Hello and welcome back to practicing human, the podcast, where every day we're getting a little better at life.

I'm your host, Corey Mascara, and in today's episode, we're going to talk about lingering in happiness.

More to come on that in a moment.

First, let's settle in together with the sound of the bells.

Okay. So this is a poem by Mary Oliver. It's called Lingering in Happiness. As always, as I read these words, just notice how they land for you. You're welcome to close your eyes.

And see if you can hear with all of the senses.

Your ears, yes, but your feeling sense and anything that you see in your mind, any smells that come to mind, even tastes.

So again, this is lingering in happiness.

After rain, after many days without rain, it stays cool, private and cleansed, under the trees,

and the dampness there, married now to gravity, falls branch to branch, leaf to leaf,

down to the ground, where it will disappear,

but not of course vanish, except to our eyes. The roots of the oaks will have their share,

and the white threads of the grasses and the cushion of moss. A few drops, round as pearls, will enter the mole's tunnel, and soon so many small stones buried for a thousand

years will feel themselves being touched.

So I think there's so many ways to feel into this poem and make meaning of it.

And of course with poetry, there are an infinite number of ways we can interpret it. And of course, with poetry, there are an infinite number of ways we can interpret it

and feel it moment by moment. One of the things that it makes me feel is just the impact of a moment of goodness after a period of despair or confusion, uncertainty,

or just neutrality in our life doesn't feel like much is happening, or deep pain for a long

period of time. But then there's a moment of connection

or release or clarity and even if it's just a short bout you know it could it could be a flicker, it could be moments, half a day,

a day, a week. There's something about that that remains. There's a lingering in happiness

that Mary Oliver is pointing to in this poem.

...