There's a reason we've been chasing happiness for most of human history and never quite catching it. Thoreau saw the problem clearly: chasing is the wrong motion.
The butterfly doesn't respond to pursuit. It responds to stillness. To a person who has stopped grasping and started simply being somewhere.
This is the paradox at the heart of a good life. The things we want most — joy, love, meaning, peace — tend to arrive sideways. Not when we make them the target, but when we become the kind of person they're drawn to. When we're absorbed in something worthy, when we're present to what's in front of us, when we've released the desperate need to have the thing.
The butterfly has always been there. We just kept scaring it off.
The invitation: What would you do differently today if you stopped trying to feel happy and just tried to be present?
Feedback
Your suggestions help me make this book even better. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.