River of Stones: day 12
“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on
our dispositions, and not on our circumstances.
We carry the seeds of misery or happiness about with us
in our minds wherever we go.”
~ paraphrasing Martha Washington
What kind of garden shall I plant? I am the farmer. This is my land. I must decide what crop shall be best. What grows easiest? What seeds are the most fruitful? What environment is needed to allow the seeds to root, sprout and flourish? Will the seeds be hearty, able to withstand freeze, torrential rains, drought? Do I need help to harvest the croup? Will there be an abundance to share?
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I think of misery as a GMO, a Frankenstein. We create misery out of bits and pieces of pain and regret, artificially modified and engineered. Or, maybe it is a mutation, springing out of a toxic environment, deformed and defected because of the buried superfund site over which we try to plant our crops. Seeds poisoned by discontent, regret, anger. They are starved or choked out by jealousy or covetousness. They wither under criticism only to mutate further, feeding on the sludge of ill winds.
Happiness is a hearty seed. It is an heirloom. It has sustainability. It is as old as time. There is no flashy marketing scheme. It is not new fangled. It is a simple seed. But, it won’t grow itself like some mold or lichen. It can’t be cloned. It needs tending and attention to germinate and reproduce. It needs love.