in the trite sense of not worrying, or of simply ignoring suffering, but of truly cultivating an awareness of one's inner dreams and loves and of one's outer gratitude for what one has. I believe this is something we can practice at, train at, like running marathons, like playing guitar, like really listening to others. Nourishing a flourishing and healthy mind, intuitively seeing behind the swirling clouds of fears and emotions we carry, we have the opportunity to retain our dreams, to love whatever it is we love, and to appreciate the miracle of existence. This leads to an open and serene way of living.
It is probably easier for me to see this skill of happiness while I'm traveling, but I know it's there. I've tasted it so often. This skill can be learned. I only need to remember to practice.