Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

My Buddhist teacher often invokes the image of dancing - dancing with the hindrances that keep us from our true Buddha nature. Today he mentioned the tango, and that picture of him doing the tango caused me to smile broadly. But how do I know? Maybe he's an expert on tango. What he's saying is not to fight against our human nature and limitations, but embrace imperfection and thus be able to feel the joy. Yesterday I made popovers, and the magic of it: the rising in the hot oven, the hollowness as you break the popover apart and perhaps add peach preserves, the amazement that something made of simple flour, salt, milk, eggs and butter can be so sublime. I immediately had the desire to drop some off at my daughter's house for them. And I will do that today. Is it a weakness to adore certain foods? I think not. Our pleasure arrives in tiny packages, mostly. The frogs at night, crows congregating on the cedar tree, a blossom bursting out of a cactus. We are sensual beings, and our joy manifests through sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. If we can't right now touch others because of the covid, we can caress leaves, hold a rose steady while we inhale its perfume, pat our blankets and pillows. We are more alive when we treasure our senses, and our brief but often shining lives.