Gift to be simple

It's a "gift to be simple" only because complicating life seems to come more naturally. What is happiness, anyway? I won't take that subject on-- it's enough of a challenge to write about a recipe, a bird, a concert, a movie, a baby, a horse, a flower.

So. I get this goofy clay pot for $7 at RiteAid and plant moss on his head. It's cheap and silly but it makes me smile each time I look at it. And John doesn't laugh at me because it makes me smile. Even if he thinks it's stupid, he doesn't complain about sleeping on sheets with horses on them, either. See how the little gifts can multiple?

Yet here we are-- content with small joys one day and miserable the next. I dislike the self-help industry with its bossy experts and simple-solution-to-complex-problem books. But Jon Kabat-Zinn is a mainstream doctor, and he teaches how Zen mindfulness can relieve stress and physical pain in his book, Wherever you Go, There You Are. I pick up and re-read my copy from time to time. The amazing Google Books has now posted the full text on line.