Il bel far niente

"The more exquisitely and delightfully you can do nothing, the higher your life's achievement." E. Gilbert.

At times, pleasure seems elusive as a ghost; slipping between our fingers and our thoughts even as we scream for it.
Where is pleasure? What is pleasure? Have I touched it? Am I riding the ambitions of others?
I slow my motion.. thump..thump....thump in my chest my heartbeat slows down - down the match the rhythm of this incredible day; it slows to match the rhythm of the sun sinking across the ocean, it slows to match the sand that I feel against my face, it slows.. it slows..... it slows. My steps slow down, my thoughts slow down, and I am aware of where I am again.
I remember what it is I LOVE about being alive. Forgetting the hustle and the confusion; forgetting to worry for a moment and to take myself so seriously. "What was it I enjoy?" Remember pleasure.
I find myself standing in Kualoa, Hawaii, watching rain blow across the eastern mountain range - the grays of clouds, the blues and the sparkles of sunlight glistening through the grays.

Everything else on the planet fades into a blur of undeserved. I set my backpack down, take off my shirt, and stretch my back.. I stretch my arms and sigh.. - This is pleasure. So quickly forgotten.. lost in my own predisposition to "DOING" something. The tangle of activity that strips truth from my hands. I open my hands and look down at them, they are callused and brown. I look up into the sky, raise my arms, and wrap my fingers around the sunshine, letting its beams streak into my squinting eyes.
Standing on the beach, I imagine our planet 10,000 years from now.,. I ask myself.. "Now, tell me, what is worth your time?"



(Andrew Tipton)