Simple Pleasures

Today has been a day of simple pleasures. This morning, I went for a run and stopped to smell the roses...literally. This afternoon I shopped for vegetables at a local farm market. My son and I enjoyed fresh strawberries after he came home from school, and we made lime jello. Dinner included fresh, sliced tomatoes and steamed sweet corn. We even blew bubbles from the front porch. Dessert was vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup...the closest thing to complexity today was rainbow sprinkles. I bought flowers at the market, and planted them in my yard. Red salvia annuals and a perennial called "Ms. Manners"; given my lack of gardening sensibilities....a flower that advertised "obedience" was one I simply couldn't resist.

As I reflect on my day, and how I got there, I contemplate the nature of pleasure itself. A pleasure can simply mean a source of enjoyment or delight. Pleasure, however, also connotates that which is frivolous or a diversion from the real work of the day. As in, are your traveling for business or pleasure? [can it ever be both?]. So, while today was a delight...I also felt a nagging sense that I should've been getting something "done". Which brings me to contemplate simplicity. While simple means not complicated or complex, I found today to be complicated. I didn't even jot down a to do list today. No deadline loomed, and, as a result, I wasn't sure what to do next. My day of simple pleasures emerged out of lack of direction rather than intention.

Simple pleasures are a spiritual discipline, one that I have yet to cultivate. Tonight, I'll read some fiction and rest. Tomorrow, my to do list beckons.