The moon, the now, and a strawberry for the self.

...Know your seeking and yearning shall avail you (nothing) unless you know... that if that which you seek you find not within yourself, you will never find it without..."
- from The Charge


The key to lasting happiness is to find celebration and joy within, to harness and caress any lucid moment that reminds oneself that there is always something broader, more enriching, more sustaining, more beautiful than any of the inward pressures that would otherwise drag one into a mire. To smile more, to see the shaft of sunlight beside the road accident, to find divinity in the lingering of the broken kiss; this is the path toward celebrating the senses and the present moment. A fraction of a recognized, beautiful moment can free oneself from a day's worth of distress.

Happiness can occur with someone else, or even because of someone else, but once it occurs through someone else, one abdicates part of one's own power and ability to create and transform. We may choose to voluntarily abdicate some of this power as we nurture a personal relationship with another, but a healthy awareness requires that we remember that, in the end, our own happiness is entirely our own responsibility, doing, and celebration.