Smallest Simplest Pleasures

It was so small and simple thing but I felt so much pleasure when I pulled out the weed recently.  As you see, this weed was not rooted in soil but rooted in graveled path.  So it was relatively easier to take out but yet I had a feeling of "get it."   Although this feeling didn't last, this was surely the moment when I felt euphoria which is usually produced by the endorphins.

All of sudden, I became so curious about any other simple activities which could trigger endorphins to produce and started to google.  Then I found the following pictures from the blog@karapaia.  Keywords were,

"Everyday life" "small pleasure" and "endorphin."

There were actually many moments of different activities listed on line,

such as;

1. The moment when you peel a thin protective sheet from the brand-new electric product.

2. The moment when you walk into a building with Ac and the wave of cooler air hits you for the first time.

3. The moment when you get something stuck in your teeth.

4. The moment when you can delete many tiles by matching Tetris puzzle.

5. The moment when you can clean dramatically by the high-pressure washing machine

6.  The moment when you feel neckless on your hand.

7.  The moment when you thought you woke up late but found out you had so much time.

8.  The moment when you were able to insert a bill to the vending machine smoothly for the first time.

9. The moment when you peel pre-paid card...

Also I found the following happy moments from dailymail.com

1. A shower with good water pressure

2. Lying in your own bed after a long journey.

3. Fresh baked bread and good quality butter

4. The first sip of a drink when you are thirsty.

5. Getting goosebumps from a song

6. Causing someone to laugh that you admire or look up to.

7. Taking your bra off at the end of the day

8. Starting a task and finishing it.

9. Getting a popcorn kernel out of your teeth.

10 Waking up for work, only to realize it's Saturday

By researching and listing up many types of activities, I've found they have at least one thing in common...

That is when we feel happiness, it always contain two opposite actions or conditions, such as "difficult and easy", "stick and release",  "push and pull" "Early and late", "hot and cold", "plus and minus" "dirty and clean" and so on.  Then when two different conditions or actions became one with good balance, this is the moment when we feel happiness.

So there are many kinds of small and simple pleasures, but they are all rooted in the condition of "well-balanced" which can be expressed as "middle path" in Buddhism.

This can explain why people want to have time of meditation by sitting in a temple.   This is because we are always making actions or working something, which naturally seek for "non-action" which can be some quiet time of meditation.

From the view point of balance, meditation is nothing but seeking for the balance of both dynamic and static, in and out, and work and rest, tense and release, and plus and minus.