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Life Is Simple

Expectations, released into contentment.

No. 2133 haiga4:41
From the curator

Expectations, released into contentment. It opens on the source of the trouble — dissatisfaction comes from high expectations — and then the refrain: life is simple, yet we insist on making it so complicated. The first verse is worry and second-guessing; the second is attitude: laugh instead of complaining, want less, avoid the extremes. Then the decisions (when there is no right one, just make one) and the price of doing the right thing anyway. The last movement is a birthday, which the song treats as a celebration rather than a subtraction, and it ends with a wish for all of us: live so that no one ever has to wonder if you had a good ride.

The haiga, in order

33 haiga · as they appear in the video
  1. dissatisfaction / in life is caused by having / high expectations
  2. life is simple yet / we insist on making it / so complicated
  3. do expectations / make our lives worth living or / make them feel worthless
  4. is it a blessing / to not get what you want more / than what you deserve
  5. I wonder about / the future, so I worry / less about the past
  6. never let worry / stop you from doing something / that makes you worry
  7. making good choices / is easy when things go your / way, hard when they don't
  8. happiness is found / in your attitude, not in / your circumstances
  9. if you complain it / will get worse, but if you laugh / it will get better
  10. learn to be content / too many desires will / bring you jealousy
  11. avoid the extremes / all things in moderation / neither waste nor want
  12. time spent comparing / your life to another's life / is time best not spent
  13. never say never / or else you will find yourself / one day doing it
  14. when there is no right / decision to make just make / a damn decision
  15. only a coward / can see what the right thing is / and then not do it
  16. sometimes a broken / heart is the price to pay for / doing the right thing
  17. let go of the good / only once you have better / firmly in your hand
  18. the start of something / is often the end of a / different something
  19. the simple pleasures / of life are usually / the first forgotten
  20. life gives you lemons / so you can make lemonade / or limoncello
  21. the side quests of life / are where most of the fun lies / so don't ignore them
  22. find your happy place / before you need to go there / so you don't get lost
  23. we often forget / the value of a moment / is its memory
  24. life is the measure / we need to fill, not a cup / we need to empty
  25. every person / used to be a kid and then / they just got older
  26. a happy birthday / is a celebration not / another year gone
  27. another birthday / another year you can say / flew by so quickly
  28. your obligation / on your birthday is to just / be glad you are here
  29. no matter how old / you get you still have time to / set another goal
  30. old age is nothing / more than a fiction some use / to limit their fun
  31. our second lives start / once we understand that we / will only live once
  32. you should live as if / you will live forever or / may die tomorrow
  33. live life so no one / ever needs to wonder if / you had a good ride
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