The little things in life.

Lausten’s thread inspired this one. Actually a little Swallow inspired it. Time to loosen up the banter around here… Why not think about the little things in our own lives?
What was the best little thing that’s made your life worth living for you recently?
I’ll start with the moment that inspired this post.

This morning while walking Maddy in the lower 20, we were standing out in the pasture watching a few swallows flying around snapping up bugs. One of the most awesome birds, a genuine favor among favorites for me. Back in my hitchhiking days, I had the chance to visit the underside of many bridges. Underside of bridges over rivers, creeks are the best because they were usually packed with swallow nests and a huge slew of birds flitting in and out. Awesome displays of airmanship, ;-) Unfortunately the populations of swallow have taken hard hits and are way down. Out above our field their were a lonely half dozen flying around . We've had a few showers lately so the air is moist and local wildlife is taking advantage of the short oasis period, thus the active bugs that bring on the active birds. In any event, while watching the birds this morning, as usual a few decided to take a closer look at me by buzzing me. Today three passes, the last one so close I could hear the whoosh of its wings as it passed past my head, from an angle to where I was able to watch the whole flight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llo25rjNQDo To touch the Earth.
So how's about you, what little things have had you thinking How sweet it is. {yeah, even within the over all horror going down. Human sanity has always rested on our ability to compartmentalize and yes, deny.}

There’s all the usual stuff, babies, graduations, seeing old friends in the park while music plays. I had a great canoe this week. The water was so smooth it was hard sometimes to tell what was real and what was a reflection. (And I know reflections are real, don’t start).
That friend in the park told me a story about her son. He works on boiler maintenance or something, but I found out he actually has twice the normal college hours, he just never settled on a major. The story was about sitting down with someone who judged him by his dirty clothes and hands, but slowly came to realize how well read he was. It’s an experience I wish I would have had much earlier life. I could have saved a lot of time and met many more interesting people.

There's all the usual stuff, babies, graduations, seeing old friends in the park while music plays. I had a great canoe this week. The water was so smooth it was hard sometimes to tell what was real and what was a reflection. (And I know reflections are real, don't start). { :lol: } That friend in the park told me a story about her son. He works on boiler maintenance or something, but I found out he actually has twice the normal college hours, he just never settled on a major. The story was about sitting down with someone who judged him by his dirty clothes and hands, but slowly came to realize how well read he was. It's an experience I wish I would have had much earlier life. I could have saved a lot of time and met many more interesting people.
True enough. Anyone else have any cool 'little things that make life worth living' stories?

I have the good fortune to live out in the country, and I take a two mile walk twice a day (unless it’s raining too hard). A day or two a go I saw a swallow-tailed kite (a bird, if you’re not familiar with it). They’re basically shore birds and aren’t supposed to be this far inland, but I suppose this one had followed the river and then the creek until he found himself a nice spot of woods where he could hunt.

There's all the usual stuff, babies, graduations, seeing old friends in the park while music plays. I had a great canoe this week. The water was so smooth it was hard sometimes to tell what was real and what was a reflection. (And I know reflections are real, don't start). { :lol: } That friend in the park told me a story about her son. He works on boiler maintenance or something, but I found out he actually has twice the normal college hours, he just never settled on a major. The story was about sitting down with someone who judged him by his dirty clothes and hands, but slowly came to realize how well read he was. It's an experience I wish I would have had much earlier life. I could have saved a lot of time and met many more interesting people.
True enough. Anyone else have any cool 'little things that make life worth living' stories? A few, though very few, Trump supporters seem to be slowiy coming to their senses. Whether they drop the ball or not is anyone's guess, but it gives me hope for the moment. I don't know how long it will last--they are Republicans after all, and we all know that common sense is rare and easily destroyed in Republicans. But I am grateful for the tiny glimmer of hope that common sense might overcome blind party loyalty even in Republicans. It's a toss-up, though. Lois

Just remembered this one. It was just a couple weeks ago. Just hanging around on a Sunday and a young woman, the daughter of one of my wife’s best friends, calls up and says she is “in town”. Actually she’s driving past us from a camping trip on her way back to college, about a 100 miles away. We all met at a coffee shop and talked for almost two hours. Now, maybe that’s not a big deal for everyone, but meeting up with one of my Mom’s friends for no reason was not on my radar at that age. Avoiding them would have been more my style.

Knowing that no amount of little things can stop the tide of darkness that is daily existence. Willful ignorance doesn’t cut it anymore, and you’d have to be soft in the head to think life can be worth it. The fear of death keeps me alive, the little things are little for a reason. They do not matter. Reading these responses makes me think people are soft in the head or just choose to be blind and deaf.
That and how everyone has their own two cents about what is the right thing to do. Seems like everyone wants to change the world.

Knowing that no amount of little things can stop the tide of darkness that is daily existence. Willful ignorance doesn't cut it anymore, and you'd have to be soft in the head to think life can be worth it. The fear of death keeps me alive, the little things are little for a reason. They do not matter. Reading these responses makes me think people are soft in the head or just choose to be blind and deaf. That and how everyone has their own two cents about what is the right thing to do. Seems like everyone wants to change the world.
Sure beats rolling over. It's the obsessing over the fear that blinds you and constrains your life. Fear shows up as a regular companion in my life (including fear of death - or as bad, fear of crippling myself from one wrong move at the wrong time while straining with the wrong load.), but I still proceed with physical tasks see, I strive to use my fear to advantage rather than embracing it, amplifying it and letting it disable me, I try channeling it into alertness, remaining aware of how I'm working and moving and stuff like that. If you've read some of my climate related posts you'll know that I'm quite familiar with the dark side of what's happening on this planet. Truth be told, one reason I gravitated to rural areas was because walking the streets of cities and seeing all the wretches got too emotionally draining. Too much empathy will kill you and I have the feeling you may be stuck in the middle of something like that, where the onslaught of human misery is too constant and in your face and you haven't had the chance to build up defenses or gain perspective. Oh yeah, and then, me, myself, and I die, and my physical being melds back into this incredible flow of creation that's been going on since forever. My 'spirit' will dissipate into the ether as the echo of my memory disappears from this Earth. It's tough at first blush, but after a few years of stewing on it, it makes more and more sense all the time. How could it be any difference? The old should give way to the young, for the youth are the inheritors of their elders many follies.

Oh, and
I and Lausten and Advocatus and Lois and many others at least live with the satisfaction of actively enjoying our lives.
Like turning dreams into memories and then adding to that treasure as the years go by.
Striving and achieving, losing and recovering, the joy of knowing someone you feel good being around, even if you can’t explain what it is or why.
The warm feeling having lunch with one’s children and grandkids and friends and musing on the changes and the years racing by.
Sighting beautiful birds or other wildlife that makes your insides soar before you know it.
The weird spiritual tingle of occasionally feeling connected to animals or the country, this earth, humanity.
(The hour after watching my daughter being born I was in an out-of-time awareness like nothing I’d ever experienced. Viscerally sensing the thread of life that’s gone through all those births, pouring a little bit of myself into another human being. The sense of belonging to humanity and being part of the flow of eternity, as they say, truly mind expanding. It’s the first time dancing along the sword of life’s edge came to my mind. That sword’s blade being an eternal thread through the generations to the dawn of life. That felt really good and reaffirming. My sunrise child. I told you I was a lucky guy. :slight_smile: )
But there you have it, I expected nothing less from life, and life seems happy enough to oblige those who seek and invest their energy.
I wanted to live it - fortunately I was a young man in a time when that was still possible for a poor boy willing to work.
I appreciate we’ve entered a whole new increasingly bleak future, probably why I engage you so much.
Plus you make more sense to me than you do to others around here, and I appreciate your struggle.
I may be way off base, we are just virtual characters here, in any event,
I can easily imagine you sitting across from me on a Friday night East Colfax bus,
(a Denver thing, guaranteed colorful high energy characters of all strips) Whether we’d strike up a conversation, who knows… :wink:
Guess another way to look at it is that rather than allowing the misery to swallow us,
some of us have the wherewithal to discover and embrace our little circle of joy and satisfaction,
despite all the greater misery out there.
Peace dude

Oh, and I and Lausten and Advocatus and Lois and many others at least live with the satisfaction of actively enjoying our lives. Like turning dreams into memories and then adding to that treasure as the years go by. Striving and achieving, losing and recovering, the joy of knowing someone you feel good being around, even if you can't explain what it is or why. The warm feeling having lunch with one's children and grandkids and friends and musing on the changes and the years racing by. Sighting beautiful birds or other wildlife that makes your insides soar before you know it. The weird spiritual tingle of occasionally feeling connected to animals or the country, this earth, humanity. (The hour after watching my daughter being born I was in an out-of-time awareness like nothing I'd ever experienced. Viscerally sensing the thread of life that's gone through all those births, pouring a little bit of myself into another human being. The sense of belonging to humanity and being part of the flow of eternity, as they say, truly mind expanding. It's the first time dancing along the sword of life's edge came to my mind. That sword's blade being an eternal thread through the generations to the dawn of life. That felt really good and reaffirming. My sunrise child. I told you I was a lucky guy. :) ) But there you have it, I expected nothing less from life, and life seems happy enough to oblige those who seek and invest their energy. I wanted to live it - fortunately I was a young man in a time when that was still possible for a poor boy willing to work. I appreciate we've entered a whole new increasingly bleak future, probably why I engage you so much. Plus you make more sense to me than you do to others around here, and I appreciate your struggle. I may be way off base, we are just virtual characters here, in any event, I can easily imagine you sitting across from me on a Friday night East Colfax bus, (a Denver thing, guaranteed colorful high energy characters of all strips) Whether we'd strike up a conversation, who knows... ;-) Guess another way to look at it is that rather than allowing the misery to swallow us, some of us have the wherewithal to discover and embrace our little circle of joy and satisfaction, despite all the greater misery out there. Peace dude
Well said, CC.

You’re a poet, CC.

Oh, and I and Lausten and Advocatus and Lois and many others at least live with the satisfaction of actively enjoying our lives. Like turning dreams into memories and then adding to that treasure as the years go by. Striving and achieving, losing and recovering, the joy of knowing someone you feel good being around, even if you can't explain what it is or why. The warm feeling having lunch with one's children and grandkids and friends and musing on the changes and the years racing by. Sighting beautiful birds or other wildlife that makes your insides soar before you know it. The weird spiritual tingle of occasionally feeling connected to animals or the country, this earth, humanity. (The hour after watching my daughter being born I was in an out-of-time awareness like nothing I'd ever experienced. Viscerally sensing the thread of life that's gone through all those births, pouring a little bit of myself into another human being. The sense of belonging to humanity and being part of the flow of eternity, as they say, truly mind expanding. It's the first time dancing along the sword of life's edge came to my mind. That sword's blade being an eternal thread through the generations to the dawn of life. That felt really good and reaffirming. My sunrise child. I told you I was a lucky guy. :) ) But there you have it, I expected nothing less from life, and life seems happy enough to oblige those who seek and invest their energy. I wanted to live it - fortunately I was a young man in a time when that was still possible for a poor boy willing to work. I appreciate we've entered a whole new increasingly bleak future, probably why I engage you so much. Plus you make more sense to me than you do to others around here, and I appreciate your struggle. I may be way off base, we are just virtual characters here, in any event, I can easily imagine you sitting across from me on a Friday night East Colfax bus, (a Denver thing, guaranteed colorful high energy characters of all strips) Whether we'd strike up a conversation, who knows... ;-) Guess another way to look at it is that rather than allowing the misery to swallow us, some of us have the wherewithal to discover and embrace our little circle of joy and satisfaction, despite all the greater misery out there. Peace dude
You guys are little more than gears in the clock of existence. Turning and turning to avoid the terror that comes from standing still. The fact that you find joy at all in life shows a lack of perspective. You achieve nothing. You lose nothing. You recover nothing. In short, that is the most our lives amount to in the end, nothing. We cause problems for everyone else when we try to fix things, and we each think we know what's best for the world and for others. It's funny how humans can be so full of themselves sometimes, believing they have more power then they actually do. As I have maintained, you have to be stupid to be happy.
Oh, and I and Lausten and Advocatus and Lois and many others at least live with the satisfaction of actively enjoying our lives. Like turning dreams into memories and then adding to that treasure as the years go by. Striving and achieving, losing and recovering, the joy of knowing someone you feel good being around, even if you can't explain what it is or why. The warm feeling having lunch with one's children and grandkids and friends and musing on the changes and the years racing by. Sighting beautiful birds or other wildlife that makes your insides soar before you know it. The weird spiritual tingle of occasionally feeling connected to animals or the country, this earth, humanity. (The hour after watching my daughter being born I was in an out-of-time awareness like nothing I'd ever experienced. Viscerally sensing the thread of life that's gone through all those births, pouring a little bit of myself into another human being. The sense of belonging to humanity and being part of the flow of eternity, as they say, truly mind expanding. It's the first time dancing along the sword of life's edge came to my mind. That sword's blade being an eternal thread through the generations to the dawn of life. That felt really good and reaffirming. My sunrise child. I told you I was a lucky guy. :) ) But there you have it, I expected nothing less from life, and life seems happy enough to oblige those who seek and invest their energy. I wanted to live it - fortunately I was a young man in a time when that was still possible for a poor boy willing to work. I appreciate we've entered a whole new increasingly bleak future, probably why I engage you so much. Plus you make more sense to me than you do to others around here, and I appreciate your struggle. I may be way off base, we are just virtual characters here, in any event, I can easily imagine you sitting across from me on a Friday night East Colfax bus, (a Denver thing, guaranteed colorful high energy characters of all strips) Whether we'd strike up a conversation, who knows... ;-) Guess another way to look at it is that rather than allowing the misery to swallow us, some of us have the wherewithal to discover and embrace our little circle of joy and satisfaction, despite all the greater misery out there. Peace dude
You guys are little more than gears in the clock of existence. Turning and turning to avoid the terror that comes from standing still. The fact that you find joy at all in life shows a lack of perspective. You achieve nothing. You lose nothing. You recover nothing. In short, that is the most our lives amount to in the end, nothing. We cause problems for everyone else when we try to fix things, and we each think we know what's best for the world and for others. It's funny how humans can be so full of themselves sometimes, believing they have more power then they actually do. As I have maintained, you have to be stupid to be happy....he said from the comfort of his home, with access to a world of ideas and people, and evidently enough food to keep healthy enough to engage in dialog with others in a forum. Must be hard to be so bad off you spoiled rotten juvenile.
You guys are little more than gears in the clock of existence. Turning and turning to avoid the terror that comes from standing still. The fact that you find joy at all in life shows a lack of perspective. You achieve nothing. You lose nothing. You recover nothing. In short, that is the most our lives amount to in the end, nothing. We cause problems for everyone else when we try to fix things, and we each think we know what's best for the world and for others. It's funny how humans can be so full of themselves sometimes, believing they have more power then they actually do. As I have maintained, you have to be stupid to be happy.
I know you think it's important to tell us this stuff, but it's not like you made it up. Genesis 3:19New American Standard Bible (NASB) 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return." You might enjoy The Bonobo and the Atheist, it has enough science to make its conclusion somewhat valid, but plenty of opinion. de Waal would agree with you that we are just monkeys with no particular purpose. He discusses the long debate on whether or not we are an animal that is basically evil, but has managed to control it and do some good or at least treat each other well sometimes, or, are we basically good creatures that sometimes give in to our baser instinct to survive and do some evil. Franz and I are in the second camp. Without the ability to destroy, we couldn't create. If we couldn't justify killing an invading tribe, only invaders would have survived. If we had remained vegetarians, some larger meat eating animal probably would have wiped us out by now. But we're not just invading meat consuming machines are we?
Just remembered this one. It was just a couple weeks ago. Just hanging around on a Sunday and a young woman, the daughter of one of my wife's best friends, calls up and says she is "in town". Actually she's driving past us from a camping trip on her way back to college, about a 100 miles away. We all met at a coffee shop and talked for almost two hours. Now, maybe that's not a big deal for everyone, but meeting up with one of my Mom's friends for no reason was not on my radar at that age. Avoiding them would have been more my style.
Who picked up the check?
Oh, and I and Lausten and Advocatus and Lois and many others at least live with the satisfaction of actively enjoying our lives. Like turning dreams into memories and then adding to that treasure as the years go by. Striving and achieving, losing and recovering, the joy of knowing someone you feel good being around, even if you can't explain what it is or why. The warm feeling having lunch with one's children and grandkids and friends and musing on the changes and the years racing by. Sighting beautiful birds or other wildlife that makes your insides soar before you know it. The weird spiritual tingle of occasionally feeling connected to animals or the country, this earth, humanity. (The hour after watching my daughter being born I was in an out-of-time awareness like nothing I'd ever experienced. Viscerally sensing the thread of life that's gone through all those births, pouring a little bit of myself into another human being. The sense of belonging to humanity and being part of the flow of eternity, as they say, truly mind expanding. It's the first time dancing along the sword of life's edge came to my mind. That sword's blade being an eternal thread through the generations to the dawn of life. That felt really good and reaffirming. My sunrise child. I told you I was a lucky guy. :) ) But there you have it, I expected nothing less from life, and life seems happy enough to oblige those who seek and invest their energy. I wanted to live it - fortunately I was a young man in a time when that was still possible for a poor boy willing to work. I appreciate we've entered a whole new increasingly bleak future, probably why I engage you so much. Plus you make more sense to me than you do to others around here, and I appreciate your struggle. I may be way off base, we are just virtual characters here, in any event, I can easily imagine you sitting across from me on a Friday night East Colfax bus, (a Denver thing, guaranteed colorful high energy characters of all strips) Whether we'd strike up a conversation, who knows... ;-) Guess another way to look at it is that rather than allowing the misery to swallow us, some of us have the wherewithal to discover and embrace our little circle of joy and satisfaction, despite all the greater misery out there. Peace dude
You guys are little more than gears in the clock of existence. Turning and turning to avoid the terror that comes from standing still. The fact that you find joy at all in life shows a lack of perspective. You achieve nothing. You lose nothing. You recover nothing. In short, that is the most our lives amount to in the end, nothing. We cause problems for everyone else when we try to fix things, and we each think we know what's best for the world and for others. It's funny how humans can be so full of themselves sometimes, believing they have more power then they actually do. As I have maintained, you have to be stupid to be happy. You're deliriously happy, then. I knew it.

Oh dear, such judgmentalism.
Who knows who’s stupid. None of us are in a position to be The Judge on that. Besides, what does it matter???
Maybe you should take the long way home and consider the possibilities :blank:
Take the Long Way Home Roger Hodgson (Supertramp) Writer and Composer - YouTube
:kiss:
I thought about your ‘argument’ today and it occurred to me, you are advocating for locking one self up into a personal dungeon because iife sucks and we die.
I can agree with you life sucks, sometimes worse than others, then again sometimes it’s pure ecstasy, other times it’s just plain enjoyable and okay, then we die.
Whatever.
In any event, I’ll be damned if I want to go out of my way to build my own prison.
I myself since listening to Eric Burdon always thought the biggest challenge in life was escaping our predetermined prisons.
The Animals - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (1965) HD/widescreen ♫♥ - YouTube
Why not strive for a day in the sun? Why satisfy yourself with a dank hell-hole? It’s beautiful out here.

You guys are little more than gears in the clock of existence.
Don't knock gears. The clock wouldn't run at all without them. :)

I came across an analogy using DeCartes evil demon. It applies to so many people I know, my friend who believes in astrology and is constantly telling us how “new energy” is coming, my friend who used to a State House Rep and now believes every government conspiracy there is, the guy who writes in the local paper about how vaccines are killing us, and of course Titanomachina.
Here’s the long explanation.]
Simply, by accepting that we don’t think for ourselves, we create an imaginary force that controls us.
And please don’t make this about free will. If we can’t “think for ourselves”, then the universe is controlling everything we do, fine, but it’s not doing it as an independently thinking agent. It has no concern for our happiness. We on the other hand can “think” and perceive differences based on that action. If the evil demon is trying to be so tricky that it’s tricking me into thinking I can control my own happiness, then he’s just a stupid evil demon and it doesn’t matter. I hope that’s the last word on that.

Oh dear, such judgmentalism. Who knows who's stupid. None of us are in a position to be The Judge on that. Besides, what does it matter??? Maybe you should take the long way home and consider the possibilities :blank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKGOCOAI_2c&list=PLMxW7O6yL-jAmJtqVKe3TVP02-2RvQ27f :kiss: I thought about your 'argument' today and it occurred to me, you are advocating for locking one self up into a personal dungeon because iife sucks and we die. I can agree with you life sucks, sometimes worse than others, then again sometimes it's pure ecstasy, other times it's just plain enjoyable and okay, then we die. Whatever. In any event, I'll be damned if I want to go out of my way to build my own prison. I myself since listening to Eric Burdon always thought the biggest challenge in life was escaping our predetermined prisons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3mgapAcVdU Why not strive for a day in the sun? Why satisfy yourself with a dank hell-hole? It's beautiful out here.
To see beauty is to be blind. And there is no escaping from our predetermined prisons. Only the fool believes himself to be free. It can be comfortably said that the good does not outweigh the bad, I mean humans had to invent a good deal of imaginary friends to make existence bearable. Seems doubtful that one would choose to be born.