Simple Pleasures

The following advice on embracing life is from "Attitudes of Gratitude" by M. J. Ryan: When we meet a vibrant, joy-filled older person, he or she stands out as an exception.

But we don't have to lose the happiness of youth. All we need to do is to tap into our sense of gratitude, for when we do, we are like Little children again, seeing the world for the first time.

In "Simple Pleasures of the Garden," Dawna Markova shares a story about such a woman; "Several years ago, I was walking in March along a gravel road that led to the ocean at Rhode Island. A very old and thin woman came hobbling down a driveway toward me, I waved and continued walking, but as I passed, she grabbed my arm, turned around and began to pull me in the direction of her house. 1 instantly thought of the witch in "Hansel and Gretel," and tried to pull back, but that only made her clutch tighter around my wrist, Besides, she didn't cackle, so I relented.

She didn't say a word, in fact until we approached her house: a shingle-style cottage with green shutters and a front lawn erupting everywhere in purple crocus.

She released me there, throwing her arms up in the air and shouting, "Look at this splendor! Isn't it a miracle?!"

This old woman was open to the magic and beauty of life, and her sparkling eyes and eagerness to share made her and everything around her more vibrant and alive.