Introduction

This is an attempt to gather small moments of joy in my life and document them for posterity.

During the California gold rush, a miner with little experience was panning through the river. After a few days of frustration, he was about to give up, sell his equipment, and move back home to his old life.

An old miner, with a small, bulging sack attached to his belt, came up to the new miner.

"There's no gold in this river! I have wasted my time, money and efforts," said the young miner.

"There is indeed gold in this river, you just have to know how to look for it," the old miner replied.

"I have been here for two weeks and have not found a single nugget. I have nothing in my sack to show for my work; how long will it take me to find enough to pay for my time, let alone to fill it as you have done?"

"My sack isn't full of nuggets," said the old miner, and he reached down and opened the bag for the young man to see.

The young man looked into the bag and, to his astonishment, found that it was filled with tiny flecks, not nuggets, as he would have expected.

"You won't find many big nuggets in this river, but it is full of tiny bits of gold, that, if you know how to gather them, will make you rich indeed."

Life, like the river, is full of happiness. It does not often come in large nuggets, as we would hope, but if we know how to recognize, and hold on to, the small flecks that come our way, we can fill our days with richness.


Though I am posting these thoughts on a public forum, I don't expect many, if any, to read them. However as I go through my days and gather the flecks of joy that I see, it is my hope that they will bring richness to anyone who comes across them.