food pr0n

Ebeth has been engaged in a bitter war with the groundhog. The territory at stake is the vegetable garden.

While the war may not be won, today's victory was overwhelmingly sweet:

( a 2 pound, four ounce, warm slice of heaven )

There was a lot of moaning involved. And licking of fingers.

withholding

The economics of emotional exchange are even more byzantine than the monetary market, because emotions are an even less finite resource than capital.

So why is it that in times of free-fall, squirrelly lovers make the same short-sighted decisions as squirrelly investors? They hoard. They withhold. They hold on to something to make sure other people can't have it.

There is a huge gulf between the haves and the have-nots, and it seems to rest squarely in the valley of the mis-perception that some other person enjoying something valuable (money, love) is actively denying it to those that have not managed to find these things for themselves.

The reality, of course, is that it doesn't matter if I have money or not, or love or not. Denying myself these things may affect me negatively, but doing so will not at all have a positive effect on those who might envy me those things.

...

Withholding is the tactic of the frightened. It gives the short term satisfaction of possessing something, denying something someone else may want- but there are no dividends. It's not a sustainable strategy. Like squeezing a handful of grains so that another person cannot share in it, eventually all of the seeds will drain away, leaving neither party with anything valuable. Leaving the grasping party, in the end, with no leverage.

In the end, of course, it doesn't matter. One cannot _force_ a frightened being to uncurl their grasp, to act in a different way. One can only shake one's head in sorrow at lost opportunity.

The frightened person thinks that they are somehow protecting themselves- but what is a worse fate? To spend one's life barricaded, isolated, in glum twilight- or to have held the glittering jewel of happiness and then handed it to a lover as a precious gift?

We are always affected by our surroundings. If you would be happy, sow happiness around you. Value the people who care about you, and bask in their radiating joy.

(no subject)

Noted: I really truly love the soundtrack to Waking Life. Doing yoga to it feels like a nostalgic ballet.