Thumbing my nose at the gods.

I know people who think they are living in hell. When actually, it's paradise. Think about it. The difference between paradise and hell. Happiness and unhappiness. Seems to me we all have choices. We can pursue either course, either path. To hell. Or to paradise. When I'm savoring a moment, truly savoring, I'm in paradise. Maybe I'm fooling myself. But that's all right. Because I'm good at it. I'm a positive-thinking Sisyphus. The guy the gods condemned to hell, of sorts. He had to work. For eternity. Pushing a boulder up a hill. To the very top. Only to be frustrated just short of the goal. Seeing the rock slip away and roll down the hill. So he had to go fetch it again and again and again. Forever. But that's the very thing I have learned to savor. Sauntering at a leisurely pace down the hill again. To retrieve my rock. And then enjoying the workout as I ascend the hill again. With the rock to my shoulder. But beholding the environment, the creations of Mother Nature at the same time. I love my work, my fate. It's become play. And allows me to thumb my nose at the vengeful gods. Because I'm getting pleasure out of life. --Jim Broede