The World: NASA Photo ID: AS17-148-22727 Date Taken: 12/07/72 Description: View of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 crew.

That is the first line of a poem called "Happy Thought" by Robert Louis Stevenson that was in a book I had as a child, "A Child's Garden of Verses." I was sick a lot, and so was he. I read it over and over again in solidarity.

The poem goes:

The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

This little poem has given me much food for thought over the years. It feels almost like a zen koan.

Are kings happy?
What things in the world bring everyone happiness?
What brings ME happiness?

Pondering all of it, I decided that the happy thought is that we may as well accept that the world is abundant enough with so many options, choices, decisions to be made, that our kingly happiness exists out there for each of us to discover.

We don't need everything in the world, just the things that are right and meaningful for us.

I have no interest in bungee jumping... so I leave that to someone else. Maybe you?
I like sailboats and birdfeeders... that's for me!

A happy thought indeed.

And then there are the things in the world that don't make anybody happy.
What do we make of that?

The world is full of woe too. Both sides of the same coin.

Then there is the whole mindfulness aspect. When you pause to notice all the things in the world, rather than rushing by in a whirl of activity, there is so much that deserves our appreciation and recognition moment by moment, that our king's coffers are overflowing.

Paying attention to what is already there... that benefits not only you but everyone around you. Because you realize more of what you have.

For instance, if you notice the rowdy blue jay that arrived in the backyard, you develop a relationship of stewardship. You look for the nest. You fill the feeders. I have a lovely, beautifully dressed and opinionated guest out there. My house might not be Buckingham Palace, but when you really pay attention to it, that Blue Jay is every bit as spectacular a visitor as Sir Elton John, and it needs simple things that you can provide and protect. Shelter, food, water, habitat. It's a good thing that Sir Elton isn't in the backyard...I don't know what Sir Elton needs. He's on his own!

Two little lines, still worth pondering.