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Simple Joys

Simple things can bring intense enjoyment as we become more aware in our practice. For me today, seeing the sunrise, golden. Giving directions to a stranger. Company. Food. Walking whilst breath counting. Sandalwood incense. Music. Rain outside and thunder . . . so many things to enjoy . . .
What simple things do you enjoy?

:thumbsup:
ThailandTomVastmindJeffrey

Comments

  • Simple joys for simple people :D However becoming simple is far from simple, it is quite the task!

    Compared to how I lived 5-6 years ago I am really simple and mellow, almost in need of a walking stick in comparison. I enjoy peace and solitude, a warm shower even though it is hot every day, gazing at the stars and a blanket to curl up under at night.

    I wonder how many of these simple joys we experience in life contain attachment? I have not really investigated attachment to pleasures recently, I assume that I have been plodding along ignorant to most of them. So on that note I guess I have some observing to do!
    JeffreyInvincible_summer
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    I enjoy seeing sundogs on a very cold morning. I was driving last week when the temp was -25F or so, and the sun had an entire halo around it when it rose. Very lovely.

    I enjoy hearing my children play together and still have fun and laugh, especially because they are 16, 10 and 4...and finding things they all enjoy can be a trick sometimes.

    I enjoy being able to get into bed and the shower without needing help, because when you can't, it kind of stinks. I appreciate mobility much more than I used to.
    novaw0lf
  • novaw0lfnovaw0lf Veteran
    edited January 2013
    I enjoy coming home to my dog...even if he had wrecked the place while I was gone. Every night he cuddles with me on the bed. I have a space heater and an electric blanket, so whenever they're turned on, he'll nestle beside/underneath me and we'll enjoy the glow of the space heater as if it were a fireplace in America.

    If I don't toss and turn too much, if I fall asleep face-down, he'll jump on my back and sleep on my back all night. Sometimes, face-to-face beside me. When he has to go poop or pee during the night, he knows to leave the bed, wipe himself off (with a pad that I provide for him), or eat something (whatever he wants) and jump back on the bed. Every morning at the crack of dawn, before the sky becomes fully lit by the sun, he wakes me up with either a barrage of kisses to my face, neck, or feet.

    Sometimes, I want to break his neck; sometimes I want to get rid of him (if he chews through a laptop cord or something), but of course, I never do. I couldn't. We've had our fights, our skirmishes...but we're always best friends in the end. I rescued him when he was only three or four weeks old (the owners were going to euthanize him if they couldn't get rid of him, and no one wanted him because of how hyper he was), and having him as a friend has been a wonderful test of my patience and an excellently unorthodox method of conquering my anger issues.

    I used to get particularly angry with him because he would pee on the floor every time I walked through the door. I hated him for it, because I'd always have to clean it up, but until my girlfriend (at the time) took note that he's just an excited little bugger, who loves me so much that he pees out of sheer excitement whenever I come home. After testing her theory, I realized it was true.

    It's ironic, because, the dog is a killer. By just playing with me, he's unintentionally poked holes straight through my hand and left a multitude of scars (one even on my face) from just general rough housing that dogs like him do, and I've seen him man-handle the other dogs in the street (some were brothers from the litter from whence he was born).

    The simple thing in my life that I enjoy the most is having my dog. His presence robs me of my tendency to be cold and methodical, and replaces it with a reason to smile. Girls come and go, but he is the true first member of my family.
    lobsterJeffreyInvincible_summer
  • Invincible_summerInvincible_summer Heavy Metal Dhamma We(s)t coast, Canada Veteran
    Music with lush synthesizers. The restrained aggression of a downtuned, overdriven, palm-muted guitar. Soft socks. The slight "woody" flavour of a green tea. Warmth of the sun on my shoulders. Walking barefoot (or just in socks). Stretching in the morning.
    Jeffrey
  • VastmindVastmind Memphis, TN Veteran
    After 3 months....A stove/oven. :clap:

    Life without it was NOT simple...but
    being without it, taught me more about
    simplicity than I could have learned otherwise.
    JeffreyInvincible_summer
  • ZenBadgerZenBadger Derbyshire, UK Veteran
    Watching the rain melt the snow away again. It has only been ten days but I really missed the green fields.
    Jeffrey
  • GuiGui Veteran
    Experiencing life with no thought of it.
    Jeffrey
  • NevermindNevermind Bitter & Hateful Veteran
    lobster said:

    Simple things can bring intense enjoyment as we become more aware in our practice. For me today, seeing the sunrise, golden. Giving directions to a stranger. Company. Food. Walking whilst breath counting. Sandalwood incense. Music. Rain outside and thunder . . . so many things to enjoy . . .
    What simple things do you enjoy?

    :thumbsup:

    You didn't enjoy those things before?
  • The saintly Japanese Zen hermit, poet, calligrapher, friend of children and benefactor to the poor, Ryokan (1758-1831), lived austerely and simply in a little hut below a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to find nothing there to steal. So he went off into the night. Ryokan caught up with him: “You may have come a long way to visit me, and you should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.” The bewildered thief took the clothes and slunk away. Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon!”
    http://www.enlightened-spirituality.org/Zen_Humor.html
  • Simple joys for simple people :D However becoming simple is far from simple, it is quite the task!

    Compared to how I lived 5-6 years ago I am really simple and mellow, almost in need of a walking stick in comparison. I enjoy peace and solitude, a warm shower even though it is hot every day, gazing at the stars and a blanket to curl up under at night.

    I wonder how many of these simple joys we experience in life contain attachment? I have not really investigated attachment to pleasures recently, I assume that I have been plodding along ignorant to most of them. So on that note I guess I have some observing to do!

    My teacher says that it is part of our mind to be sensitive. In the enlightened aspect we feel well-being. And when grasping we feel suffering. When we are attached to views that make us suffer. I'm just beginning studying this part. But the sensitivity is part of the Buddha Nature.
    lobster
  • A warm cup of coffee (of course). My walking meditation straightening my nerves out and tending to the shoveling of snow for the walkways as a way of feeling positive in my day to ward off the sinking feeling my voices give me. My three cats: Bailey who sits by the furnace, Blackberry who is the hunter and outdoors girl, Cloe the aging kitty who sleeps with me.
  • BrianBrian Detroit, MI Moderator
    Slow, gentle snowfalls at night. Love them.
  • ToshTosh Veteran
    Running and eating. In that order.
    Bunks
  • Having a big mug of hot tea after dinner.
    Friday nights when I can relax knowing I have the whole weekend ahead of me.
    Riding the shuttle bus from the parking garage to my work in the morning (I have no idea why this should be enjoyable, but it is).
    And my dog has the cutest paws -- white, and very furry, and freckley.
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran
    Hugging my daughter (a rarity - unlike me she is not a touchy, feely kind of person).

    Seeing the fascination with which my newborn son sees the world.
    TheEccentric
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran
    black_tea said:

    Having a big mug of hot tea after dinner.
    Friday nights when I can relax knowing I have the whole weekend ahead of me.
    Riding the shuttle bus from the parking garage to my work in the morning (I have no idea why this should be enjoyable, but it is).
    And my dog has the cutest paws -- white, and very furry, and freckley.

    Black tea?? ;)
  • black_tea said:


    Riding the shuttle bus from the parking garage to my work in the morning (I have no idea why this should be enjoyable, but it is).

    how wonderful
    The unique benefit of practice is the increase of well being in more situations. I have given developed practitioners very small things: a candle, an open door, an empty box and their delight is wondrous and a joy. As we travel through our life, we can search for joy, without clinging.
    One of the greatest joys is generosity. Strangely the poor gift from one free of clinging is more joyful in the giving and receiving, than the rich but baggage restrained, pained unburdening of the well endowed (if you will pardon the expression) . . .
    So joy is not something we take from life. It is something we give life to . . .
    Straight_Man
  • Bunks said:

    black_tea said:

    Having a big mug of hot tea after dinner.
    Friday nights when I can relax knowing I have the whole weekend ahead of me.
    Riding the shuttle bus from the parking garage to my work in the morning (I have no idea why this should be enjoyable, but it is).
    And my dog has the cutest paws -- white, and very furry, and freckley.

    Black tea?? ;)
    About 95% of the time, lol.
  • Drinking mint tea at the perfect temperature. Not sure what the exact temp is, but it feels and tastes great at same time.
  • Seeing smiling faces all around me ....
    Jeffrey
  • making water offerings. burning incense... light offerings.... sunsets... watching fresh snow fall.. listening to the rain on my window.. these are my simple joys
    Jeffrey
  • At the barre, my ten year old daughter and her companions begin ballet class. I watch quietly and try not to cry . Their efforts synchronized , purposeful, serious, so serious for their young age . So much beauty ...
    Invincible_summerlobster
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited February 2013
    Hi, sukhita and sndymorn! :wave:

    The pleasure of seeing old friends and colleagues return to the forum.
    :)
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