desire – The View from a Drawbridge

Stop Wishing for Peace on Earth

Whenever I’ve had the opportunity to make a wish, my stock response has been to ask for peace on earth. With world peace, I thought, everything else would have a much better chance of falling into place. If we could direct our energies elsewhere, surely we’d focus on the greater good, right?

Well, it was a nice idea. Unfortunately, wishing has yet to make it so. And the older I get, the more cynical I become. I no longer think most of us prioritize the greater good. Most of us just want good for me and mine.

So I decided to reverse-engineer my thought process. Why don’t we already have peace on earth? What causes war?

That’s easy. Greed. Desire for cheap oil so we can maintain our destructive lifestyles. Desire for land that never belonged to us in the first place. Desire for riches that someone else has accumulated. The view that women are chattel and men make good field hands. Desire to make a profit from the military industrial complex. As long as this greed exists, war will exist.

I’d even go so far as to say that Greed is what causes the six other deadly sins. Think about it.

Pride is feeling good about what you have, or the ways you are superior. Greed is what caused you to strive for those things.

Lust stems from the greedy need to have the best mate all to yourself.

Envy is greed unfulfilled.

Gluttony is greed that is so fulfilled that you can’t seem to stop yourself from feasting upon it.

Wrath is the feeling you get when your greed is unsatisfied.

Sloth sets in when you either become so exhausted by your greed, or you are reveling in the fact that you’ve gotten what you’ve greedily taken from others.

In this age of corruption, especially in the halls of power, greed should be viewed as our greatest enemy. So from now on, when I make a wish, it will be for the death of greed. Surely then we could know peace.

peace

Portable gratitude. Inspiring pictures. Claim your copy of my first collection of favorite posts! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5

More Wishes

When I was a child, I used to imagine that if a genie granted me three wishes, one of my wishes would be more wishes. As if I were the only person on earth to ever have thought of that. As if I’d never run out of ideas for wishes. As if I were a bottomless pit of need, greed, and desire.

Sure, I can think of a few monetary wishes. A paid off mortgage. The ability to retire. World travel.

But the older I get, the more my priorities change. My needs are quite simple. Now, if I were granted three wishes, I’d only need one, really. With that one wish, all other problems would take care of themselves.

What I’d wish for is boundless love. And that love would take on variety of forms. After all, that’s one of love’s strengths.

Naturally, I want someone to share my life with, who appreciates me for me, who understands me and loves me just the way I am. If I could wake up beside someone like that again, all other stressors could be handled. If I could just feel as if someone would always have my back, no matter what, I could face anything.

But I’d also want the love of mankind for one another. That would naturally lead to peace on earth. And love for the planet would mean that we’d take better care of it, and actually have a hope in hell of surviving. I’d like to have a government that loves its people, and actually works in our best interests. I’d like a love-centered employment model, in which the people we worked for actually gave a shit about our well-being, our morale, and our ability to earn a living wage without sacrificing our health or our dignity.

I’d like people to love to learn and to read and to vote. I’d like them to love diversity and curiosity and kindness. I’d like families to love one another in spite of, or perhaps because of, their differences. I’d like people to feel so much love that their generosity would know no bounds.

At the risk of becoming a cliché, I really do believe that love is all you need. So that’s what I’m putting out into the universe for 2018. Wish me luck.

genie

Portable gratitude. Inspiring pictures. Claim your copy of my first collection of favorite posts! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5

Having What I Need

I had another epiphany last night. (I know. Watch out!)

I can’t afford to adequately heat my home, but I have a warm sleeping bag, a comfortable bed, a roof to keep the rain off my head, and walls to (more or less) block out the wind.

I’m starved for human contact, but my dog spoons with me every night and is an excellent source of unconditional love.

I’m not rich, but I’m not worried about where my next meal is coming from as I sometimes have been in the past.

The epiphany was this: I have everything I need. If I focus on that instead of on all the things that I want but don’t have, I’ll be a lot more content.

Millions of people in this world don’t have what they need. It’s a precious gift that I do. Yes, I’ve worked hard to get where I am, but I have to admit that when all is said and done, I am blessed with good fortune.

Everything is okay.

Important — [Image credit: judithmorgan.com]

Fascinating

It always surprises me when other people aren’t equally engrossed by the things that I find interesting. I have no idea why that is. You’d think I’d have learned by now.

But how can you not enjoy a really good book or a well done PBS documentary? How can you not loose entire afternoons when engaged in some form of creativity? Is it really possible to not be intrigued when you meet a new and extremely unique individual?

What stuns me is that there are people out there who are not the least bit curious. They actually get annoyed when they have to learn something new. If they step out of their comfort zone in any way, the stress is obvious on their faces. Heaven forbid they have to eat anything other than meat and potatoes. There’s no sense of adventure, no desire to explore or travel. I don’t get it. I can’t even get through a day without finding something fascinating.

But I try to comfort myself with the fact that some people probably feel befuddled by me as well. They can’t imagine how I am not into sports. They wonder how I function without a television. It seems insane to them that I’m not caught up in the latest fashion or trends, and don’t even own make up, let alone use it.

This would be a very boring world indeed if all of us were exactly alike. Three cheers for diversity!

“Fascinating.”

Love Me, Do.

Recently I spent time in the presence of someone whom I can’t even look at without getting butterflies in my stomach. He makes me blush. I feel like I’m in junior high school. And he knows I have a crush on him, because I told him.

He gives me mixed signals. Sometimes he flirts, sometimes he doesn’t. We make vague future plans with no specifics and as yet no follow-through. He puts his hand on the small of my back and I nearly melt.

He has a full life, and we’re not kids anymore, so even if he were interested, I suspect this would not be a rush job. And I get the impression that he’s very humble, and genuinely has no idea the affect he has on people. He may be a bit slow on the uptake. But hitting him with a brick would be counterproductive.

Still.

COME ON!!!! What’s taking you so long? I’m a wonderfully interesting, passionate, intelligent and fun person.

This never used to be so difficult. I never had to work this hard. After a certain point one begins to feel pathetic. This is a game I’m not sure I have the energy to play at my age.

But it is nice to feel butterflies again. It’s been a while.