Happiness Is Not For The Birds

I recently read a George Moore quote that said, “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”

Count Maurice Maeterlinck’s The Bluebird illustrates this point.

A woodcutter’s boy and girl kept a blackbird in a cage in their home. What they wanted, however, was the “bluebird of happiness“. They gave the bird to a neighbor as a companion for their ill child.

The two kids set out from their modest hut in search of the desired bluebird. The twosome wanders through many lands but returns home disappointed and discouraged. Then, to their dismay, the blackbird they had lent to the ill child next door turned into a bluebird. The fabulous bluebird of happiness was theirs all the time. 

Happiness is not a possession we search for. Rather, it is a blessing present in everything we experience. The moral is to quit searching for happiness, but rather start realizing and enjoying happiness where we are.