Happiness

What is happiness?

I recently heard this:

"Happiness is not getting what you want. Rather it is appreciating what you have."

So how many people don't appreciate what they have until it's gone? Then they're unhappy about not having it anymore when the truth is that they didn't appreciate what they had while they still had it. That lack of appreciation may sometimes be what causes the loss of what wasn't appreciated. Does that make sense to you?

I'm reminded of a beautiful flower in bloom. How it's important to appreciate it because its beauty is so fleeting. So enjoy and appreciate what you have right now. In the present.
Yesterday is the past. Tomorrow is a mystery. The present is a gift, so appreciate it and enjoy it!

Below is a gift of the fleeting beauty of a flower.

Abstract Art

This morning in a hotel room in Portland, I finally got the point of Abstract Art. Or rather I think I understand what inspires it.

This is how it happened. It was early in the morning. I was laying in my bed, being in that lazy, not quite awake mode of being. I looked over at the wall and this is what I saw:

It's just the play of light on the striped wallpaper, framed picture and the curtained window that the light came through. I found it had its own simple beauty.

This morning I learned to understand Abstract Art.

Abstract Art to me is seeing something in a new, different way with fresh eyes. It might even be a detail, a trick of the light or something you see only in your mind. Sometimes it means noticing something that's ordinary or never really been noticed before.