Moments of Perfect Happiness

Waldandacht
A moment of meditation in the woods
Stopping by woods early
on a spring morning.

Spring Meadow
Morning mist rising
in a clearing in the
Vienna Woods at 7am on Monday.

Roadside Prayer
Growing roots while stuck in traffic?
One wrong turn, and there I was,
literally stuck, but the sight
of this tree made me smile.

Cloud Imitating Tree?
I couldn't help wondering.
Blooming chestnut tree,
the whole city is awash
in chestnut blossoms.

The Evening Sky
Looking out the window
shortly before 7pm,
I saw this herd of perfect little clouds
grazing with no shepherd in sight
in the evening sky. *)

Into the Blue
Did you notice how the blue of the sky
turns into the hue of glacier water
near the horizon?

The One That Got Away
I so wanted to capture
the bird in flight
and the airplane alongside,
alas, my brave little Lumix
does not exactly work at sonic speed.

One Last Glimmer of Golden Light
then the Golden Hour was gone,
and the evening eased into the Blue Hour.

What Makes Us Happy?
Is there a formula
—some mix of love, work, and psychological adaptation—
for a good life?
Click here
to read this article by Joshua Wolf Shenk
in the forthcoming issue of
The Atlantic
(Psychology, June 2009).

Thanks go to David Brooks,
who referred to this article
in his op-ed column, "They Had It Made,"
in the New York Times
on Monday, May 11.

*) Click on the picture
to listen to Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze"
performed by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields,
Conducted by Neville Marriner.

Clicking any other picture
will lead you to more
images of "Blue Hours"
around Vienna.
Enjoy! :-)