Kaleidoscope

I sometimes decorate my journal with cut out words/phrases and images and then use the collage as a writing prompt. These are the pages that inspired the poem Kaleidoscope. A group of butterflies can be called a group, a swarm, or a kaleidoscope! Monarch butterflies migrate over 2500 miles from Canada to Northern Mexico. The trip takes longer than the insect's lifespan, so no one will complete the journey. Copies of the page are below along with a second short poem also inspired the page collage content.

When have you felt happy for no reason?
How can you cultivate an inner environment that supports being happy for no reason?

When you put your finger on it,
what truly “makes” you happy
is an inner shift,
a way of perceiving,
a sense of gain
or a feeling of relief.

This shift does not need
the world for its initiation.

We can be happy for no reason,
even though we may pin it
on a sunny day or a smooth ride;
on the feel of footsteps touching ground,
on the sound of a key unlocking our heart,

or on some random thoughts
floating through the mind
like butterflies migrating
on a journey that no one
will ever complete,

while the whole kaleidoscope
of shifting color and winged wonder
travels amazing distances
before completing the cycle
and then, miraculously,
the joy we thought we lost
returns.

And here is a second short poem also inspired form the same collaged pages:

Evidently, there is an order of nuns that requires no contact with the outer world. They sell cookies delivering them through slots so that the are never seen by the buyers.

Is a cookie made by an invisible nun the key to happiness?

Invisible Nuns

Try a cookie
made by invisible nuns
listening deeply
for how happy we are
with our lives,
putting their hearts
into understanding
the mysteries
and mastering
the fundamentals.
Perhaps you are just
one bite away
from enlightenment.

When have you felt happy for no reason?
How can you cultivate an inner environment
that supports being happy for no reason?

Please share your thought and comments below.