Did you know that Smiling makes you happy When you’re feeling crappy? Did you know that? I bet you’re smiling now. And if you were feeling crappy, Now you’re feeling a little happy - I bet you’re smiling now. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
JOY
THE DAY THE LAUGHTER CAME AGAIN
The day the laughter came again I stood in shock and stared at it in awe Like a stranger from a distant terrain For I had forgotten to a tragic flaw How laughter sounds and makes you feel. It felt so good it made me want to cry; The power of laughter and joy is real - A heart that laughs purely will never die. The day the laughter came again I was at the lowest ebb of my life, My soul wracked every day by pain, Torn by questions and unresolved strife, I woke up that morning and prayed to God, then set out to bravely meet the day And as I, work-focused, did onward plod, Laughter came to me again along my way. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
ONCE YOU TASTE TRUE LOVE
Once you taste true love Lust becomes a mechanical chore Pleasure is no longer enough You want something more. You learn to recognise the grain And separate it from the chaff - You want to feel that joy again You want your heart to laugh. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
EVERYONE CAN BE HAPPY
There is somebody that loves you genuinely; May you find that person - And may you also love that person genuinely. But if you don’t find or love that person, Still may you find happiness in life. Not everyone finds a husband or a wife, But everyone can be happy genuinely. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
A LITTLE HAPPY EVERYDAY
Sometimes you love someone, but the person loves someone else. Or the person simply prefers a lifestyle different from the one which a life with you would have to offer them. So they choose or go after someone else who, or another path that, can offer them that lifestyle.
Being that the aim, the very aim, of life itself is Happiness, this experience of rejection cuts to the very heart of the essence of existence. The hurt can kill the soul. It makes people reappraise themselves, question their worth and even find fault in their own fundamental character. Yet, while self-examination is healthy, so also are self-love, self-understanding and self-acceptance equally necessary.
When trapped in a spiral of self-abnegation in which one no longer recognises oneself, It then becomes imperative to awaken, within one’s consciousness, a new narrative of life and of self in order to find the path to a new source of joy, as a new person. To outgrow the self-image that traps one in a cycle of pain, perhaps even to shed certain traits, and to learn to see oneself, one’s path and one’s Why with fresh new eyes. To find a new understanding of the purpose of life.
This is where the concept of never giving up comes into play. Every morning when you wake up, strive for joy. Be prepared to let go of those thoughts and those beliefs that weigh you down debilitatingly. Be ready and able every day to try a new path, a new thought, until you find the exit – and then you can take flight again.
Life is a jigsaw puzzle. Many parts fit, but many parts don’t fit also. And you have to move the pieces about in your heart and in your life continuously, often, and courageously in order to slowly put your answers together.
And, as you stride on along this way, try… try to be a little happy every day. In the end, that’s all you have. That’s all we have to share with one another. That is our humanity.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
IN YOUR HEART
The joy of the brand new day The happiness that wants to play The laughter in your heart Even when outside the sky is grey Don’t let anything take your joy away Fight for your right to be happy everyday Fight for the light in your heart Happiness is the Paradise of Today Night and day, November or May, Laughter is the currency in which you pay For the gift of life in your heart. My morning thoughts on a happy Sunday. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
JEWELS AND THORNS
Somewhere it‘s day Somewhere it’s night Some hearts are sad Some with joy bright But even as the world Continues to spin The happy turn sour The sad grow a grin Sometimes you’re glad Sometimes you’re down Jewels and thorns Adorn the human crown What makes us human? The ability to weep And then laugh again For our heart is deep. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
HAPPINESS IS PARADISE
The end result of life should be happiness. If you live a long and “fulfilled” life, and yet at the end you are full of sadness and uncertainty – what was the point?
I don’t know what or where Paradise is – but if it’s not a synonym for Happiness, what’s the point in making it the destination of your travels?
As simple as it may sound, the aim of life is to be happy – nothing more. The difficult exercise along the way is finding your happiness without unfairly or willfully impeding the happiness of another.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
PARADISE NOW
If paradise were not joy, then eternal life would be a punishment, not a prize. If eternity were not in the moment, then eternal life would be a burden, not a relief. We cannot permit paradise to always be somewhere far away, in another dimension, on another plane, to which we only attain after death, or sometime in the future after the last judgement. This concept of paradise only divides us from life and devalues the large trajectory of our past, by constantly limiting the scope and context of our present.
Paradise has to be in the moment, every moment. Paradise has to be for you not a place you go to, but a way and manner in which you go every place you are going. Paradise for you has to be the way you walk your ways, the way you talk, the way you think and perceive, the way you feel and sense, the way you intuitively perceive, in short: the way you are, in every moment. And this concept of paradise can only make sense to you when you recognize that the only thing paradise can be is joy. And the only thing that can be eternal is joy. And since life constantly pushes towards motion, then eternal activity only makes sense in combination with eternal joy. The only price that joy demands is that in seeking it we do not infringe on the personal boundaries of other joy-seekers.
But there is nothing like eternity, because it does not exist, because it has not yet existed, because by definition it cannot exist since it can never conclude itself and be a rounded event. It is an open-ended assertion. There is nothing like eternity. There is only the moment which gives birth to the moment which gives birth to the moment which gives birth to the moment which gives birth to the moment…. unendingly? Well, I tell you what. The only thing that makes a thing gladly repeat itself unendingly is joy. If being itself makes it happy, then it will repeat itself unendingly.
Would the beings in paradise and spirits in heaven want to live forever if they were not happy, and happy being themselves? Would YOU want to live forever if eternal life were not eternal joy but the lack of joy and you could not be yourself and be happy? I would not. Come to think of it: is that not the definition of Hell? I really think that is beyond the capacity of human experiencing. Every joyless human existence must come to an end some day. Only joyful spiritual experiencing can extend endlessly.
Joy is not a place. It is an inner state of being. It is paradise. It is not connected with earthly or exterior badges of praise. It is not by itself connected with power or money. It is not even connected with achievements, which become the past. It is simply a product of the way you are. Thus you can carry it about with you, every moment, every day, through all your lives, on earth and in the beyond, and at home in the spiritual kingdom, forever and ever.
The Kingdom of God lies within you – and it’s name is Joy.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
MUSICIANS
When the sadness
Coloured the smile
Of the musician’s sunshine
I saw that his joy
Had just got deeper
And the unshed tears
Longing in his eyes
Were less bitter
Than they were bittersweet
To my ears
Music to my heart
Water to my soul – his sorrow
Became the joy of my spirit flame.
That was when I saw him smile
That broke my heart.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 