When navigating the Seas of Life, take care not to confuse the tools of navigation with your destination.

::::::::

Live simply,
not only so others can simply live,
but so you, also, can live
rather than waste the time you are given
in competition for acquisition,
or if not in competition,
with an obsession to accumulate...
What?  Satisfaction?

Satisfaction cannot be accumulated,
nor happiness pursued, since they're by-products
of the ongoing engagement of energy
centered on devotion to a worthy purpose,

an authentic interaction with reality,
rather than a virtual life strained
through the filter of technology,
or an attempt to interact with objects
instead other sovereign subjects
since we're each trapped in solitary confinement,
prisoners of consumer psychology.

Objects and technology,
when perceived as ends in themselves
are obstacles to the sustained satisfaction
produced by the focused, laser-like flow
of diligent, self-directed action.

And since objects and technology
are merely the tools of navigation
on the Seven Seas of Existence,
they must not be confused with the map
nor the destination the navigator intended.

For "extra credit" read "FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience"
                               by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly

Authors Bio:
Vi's works appear widely both in print and online. She conducts Poetry Workshops and gives readings in Central New York. Her latest chapbook is "Sine Qua Non Antiques (an Arcanum of History, Geography and Treachery).