I AM IN LOVE WITH SIMPLICITY

Today during a talk given by John Felstiner, Professor of English at Stanford University and author of numerous books including - Can Poetry Save The Earth?, I had a realization.  As he recited poems from this book I realized that I had just come in contact with yet another wonderful individual.  Few weeks ago I was very fortunate also to be in the presence of His Holiness The Dalai Lama for the fifth time in my life.  Although the Dalai Lama with his profound voice and presence which I cannot put into words and Mr Felstiner reciting poetry from his book today have lead very interesting lives and have alot of interesting words to share with us, there is a certain beautiful simplicity about these people that I really connect with.  You can tell that they have pondered and studied life and its wonders, places and people.  These two people who were able to capture my attention for long periods of time and fascinate me.  We all have something in common with them.  Love, happiness, food and an appreciation for the most simple things in our lives.   I think the Dalai Lama's words of compassion for all sentient beings and John Felstiner's list of beautiful poems in his book brought me back to the most important things in life of which I love the most.  Compassion and altruism, the beauty of the poetry linked to the earth from which we live and take for granted.  The earth which homes us, feeds us with its beautiful array of already beautiful delicious foods of which we feel the need to genetically modify and then pump with vitamins of which we removed by modifying them in the first place.  I think we need to go back to simplistic lifestyles and appreciate every moment we have on this earth.  Cherish the people we love.  My grandmother always used to say to me, life is short, we should enjoy every moment.  Time is passing by rather fast.    Embrace the good and the bad times, the bad times sometimes make us wiser and the good times are always to be had.

SIMPLICITY , I am loving it!!!

Lots of love to you all

Karen Hyland