Everyday Canvas

June 10

For "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" 

Prompt: Make a list of things you would put in a happiness jar.

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Not on a list but if I were to put anything on paper that made a difference for me throughout my life, it would be reading and my quest for learning as much as I can.

Fact is, I never trusted any light-weight gimmicks such as happiness jars and similar projects, but I do believe in gratefulness and offering thanks to God for things that matter to me. Even that offering shouldn’t be forced and should come from deep down inside me, as if a private affair.

The problem with such jars and projects, while they may seem to work on the surface, they do not come from deep down inside. Thus, they are forced activities and their effects are only ephemeral and short-lived.

Then, as we grow older, things, people, or events that bring us happiness change, evolve, and lose something large or small from their earlier significance. As I value evolution or growth, placing too much importance in such projects could have a negative effect on my growth by making me bound to the items in that project.

Still, I do appreciate the positivity any project brings into the life of a person, be it transitory, especially because such activities are very helpful for younger minds like those of frustrated teenagers.

For: "Space Blog" 

Prompt: From innerlight ’s "Blossom " 

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Sweet little poem about a blossom. It reminded me of the time when I lived up north and of the joy that the first flowers of spring brought after a cold, long winter. Especially when I focused on every part of that first blossom, I could see exactly where the petals fused together to create the flower’s general shape and I found myself as a participant and not merely an observer of the emotional life of the plant. It was as if I was falling into the flower and experiencing its opening to the world from its insides.