New Favorite Thing

I have a new favorite thing. Yesterday was so glorious that I went for a long walk. Where did I end up? The grocery store of course. I have exceeded the monthly budget on food. I usually average forty dollars a week for food. I already had a months supply of food in the house but I ran out of one thing and wanted more. The new thing is frozen strips of red and green peppers. I really enjoy using red and green peppers but usually end up with some mushy peppers left it the refrigerator. Peppers are also fairly expensive. On the last visit to the grocery store I noticed frozen strips of peppers and gave them a try. They are wonderful in cooking. I make a lot of stir-fry, as it is easier to judge portion sizes with stir-fry, and I am very fond of any dish that can be combined with rice. The frozen peppers are also very inexpensive, about eighty-nine cents for a half pound bag. Yesterday I purchased two bags. I can use just a few and return the bag to the freezer. Goodbye mushy!
Of course the purchases did not stop with peppers. I got mushrooms and clam juice and tomato sauce and sausages and Asiago cheese and canned pineapple and roasting bags. I have a ham that I am going to try in the roasting bag.
After making a stir-fry from peppers and onions and tomato and garlic and mushrooms and beef, I settled in in front of the television to eat. There was a program on WGBH about the Buddha. It was moving and generated much thought. The premise that we already live in Paradise but do not realize it was heartening. I seem to have had that idea before. The idea that desire is the enemy of tranquility has become familiar to me. Maybe a person has to become older to experience the lessening of desire. The few needs that we have are easily satisfied. Wants are the problem. There were several honored monks on the program and even the Dalai Lhama. They must have the secret for happiness. They all seemed to giggle a lot.
One thing that they all said was that the secret to life is to reject both luxury and asceticism. Happiness to them is the middle road. Happiness is not a state, happiness is simply a lack of suffering. Their definition of suffering is desire. That definition is hard for me to grasp. They feel that suffering also comes from being out of contact with all of the living things on the Earth, the Earth itself, and society. I have probably jumbled all of what was presented together but I know what book I am going to get from the library today. Isaac Asimov wrote of a place he labelled Gaia. That place has always been in my mind. As much as we pride ourselves on being individuals, we are not. We live admidst a web of life.
I have tried meditating many times. I am unable to concentate on just one thing. The wheels of my mind keep spinning. It has been a long time since I giggled. Hermits don't seem to ever giggle. It would be nice to be a little silly once again.
It is Spring. It is the time for hot dogs and watermelon and bubbles and squirt guns and water balloons and popsicles. Maybe this year will be the Year of the Giggle.