Where Does Happiness Dwell?

It’s not where you think it is.

The most common butterfly in the world is the painted lady (Vanessa kershawi in Australia, and Vanessa cardui everywhere else). Their distinct orange and black wings patterned with white spots make them easy to identify.

Although they’re found in all continents, including Antarctica, one of their favorite spots to hang out is on a short stretch of gravel track near our house. An everyday walk can turn into a sudden delight when newly hatched ladies flutter in the sunlight drifting through the undergrowth.

Seeing them reminds me of the quote from Henry David Thoreau about happiness:

His message is clear: happiness and butterflies elude those who actively seek them.

So I stand perfectly still in the midst of multiple Vanessa kershawi as they catch the warm wind, willing one of them to alight on my shoulder. Over the past 22 years not one has.

Despite this disappointing result I still believe Thoreau. Butterflies and happiness elude those who actively seek them.

I know a butterfly when I see one, but what is happiness? Countless books, poems, scientific studies and surveys by psychologists have mined this question. After living more than six decades I’ve come to my own conclusions.

In other words, happiness is a result. It’s a gift I give myself when I’m totally absorbed by what I’m doing. I sit at the computer, tapping out sentences on the keyboard, searching for words, scanning the structure of the piece, checking facts, finding full phrases that fall from a place called grace into the space of no thought and onto the screen. When I’m writing in this state I’m like a skier, a car racer, a figure skater. Focussed. Lost to time. Happy.

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