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Open Poetry #50
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California

0 posted 2020-06-13 10:13 PM


Happiness


Happiness, it’s not a gift.
Well, at least not in the manner
That it’s something someone else
Can bring you.
Happiness is something you
Can only give to yourself.
You have to define it
For yourself as well.

If only life were so easy as
To allow for siphoning
Of other’s happiness.
That would be too easy, wouldn’t it?
Would you know then
When to smile or laugh?
Or would you just wait and follow
Someone else’s cue?
That would not be happiness
At all.

Some pledge their lives
To making others happy,
As if this somehow can
Fill the hole in their own soul.
It can’t.
If your smiles are dependent
Upon others actions or reactions,
How long do you think it will be until
The inevitable let down?

It’s not until you have a measure
Of contentment in yourself,
And in your life choices,
That happiness, in any measure,
Can truly be shared with others
And their happiness
Appreciated for what it is
By you.

I was taught at a very young age to,
“...plant your own gardens
And decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting
For someone to bring you flowers.”
I didn’t get it then.
I get it now.


Michael Anderson

6/13/2020

Quoted material from:
After A While
by Veronica Shoftsall

© Copyright 2020 Michael Anderson - All Rights Reserved
Sven
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Laureate
since 1999-11-23
Posts 14937
East Lansing, MI USA
1 posted 2020-06-14 11:49 PM


"It’s not until you have a measure
Of contentment in yourself,
And in your life choices,
That happiness, in any measure,
Can truly be shared with others"

You have hit the nail on the head right here. . .

Excellent. . .  

-- That which gives light must endure burning.
Viktor Frankl

Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
2 posted 2020-06-15 02:44 PM


Lol...if only it didn't take so long to fugure. Out.  

Thank you, Sven

Temptress
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-06-15
Posts 7136
Mobile, AL
3 posted 2020-06-15 02:52 PM


A quick thought on the quote is that I don't need flowers anyway. I'd much rather have a dozen pens than roses. Or paint.

I wonder if hanging black out curtains counts as decorating.

I'll be back for more...


"Maybe that's the way I should go
Straight into the mouth of the unknown"

Shinedown

Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
4 posted 2020-06-15 10:24 PM


Black curtains definitely count as decorating... it's something that brings you comfort and joy in your own home, everyone needs to decorate to their own taste...not only their homes, but their lives.


Michael

Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
5 posted 2020-07-22 02:39 PM


Sometimes it takes a lifetime to "get it" but there are those who never get it so perhaps we who do should consider ourselves lucky.

augustsky
Senior Member
Posts 828
midwest US
6 posted 2020-07-22 10:23 PM


How did you get so smart mister
Right now my tiny bit of 'happy' is reading
Poetry, watching my cat watch a family of
racoons out the window..while I sit munching
on little fun-sz. choc.bars lol, just being
silly. As for your write so..so true..

Always a pleasure Michael

Sky~

Sometimes..Miracles are just good people
with kind hearts~

Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
7 posted 2020-07-24 10:22 PM


Indeed, Ida, I do consider myself to be very lucky in this regard.  

Thank you for the kind reply.


Michael


Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666
California
8 posted 2020-07-24 10:30 PM


Sky~ your description could be the dictionary definition of "peace" I was about to say, but while you can have peace without happiness, I do not know that it would be possible to have happiness without peace...  Peace was the best I ever found myself able to contain for a very long time.  Getting used to a broader spectrum these days.  I have two lil puppies who bring me a ton of joy, myself...though I only wish I lived in the mountains like I once did where we had wild deer and raccoons and all manner of lively animals about.  I envy some of the descriptions of nature you gift to us.


Michael

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