Happiness
I wonder at times why I am so happy and content. Is it because I’m a fool living in my own paradise, or am I just deluded and don’t really have enough sense to know what happiness is and I’m just a poor, pathetic person lost in his own world?

Personally, I feel that my world is better than what I could have ever planned it to be. I enjoy every little thing in life, from the plaintive bleating of the goat in the neighbor’s yard to the sweet smell of the alder wood that is burning in preparation of our evening meal. Simple pleasures that bring so much pleasure. The enjoyment of seeing Ohmah searching for the apples in the trees above the point at which he can jump, but yet jumping as hard and as high as he can, only to be disappointed at not being able to reach as high as his eyes can see.

I gain a sense of enjoyment at being able to cook the dog’s treats; end of pieces of the meat that I will be grilling, and seeing them slobber and drool at the smell of it cooking, because for some reason, they know it is for them.

Take the quiet sound of the neighbor’s goats when they’re being fed. They know, I know, the neighbor knows, that they are now content because of their needs being met.

I don’t think that it is necessarily simple pleasures that bring enjoyment and happiness, but the simple appreciation of those trouble-free pleasures. Life isn’t about tomorrow, but about enjoying life today. Thoreau had it right, simplify. Simplify. Carpe diem; seize the day, enjoy the day.

I believe that life boiled down to its essence, is appreciating what you have, whatever it is, and not wanting things for tomorrow.