A few weeks ago I mentioned an article in Ascent Magazine on Finding Contentment in Everyday Life. It has now been partially published online, and I thought I would quote the first paragraph here. I love Eileen Delehanty Pearkes description of water as a metaphor of contentment.

I often dream of water. Water breaking up after a long hold in winter ice. Water rushing gently with me in a canoe, swaying across its current. Water pooling to rest, then tumbling downward again. Clear water. Weed-choked water. Burbling water. Deep blue, aquamarine, glacial-green, summer-brown, snow-melt white. Water takes many forms in my night wanderings. Always, the water is moving, changing and transporting itself, mirroring my own efforts toward self-realization. Always, and strangely enough, the water seems contented to be in whatever state it is. It moves with acceptance along a varied path.