And when something genuinely thrilling happens, you'll be ready. That wild rumpus celebrating the Diamondbacks' victory in the World Series turned me into a baseball fan. Ever since, I've enjoyed watching large men in pajamas strive for victory. I enjoy going briefly berserk when my team wins. I enjoy seeing the women in commercials ecstatically dust their furniture. But I don't take any of it seriously. What I do take seriously is the lesson I learned from Cookie and his successor, Bjorn: that happiness is available to me in every moment. It's there in the words I'm writing now, in my engagement with those around me, in the happy sigh Bjorn breathes as we sit together exploring the plains of peace. Wow.

Martha Beck's latest book is Finding Your Way in a Wild New World (Free Press).

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