August 20-A, 2022

Finding joy in what we are doing,
in what is available to do,
is a matter of changing our mind
about what is important,
in order to see 
what is being offered to us,
instead of seeing what 
is not being offered to us.

The simple pleasures require us
to see them
and avail ourselves of them--
to invite them into our lives.

Both joy and suffering 
are perspectives,
ways of seeing,
ways of ascribing meaning
to the events and circumstances
of our life.

What we emphasize is what we see.
When we level the field of vision,
we don't make too much of anything,
but allow all things to be just they are--
and do what needs to be done about them,
in ways appropriate to the occasion.

With practice, we can return to the 
grounding orientation of balance and harmony
by refusing to bestow an inordinate degree
of attention on anything,
and remaining "within the normal range"
with all our assessments of our life experience--
permitting joy to be joy
without dosing it with an unrelated excess of sorrow.

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