Opinion

Not only bereft, I am in the deepest of malaise, snacking on a sad sandwich of despair. If there was a Victorian fainting couch in my tiny home, I would be swooning on it, the back of my hand pressed to my fevered brow.

Sometimes I contemplate big questions. What is existence really? What does Aristotle mean by a good life? And how can I start my second drink without finishing my first? Other times I contemplate something humbler – and what’s humbler than the humble egg?If I’m feeling peckish, I might think about the egg as food.

ROB PEREZ enters a patch of milkweed and finds CARTER THE CATERPILLAR on a half-eaten leaf. Carter is a medium-sized monarch caterpillar with black, white, and yellow stripes.

Where I am from, Dodge City, Kan., being a neighbor meant more than just living across the street or next door or behind the alley of someone.Even in the rough neighborhood I lived in as a kid. Nowadays, it is easier to say "not my house, not my problem." Easier and to do so with pride.

Before you start snickering I am not referring to those. I’ll put it delicately, escaping bodily function noises that can embarrass us at solemn moments or that are the favourite party pieces of the obnoxious uncle at parties (everyone has a least one family member like that) who beguiles innocent children to “pull my finger.”Neither am I referencing those times when your internal/external voice becomes confused.

I’m a very lucky guy. My family’s healthy.

An anthropologist once said four things are required to live a good life: show up, pay attention, do your best, and don’t get too concerned with outcomes. Paying attention, I think, is a very important ingredient – to enriching our life experience, to being successful, to having close relationships, and to dealing with potential dangers.It is important for us to observe, study, consider, and really absorb things in our inner and outer lives: our own feelings and reactions, patterns in others’ behavior, funny events, beauty, nature, ideas, role models, music, our own and others’ mistakes, heroic and inspiring actions, toxic people and situations, our own defenses, changes in ourselves, and our individual values and goals.For example, research has shown that simply writing down each evening three positive things that happened that day – big or little – significantly raises a person’s happiness rating.And not just because it feels good to remember these positive events, but because the daily writing assignment programs the brain to pay attention and take notice of positive happenings all day.Remember, we each get only one life, so we can try to live it to the fullest – and use our incredible brain to appreciate and learn from our life events as much as possible.