Surrounded by a turbulent world,
by introspective-philosophy
I strive to achieve
peace of mind.

Singing out my sorrows
in poetry
I feel
my emotions relieved
my thoughts clarified
and I am ready
to strive for joy and happiness.

When I make choices to act
in everyday life
should I ask myself
“how does my choice
affect the joy and happiness
of every person in society?”?

In solitude
I can focus
on doing introspective-philosophy
to calmly increase self-awareness
and patiently improve my emotions and thoughts
until I am joyful and happy
with the content of my mind
and the process of my mind.

When someone is antagonising
my joy and happiness,
I do my best
to remain calm and unperturbed,
and refocus my mind
on calmly striving to achieve
my joy and happiness.

What does it mean
when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
says we should
‘act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood’?

Should we be peacefully cooperating
to achieve our mutual happiness?

When Destiny
brings danger and difficulty
I aspire to be steadfast
in optimistically
striving to achieve
my joy and happiness.

When others behave negatively
towards me,
my compassion is steadfast
for myself and others
because I am aware
that only with a compassionate attitude
can I achieve
joy and happiness
for myself and others.

I strive
with optimism
for the achievement
of my aspirations
to achieve joy and happiness.

Is living
striving to achieve
our ideals
of a joyful and happy life?

If I am rich,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness rich;
If I am poor,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness poor.
If I am popular,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness popular;
If I am outcast,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness outcast.
If  I am famous,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness famous;
If I am unknown,
then I’ll strive for joy and happiness unknown.

I am eating delicious
sweet corn and chicken soup:
sweet crunchy corn,
soft flavorsome garlic,
stringy delectable egg,
tasty chewy chicken,
and hot savory broth
which warms my torso;
I am enjoying
the experience
of being alive
while eating.

Boom! Crash! Crunch!
A bombshell hits the top floor
of a concrete house
in an opposition held area of Syria.
Two childhood brothers
sheltering in the room
are now buried under rubble,
the sharp heavy concrete chunks falling
tearing their flesh and
breaking their bones.
The 10 year old brother
struggles to raise his head
above the concrete and
sees the hand of his 3 year old brother
sticking out of the rubble,
he screams for “Heeellllppp!”

When people accuse me
of being abnormal
because I think for myself,
I steadfastly continue to think for myself
as I am aware
that thinking for myself
is the only way
that a unique me
in my unique situation
can achieve
my own unique joy and happiness.

Is there is no such thing as 'Time'?
Is there only
our experience
of the present-moment
changing?
Is what we call 'Time'
the changing of our experience
of clocks as they tick
in the present-moment?

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society,
would every working person
get time off work
to rest,
to rejuvenate,
to play,
to self-entertain,
to self-educate,
to care for and improve one's mental-health,
to travel and explore,
to do family-joy,
to do friendship-joy,
to do romance-joy,
to do joy and happiness activities?

I am a toilet cleaner’s daughter
My dad’s occupation isn’t cool
I am a toilet cleaner’s daughter
So I work very hard at school
I am a toilet cleaner’s daughter
My family struggles to survive
I am a toilet cleaner’s daughter
I dream and strive towards a better life
I am a toilet cleaner’s daughter
I dream of doctor, lawyer, even cooking food
I am a toilet cleaner’s daughter
I don’t want to be a cleaner too

When I was a youth
I was busy, busy, busy,
rushing from one activity to another
ambitious for success,
but I was unhappy
because I was too busy
to care for my mind,
my mind was suffering and confused
with many bottled-up emotions and thoughts;

Now that I’m wiser
I realise
what I need
is to take time-out
to care for my mind:
to introspect into my emotions and thoughts
to express to myself my emotions and thoughts
to become aware of my emotions and thoughts
to evaluate my emotions and thoughts
to improve my emotions and thoughts
until I have achieved wisdom
about what I can do
to achieve my joy and happiness.

When trauma from my past
is bothering my mind
I re-focus on achieving joy and happiness
in the present-moment.

Takes me places I haven't been.
Shows me vistas I haven't seen.
Shows me sounds I haven't heard.
Gives me experiences beyond the words.

When I feel sick,
I don’t understand
all the complex details
of medical-science,
so I have to trust a doctor
to cure me;
but I trust with trepidation
because doctors are human
and so unomniscient and fallible;

I do my best
to apprise myself
of the medical-science
about my health-condition
so I do not have to blindly-rely
on the doctor,
and so I can make wise choices
about my healthcare
to optimise my health, joy and happiness.

I am unhappy
but I am striving
to be joyful and happy.

I asked a vegetarian
“why are you a vegetarian?”
and he said:
In an ideal
joy-and-happiness society
would we foster
empathy, caring and compassion
between all people?
If people are unempathetic, uncaring and uncompassionate
to animals
would people also be
unempathetic, uncaring and uncompassionate
to the human-animal?
Thereby destroying
joy-and-happiness society?
And if so,
should we be
empathetic, caring and compassionate
to all animals?

If farm animals
feel pain and suffering,
should we be empathetic, caring and compassionate
to them too?
And stop slaughtering them!

Is violence
the intention
and action
to harm other people?

Is the target of violence
joyful and happy?
Ask someone who's been robbed at knifepoint?
Ask a wife who’s being bashed by her husband?
Ask a child who’s being beaten-up by a bully?

Is the doer of violence
joyful and happy?
Ask a person barking toxic speech?
Ask a mother who’s beating her child?
Ask a robber confined in prison for many years?

I am
strolling
gently and easily
across a riverside park,
my sports-shoe clad feet
pressing down and rebounding on soft lush green grass
with each gentle easy step;

I see
the wide blue river
alongside the park and
I gaze at
white yachts anchored and
I smell
the refreshing pungent scent of salt-water and
I look up at
the mid-blue sky with white fluffy clouds floating across and
I feel
walking-through-a-park-Happy.

Warm sunlight on my face,
warm sunlight on my arms and feet;
my body feels warm all over
but cooling in the summer breeze;
I am enjoying the experience
of being alive.

As I walk along the sand
with the bottom of my feet
I feel
the bumps in the sand
I feel
the fine coarse sand
on my skin
squishing in-between my toes,
I am enjoying the experience
of being alive.

As I wade across the water
I feel
the cool waves wash my feet,
I am enjoying the experience
of being alive.

Walking my favourite beach
I feel
the warm-but-cooling summer breeze through my hair,
I am enjoying the experience
of being alive.

I want a cigarette
but I need to stop smoking
to improve my health
and optimise my joy and happiness.

I am
laying comfortably in my soft bed and
cool summer breeze is
wafting in through my open bedroom window
blowing over my body
cooling me down;

I am
cool-summer-breeze-Happy.

I am
sweating
laying in a soft bed,
gazing
out through my open bedroom window
at a eucalyptus tree
gently swaying and shaking
in the cool summer breeze
which is wafting in through the open window
blowing over my body
cooling me down;

I am
cool-summer-breeze-Happy.

Soul,
Body,
Consciousness
and Mystery?

Is each of us unique?
And yet,
are we all the same
as deep down
we are all
striving for joy and happiness?

Therefore, can we
cooperate
to facilitate each others'
joy and happiness?

When I am unhappy
about some aspect of my life,
I still enjoy
the basic experience of being alive:
the stimulating
sights
sounds
tastes
smells
tactile sensations and
introspective ****** experiences;

I still enjoy
striving with optimism
to improve my situation
so I can be happier;

I still enjoy
being happy
about those aspects of my life
which I can feel happy about.

When I was a youth
I complained
“Why won’t the world
make me happy?
The world makes me unhappy!”

Now that I’m wiser
I take full responsibility
for achieving
my own joy and happiness
and the world’s joy and happiness.

Is ‘wisdom’
the principles
of how to live
in an optimally joyful and happy way?

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society
would every person in society
including women
fulfil their potential
to experience optimal joy and happiness?
Would women be given
the freedom and encouragement
to express their unique authentic self
in an optimally joyful and happy way?
Would women be given
the freedom, encouragement, support and resources
to develop and exercise to the full
their talents
to experience optimal joy and happiness?

In an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society
would every person in the world
be joyful and happy?
If so,
in an ideal
joy-and-happiness-society
would every person in the world
have to cooperate with everyone else
to facilitate the joy and happiness
of every person in the world?
If so,
would a world-government
be useful
to organise
cooperation
between every person in the world
to facilitate the joy and happiness
of every person in the world?

Can my worrying be replaced
by calmly asking questions
about what the situation is
and accepting
what the situation is?
and calmly asking questions
about how to improve the situation
towards my joy and happiness?

Accepting
and preparing myself
to experience
my body becoming older
and my ******-functions diminishing
towards death
brings me peace of mind.

Accepting
that my body will probably become sick
into the future,
and preparing myself
to experience the sickness
and improve my health,
brings me peace of mind.

Sometimes I write poetry to cope:
freely expressing
my emotions and thoughts,
relieving my mind
of burning exploding emotions
and incessant thoughts
which were seeking my attention.
Once I have carefully clearly listened
to distressed emotions and impelling thoughts
they dissipate
leaving my mind in peace.

Once I have clarified
in a poem
what I am feeling and thinking,
then I philosophically reflect
on what I am feeling and thinking,
striving to discover wisdom
about the practical issues
my emotions and thoughts
have raised in my mind.
Thus, poetry is my path to wisdom
by which I achieve more joy and happiness.

When people say
“I know you”
what does that mean?
Do they have a concept of you
in their mind
which they have reified
as their reality?
Does the real you
exist only in the minds of others?
Or, are you something
which precedes the concepts of others?
Is the authentic you
only discoverable by you
by introspective self-awareness
and self-discovery?

Does each of us
see the universe
from our own perspective?
If so,
does each of us
live in our own perspective-universe?
If so,
is objectivity impossible
and only subjectivity happening?
If so,
to achieve a cooperative society
does each of us
have to empathise
with each other's
unique perspective-universe?