Impermanent

Because suffering is impermanent,
that is why we can transform it.
Because happiness is impermanent,
that is why we have to nourish it.

-Thich Nhat Hanh, 10th June 2014

Waiting in line

First snow

Unfinished

this body is not me
but I am in it
what happens to it
happens not just to me
but to the whole of humanity
and divinity

Green bushes, bare trees

The happiness quiz

Are you happy enough? Too happy? Just right?

Personally, I'm average: somewhat happy.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/03/take-the-oxford-happiness-questionnaire

Don't avoid suffering

"The right response to this sort of pain is not pleasure. It’s holiness. I don’t even mean that in a purely religious sense. It means seeing life as a moral drama, placing the hard experiences in a moral context and trying to redeem something bad by turning it into something sacred."

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/opinion/brooks-what-suffering-does.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=1&referrer=

The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk, p. 26

Semrad taught us that most human suffering is related to love and loss and that the job of therapists is to help people "acknowledge, experience, and bear" the reality of life - with all its pleasures and heartbreak. "The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves," he'd say, urging us to be honest with ourselves about every facet of our experience. He also said that people can never get better without knowing what they know and feeling what they feel... You can be fully in charge of your life only if you can acknowledge the reality of your body, in all its visceral dimensions.

Brambles