On the Bright Side

You can tell a lot about a place by the way they treat their animals. I spent the first half of the summer in Costa Rica and met the most kind-hearted, life-embracing people I’ve ever encountered...anywhere. Monkeys and humans share the mangoes from the trees, cats relax on bookshelves in coffee shops and “dingoes” (as stray dogs were affectionately called) wander the streets visiting their favorite spots, beckoned by nickname from all of the locals. The mutual respect between the people and the animals in 'our' little town made my heart smile. And it seemed to carry over to the wildlife as well. A bird landed on my coffee cup one morning, chirped me a little song and flew off (true story!). Coatis poked their noses right into our beach bags, and iguanas visited us on our porch, eyes staring and heads cocked, seeming to ask, “Are you leaving soon? I want to sun myself on that chair.” But the attitude that I think best exemplifies the genuine kindness of the people we met, ...

They go together like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire; like peanut butter and chocolate; like milk and cookies. You can’t really have one without the other. On the other hand, ‘now’ and ‘zen’ are like oil and water if you happen to be in the middle of a tooth extraction, as complete presence in a moment like that is a challenge - hence the Novocaine! The point is, you can really only appreciate the fullness of each moment if you stay in the present. Kids get this. They live in the present. They have no worries about paying the mortgage or going to a job every day. They have no one else depending on them. They are not yet aware enough to even think about their purpose in this world. Nope - they just lose themselves in play. And interestingly, the way they play is so close to the true spirit of their being that if they could just hold on what makes them happy their future might be so much easier. They create, they sing, they role play, they run, spin, and they fall down to their hear...