Hello, this is Ditto.

Oddly enough, our gaze is so often directed outward. We are busy stealing glances at how brilliant the red roses are in someone else's garden, or how abundant the food is on someone else's table. Meanwhile, the thirsty little tree in my own garden is neglected, and the warm bowl of soup on my table grows cold.

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote this about happiness: "We seldom think of what we have, but always of what we lack. The moment we compare ourselves to others, happiness meets its end."

Unhappiness usually comes not because I lack something, but because I compare the behind-the-scenes of my own life to the glamorous highlight reels of others. We are all beings meant to bloom into our own flowers, in our own time, and at our own pace. A pumpkin flower cannot become a rose, and a rose cannot imitate the unassuming charm of a pumpkin flower.

Happiness does not lie in the distant scenery of the outside world; it is determined by where our gaze is directed.

Where are you looking right now?

[Today's Poem]

Wildflower / Na Tae-joo

You must look closely
to see that it is pretty.
You must look long
to see that it is lovely.
So are you.

I now gently set down the magnifying glass I had been straining to point outward.
Rather than envying someone else's flowers, how about meeting the gaze of the small wildflower quietly blooming right at your feet? The place your eyes rest upon is your very own heaven.

This was Ditto.