About Happiness

A documentary about the search for Shangri-La made me think of the poem "A Bird is Sitting on A Tree" by Adam Asnyk (1838/1897), a Polish poet.

"Siedzi ptaszek na drzewie
I ludziom się dziwuje,
Że najmędrszy z nich nie wie,
Gdzie się szczęście znajduje. (...)
Trwonią życia dzień jasny
Na zabiegi i żale,
Tylko w piersi swej własnej
Nie szukają go wcale. (...)"

🐦

My free translation:

"A bird is sitting on a tree
And is surprised
That the wisest one of all people
Does not know where happiness is. (...)
They are wasting their time,
exerting themselves and complaining,
But in their own heart
They do not look for it (meaning happiness) at all.

The original words of the poem are "(...) But in their own chest...".

There are people who constantly need to go here and there, be part of a crowd to fill out the emptiness in themselves, or quiet down their thoughts. Wherever they go, they carry their problems as well, and wherever they are, it always seems to them the grass is always greener somewhere else. 

Even the above mentioned poet, who lived so long ago, realized that to find happiness we simply need to look into our inside.

Check out the video by Mr. Craig.