Short stories about joy in life. Short stories for the soul - small emotional stories with meaning
A park. Hot summer day. Children's laughter, human conversations, the cooing of pigeons, the sound of the wind and many other sounds hung in the air. I sat on a bench and watched people. I sat alone, watched, listened. Came into my field of vision Old man with a white bushy mustache, wearing shorts over his bare torso and a cowboy hat. Some passers-by looked at him either with a smile or with surprise. The old man stopped, looked into the sky and contemplated something for a long time. A wave of peace seemed to wash over him. Then he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and walked towards me. He approached and, despite me, sat down on the bench. He crossed his legs, closed his eyes and threw his head back, and said:
- How boring people live.
I looked at him. He sat peacefully next to him on the bench. Strange. While watching people, the same thought came to my mind. This is exactly the case, it flashed through my head, when you meet a person on your way not at all by chance, but as if specifically designed by the Universe. Once I met a woman who told me a lot about my past (and everything was very accurate) and future (I can’t judge here). At that moment, I did not hesitate to say all my innermost thoughts. And here he did not restrain himself, but first tried to “cast the bait”:
“It’s strange, I was thinking the same thing, how boring their lives are.”
As if breaking down my script in my head, the elderly man asked:
- Maybe you have something to light? How many beautiful women, my God...
I was silent.
– Is there any smoking? - my neighbor said rudely to me. I turned around, looked him sternly in the eyes, and said, pronouncing each word clearly:
- No. I do not smoke.
He turned away and tried to concentrate on the park. Did not work. How naive I am, God. Some “leftist dude” came up, and I made him a messenger of fate. He somewhat began to remind me of ordinary “life-lovers.” A thick pain stirred in my chest. It's not the same here. This is all wrong. You need to look for your niche, because everything around you only brings melancholy and pain.
“You say they live a boring life... But I see that you yourself don’t look like someone who doesn’t live a boring life.”
“No,” I agreed dejectedly, “I don’t live.”
“You’re not living, that’s exactly what you said.”
Suddenly I noticed a cigarette in his hand. Where did she come from? He puffed sweetly at it, greedily taking every puff into his lungs. Having done one more, he turned to me:
- Will you?
- I do not smoke.
- You don't smoke, that is. All this nonsense about the dangers of smoking. Fuck it all. It happens that non-smokers live less than smokers. Poor things,” he said, mimicking pity.
I kept sitting there, the desire to leave flashed through my head several times.
– Sometimes you sit, especially after a long day of work, and a cigarette is like a drink that gives you life, gives you a second wind... mmm.
He closed his eyes and took a deep drag.
– More like a slow-acting poison in a glass of your favorite wine than a drink of life.
He smiled, turned to me, and asked, with the smell of a smoked cigarette coming from his mouth:
– What is life, what does it mean to live without being boring, explain to me? You don’t just say this, it means there is something to compare with. What have you imagined in your little world?
I turned and said to his face:
- This is not fantasy.
He continued to watch with a smile, not forgetting to drink the last drops of the “healing drink.” He was silent, giving me space to answer.
- This is not fantasy. Smoking...what does it do for you? A sweet, fleeting high, and as punishment - the desire to smoke another cigarette. Yes, you feel good, but it’s all illusory. You say fantasies, illusions. All your pleasures are illusory. Maybe you take them for the joy of life? Is this really joy? They pay for it. True joy is not paid for, but you pay with money and life. What is life? Don't know.
- How do you not know, you compared it with something, saying that they live a boring life.
– Yes, there is something to compare with.
- Say so.
– The joy of life... what is life... I don’t know what life is. Part of the time, as you rightly put it, I lived in my “little world” and now sometimes I return to it, although I struggle with it. What is life? It is too broad, and not appropriate for a 21-year-old who has not known Lady Life, to talk about her. The question is: why do they live boring lives?
Recently in the village I saw a beautiful woman, but that’s not the main thing, although it’s nice to remember that she was beautiful. She was with the child. Here they live with their husbands and children. Their husbands work in some kind of analytical work, earn good money, buy cars and a lot of other rubbish that they supposedly need to buy in their lives. A car, a big house, a vegetable garden in it, maybe in the country if you’re a city dweller. Children appear, and then computers, phones, tablets. All this fuss, there’s no other way to describe it. I probably explained it vaguely, but now I’ll try to be more clear. The point is that they surround themselves with things. Things that supposedly need to be bought for life, acquired in order to live beautifully, well, so that you don’t feel ashamed in front of people. What nonsense! Do they live for themselves or for people? I think this is the point.
I don't know, maybe beautiful woman and she was happy... maybe I don’t understand people well, but her appearance did not tell me that she was experiencing true joy. Perhaps her child is the joy of life, but this fuss... She, one way or another, is drawn into this fuss with things. They live, develop, go up career ladder, buying houses, why? Home for home's sake?..
“Everything you say is only partly correct,” the old man interrupted me. Yes, there are those who, as you say, “mess around with things.” Yes, but there are no pure people. Man is a complex creature. You're simplifying things a lot. Are you bored? Maybe. Things may be important in her life, but it's her choice, you know? She chose it. She is a grown woman, and you cannot teach her to live, I cannot, because she chose. Live with them, live with each of them, and you will notice that not everyone is mired in things. There is at least one person in any family who does not want to get bogged down in things. And in people themselves you will find something that does not agree with fiddling with things. Perhaps one of them loves someone, suffers for someone. Perhaps they all have something that is not related to things.
- Not everyone.
- How do you know?
– Otherwise, why do they live like this?
- Because they want to live like this. And that's enough for them.
– Yes, they do, but it seems to me largely due to the fact that they don’t know that there is another world. They don't look deep within themselves. It seems to me that those who suffer, who feel alienated, are the lucky ones. This means there is something human in them. When you suffer and cannot find a common language with people, perhaps it is not you who is sick, but society. And so you search and in your search you find another niche, you begin to understand ordinary people more deeply. That it was their choice, you said well, or maybe they had nothing to choose from?
– If they wanted to look, they would find, believe me.
– What are we talking about here anyway? About why they live boring lives? Wait, you said at first, they live a boring life. Did you mean choosing a boring life?
– We talked about the joy of life.
- Okay, is it really necessary to talk about life to find peace?
– I see you like to jump from topic to topic.
– Joy of life... maybe we won’t do it anymore?
“You still haven’t told me how you plan to live without being boring.” What is life to you?
– Probably in the ability to always be here and now. Being here and now, we live life fully.
- Good good. I live here and now, but you probably classified me as a “waster of life.”
“I thought you had no depth.”
- Heh, depth. The main thing is that I chose my niche and enjoy it. I chose it, do you understand?
– You chose, and I have no right to judge.
-You have no right to teach.
“But I can call you with me to my teaching.”
- Can. Those who seek always find. Sooner or later.
– Not too bold a statement?
- No, that's true. What about women? Does beauty play a role?
– Do you like to jump from topic to topic?
- Why? I keep talking about the joys of life. It was pleasant for you to talk about that beauty, and it was pleasant for me to hear. While we were talking, you managed to admire all the passing beauties.
I felt the blood coming into my cheeks and ears.
– So, is the beauty of women important? Isn’t beauty, that is, the external, something that is connected with the material? Hence the question (it had to be formulated this way): since beauty is material, is it important?
– Isn’t appearance a reflection of the inner world and character?
- Is.
– Then appearance is not only material.
– Natural, yes, but look at these dolls. I'm not just talking about girls. And in the camp of men their own dolls began to appear, ha ha ha.
I smiled and immediately continued:
- Yes. Is beauty important? I will say this, perhaps I will avoid answering, but let it be. Beauty is love, and nothing more. Some fall in love without knowing the person, but along with beauty they imagine a deep image, a personality, and they can fall in love with her.
What attracts most about a woman is her depth, her essence. Of course, beauty can play a role, but for love it is integral to the essence. Let's imagine the fatal beauty, with own principles. Perhaps, in appearance, she may seem only to be a proud beauty, and besides this pride and self-esteem she has nothing. But upon closer acquaintance, in close communication, in friendship, the deeper essence is revealed. It’s as if you feel it, unspoken, hidden deep, and suddenly you realize that you like its depth. It is something secret, hidden, which cannot be described in words, but can only be somehow felt, and suddenly this feeling sometimes suggests at a certain moment that she will do this, answer this way. Suddenly this happens, and you begin to love this essence. Do you understand? Now it doesn’t matter what she does, what she achieves, I don’t care, the main thing is she exists, which means she is the essence that you love. And it’s good that such a person lives in this world.
Is beauty important? Yes. How can she dress... What delicate taste spreads throughout her entire outfit, but this beauty only with its deep essence evokes true admiration for a woman. One is inseparable from the other.
- Good good. You speak as if you have found your own essence. And this entity is not a mental image by any chance, is it?
He looked slyly and laughed. I said nothing and turned away. The old man loudly patted me on the shoulder. After a short pause, he continued:
- You speak here and now. The joy of life is to be here and now.
“Yes..,” I answered thoughtfully and a little hesitantly, but he no longer looked in my direction. Adjusting his hat, he stood up and said goodbye:
- Well, come on.
- Goodbye.
A couple of minutes later, the figure of an elderly man in a cowboy hat disappeared from view in the slums of a noisy and dusty city.
Fairy tale - game “A Baby Elephant’s Journey to Kindergarten”
Psychological fairy tale-game for determining the emotional state of children and animals “The Journey of a Baby Elephant to Kindergarten”
Author: Tatyana Gennadievna Borodina, teacher senior group GBOU Secondary School No. 289 (kindergarten No. 1867) in Moscow.I offer you a psychological fairy tale-game “The Journey of a Baby Elephant to Kindergarten” for older children preschool age. This game will be useful for teachers of older kindergarten groups and parents. The game is aimed at determining the emotional state of children and subsequent correction.
Target
– determination and correction of the emotional state of preschool children using available means.
Tasks:
Educational:
- explain and consolidate the concept of “mood”;
- teach children to identify and evaluate their emotional state, as well as their friends in the group;
- teach children to consciously regulate their emotional state.
Educational:
- develop children’s interest in studying their mood and their friends;
- develop self-control in relation to your emotional state;
Educational:
- cultivate a kind, caring attitude towards yourself and the world around you.
- contribute to the unity of the children's team.
Material: soft toy “baby elephant”; 9 cards depicting the emotional state of animals: fear, anger, surprise, sadness, resentment, guilt, pride, timidity and joy.
Fairy tale: “The Journey of a Baby Elephant to Kindergarten.”
Once upon a time there lived a baby elephant. He was 5 years old. His name was Baby.
He was a cheerful and happy little elephant, as he had a lot of friends - baby elephants.
His friends were always happy good mood baby elephant Everyone respected him, even though he was small, and everyone wanted to be friends with him.
One day, a baby elephant decided to go visit the children in kindergarten. It was an amazing and very interesting journey into the world of little people.
The baby elephant learns a lot about what kind of children there are: cheerful, happy, sad, angry, modest, touchy, surprised...
- What kind of people are you? Let's listen further!
The baby elephant came to kindergarten and rose to middle group, to children the same age as you.
The teacher met him and was very surprised.
- Oh, little elephant, we weren’t expecting you, come on in, let’s get acquainted!
The kid looked around and saw children playing, drawing, or just sitting quietly and bored. The little elephant decided to meet the guys.
First, the baby elephant approached the child, who was sitting alone on the sofa and for some reason was sad.
“I’m bored without my mother,” Misha said to the little elephant, and they became friends.
Then the Kid approached two boys, Sasha and Dima, who were playing Dominoes, they had a lot of fun, and they met a baby elephant.
This girl Tanya was very happy; she had a new resident at home - a fluffy kitten. She happily told the baby about this.
And this boy Oleg stood by the window and did not play with anyone. There was complete indifference on his face. Oleg didn’t even want to meet the Kid.
Then the baby elephant noticed the girl Dasha in the corner of the room. She looked at the baby elephant from afar, but was afraid to approach him. She was a very modest girl. The kid approached Dasha himself, and they became friends.
- Oh, wow! The little elephant noticed two girls, Lena and Sveta, who were quarreling over toys. These were very different girls. Lena was angry and always took away Sveta’s toys. Sveta was constantly offended by Lena because of this.
Pavlik was the oldest boy in the group, and he boasted about it a lot. Because of this, the baby elephant did not like him.
Then Anya came up to the baby elephant and told how she was scared at home alone, and how much fun it was now in a group with the baby elephant.
Well, the little elephant met all the children in the group, gathered them around him and invited them to play the game “Dance of the Little Elephants.”
All the children danced and had fun, and the Kid was happy for them.
In the evening, the baby elephant returned home and for a long time remembered his trip to kindergarten.
Cards characterizing the emotional state of animals:
Fright
Anger
Astonishment
Sadness
Resentment
Guilt
Pride
Timidity
Joy
Option 1: “A Baby Elephant’s Journey to Kindergarten.”
Rules of the game: Listen carefully to the fairy tale.
While listening, find cards that characterize the emotional state of children.
(For example, angry Lena and touchy Sveta).
Option 2: “Zoo of Moods.”
Rules of the game: Name the little elephant’s friends and determine their emotional state.
(For example, a cheerful tiger cub, a timid penguin, a guilty hippopotamus.)
The father had three daughters. So they grew up and each chose a groom according to her heart.
The eldest daughter always believed that the main thing in life was money and wealth. And when a rich groom in the city approached her, she accepted his proposal without hesitation, and her father blessed them.
The middle daughter was domineering and proud, even in childhood she was teased by the “commander”, and when the lord of order wooed her, she willingly accepted his proposal, and the father blessed the middle daughter.
And the youngest was her father’s favorite, she rejoiced every day, woke up with the sunrise and ran into the garden to enjoy the singing of birds, touch the soft grass with her bare feet and enjoy the morning coolness of the dew, the murmuring of the stream and the aroma of flowers.
And then all day long, working in the garden and in the field, she indulged in dreams and enjoyed life.
The father's heart rejoiced looking at her, and he did not want to let go of his treasure early.
Once a tired traveler decided to spend the night in the garden; he lay down on the soft silky grass, and sleep closed his eyes. And in the morning the youngest found him there, she picked a blade of grass and began to tickle the traveler’s cheek and neck to wake him up, laughing merrily at the same time. But instead of getting angry, the young man woke up and laughed and began to run after the youngest throughout the garden, and when he caught her he said that he had walked many miles in search of his bride, but he had never met a more cheerful and joyful person...
Soon the father blessed his youngest daughter.
One day a disease passed by the city. She went into the house of her eldest daughter and saw how she angrily demanded money from her rich husband for sweets and whims for the children when he was caring for his yard purebred dogs at the kennel.
“I gave birth to children,” he was indignant, “and now feed this whole horde, there’s no way I can save you, give you this, give you that, you’ll ruin me!”
Illness heard such words and took the children to the eldest. She grieved and was sad for a long time, and her husband still wouldn’t let her live because he spent money on doctors and a magnificent funeral, and she decided to return to her father.
But when she came to the porch of her home, she saw her middle sister. She complained about her domineering husband, that he did not give her peace, telling her what to do and how to live, and he also fell ill, lost his position and the middle one lost all interest in him.
However, the father did not even let them into the door, saying that he did not force anyone into marriage, and each chose a husband to her liking and it was not suitable for married women to return to their parents’ house while their husbands were alive.
The eldest and middle ones began to think, but there was nothing to do, they turned back and saw the youngest. She walked hugging her husband and children to visit her father, her husband was carrying a huge basket of various goodies, they all sang cheerfully, anticipating a joyful meeting.
And then the sisters realized the reason for their troubles and illnesses. During their marriage, they never smiled, did not visit their father, there was no warmth or joy in them.
Reviews
A warm and instructive tale. About the good and the eternal.
And as always, the youngest is the best of the sisters... What should we, the elders, do in this case? :)
Thank you, I had a lot of fun. And it’s very nice that people still remember the present. Good luck to you and all the best!
Thank you very much Ksenia! Everyone chooses for themselves, isn’t it, and it’s not a matter of seniority at all :)) I’m very happy that someone else liked my fairy tales and perhaps found them useful;)).
The daily audience of the Proza.ru portal is about 100 thousand visitors, who in total view more than half a million pages according to the traffic counter, which is located to the right of this text. Each column contains two numbers: the number of views and the number of visitors.
