Everyday Poem #9

What if you already had

every ingredient for happiness

inside the pantry of yourself

instead of endlessly seeking

all of the world

for the future that may never come?

Would you need more compassion

and less judgment?

An extra cup of self-love

and only a pinch of worry?

Teaspoons of sunlight and laughter and fresh air and embraces

sprinkled into the dull dough of daily life?

What if kneaded with kindness and tenderness,

not boiled with anger and impatience?

So often we think

the things we seek

are somewhere to be found

when in truth

the recipe can only be

written by us.