Easily Pleased
Today I am grateful for cooler weather and some rain for our lawn and gardens. I am also grateful for the people who share their recovery wit and wisdom with me and others.
This short quote says plenty in nine words:
I think Mark Nepo is asking us to return to ourselves and the simple joys of just being, the joys in the present moment. We can appreciate others and how they help us know peace and contentment, but if we can't find that peace and contentment within, we are hard pressed to consistently find it elsewhere.
This may sound contradictory, but for me to know peace within, and then be able to share that with others, I first need to start with getting out of my own way. I am too tough on myself and it clouds my vision. It kills the simple joys. I expect too much and accept too little, mainly in regard to little 'ole me.
So I start today considering how easily I can be pleased when my heart, soul, and mind are open. Pleased with the first sip of today's coffee. With the smell of rain. In the pause to give thanks before eating my breakfast. With taking a moment to give our dog Oliver a belly rub.
Living gratefully equates to being easily pleased. Gifts are abundant when we learn to pay attention and look for them.
This short quote says plenty in nine words:
"The key to knowing joy is being easily pleased."
(Mark Nepo)
We live in a society and culture that tells us we can buy things to please us. That we can find the perfect person to marry and please us. That we are entitled to a good life. Yet, if we spend all of our time looking outside ourselves for what pleases us, we will be frustrated at the least and addicted at the most.
I think Mark Nepo is asking us to return to ourselves and the simple joys of just being, the joys in the present moment. We can appreciate others and how they help us know peace and contentment, but if we can't find that peace and contentment within, we are hard pressed to consistently find it elsewhere.
This may sound contradictory, but for me to know peace within, and then be able to share that with others, I first need to start with getting out of my own way. I am too tough on myself and it clouds my vision. It kills the simple joys. I expect too much and accept too little, mainly in regard to little 'ole me.
So I start today considering how easily I can be pleased when my heart, soul, and mind are open. Pleased with the first sip of today's coffee. With the smell of rain. In the pause to give thanks before eating my breakfast. With taking a moment to give our dog Oliver a belly rub.
Living gratefully equates to being easily pleased. Gifts are abundant when we learn to pay attention and look for them.
I needed this reminder - thanks!
ReplyDeleteWe write to remind ourselves of what we need and to reach out to others with the same. Writing is mutually beneficial to writer and reader. Write on!
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