In a land where the horizon stretched endless and the sun painted the sky in hues of gold, there lived a traveller known simply as Marco. Marco was on a journey not for riches or fame but in search of something elusive yet profound: happiness. He carried with him a map, old and tattered, said to lead to the fabled “State of Happiness,” a place where joy was as tangible as the air one breathed.
Marco, with great determination, set forth on his quest. He traversed mountains where the air was thin, crossed deserts where the sand whispered ancient secrets, and navigated through forests so dense, the light barely touched the ground. Each terrain promised the rumored state, yet upon reaching the marked location on his map, he found happiness fleeting, like a mirage in the desert.
One day, while resting by a stream, Marco met an old sage who watched him with eyes that seemed to hold the wisdom of ages. “You seek the State of Happiness, do you not?” the sage asked, seeing straight through to Marco’s weary soul.
“Yes,” Marco replied, “but it evades me at every turn.”
The sage smiled, a gesture that seemed to light up the world around them. “Happiness is not a state to arrive at, dear traveller,” he said, his voice like a gentle breeze. “It is a manner of travelling.”
Confused, Marco asked for an explanation. The sage drew a simple line in the sand with his staff. “This line represents your journey. Each step you take, whether in joy or sorrow, is a part of your travel. Happiness isn’t at the end of this line, but in how you walk it.”
The sage continued, “Consider the joy you felt when the sunrise painted the sky over the mountains, or the peace when the desert winds whispered to you of timeless tales, or the thrill when the forest whispers sang to you. Each moment was a piece of happiness, not a destination but a part of your voyage.”
Marco pondered this, his gaze sweeping over the line in the sand. “So, you mean to say, I’ve been seeking the wrong thing? That happiness was in the journey itself?”
“Just so,” the sage nodded, “Happiness isn’t a place to reach, but a way of experiencing your path. It’s in the moments you embrace, the people you meet, and the adventures you live through, not at some destination marked on a map.”
With newfound understanding, Marco thanked the sage and continued his journey, but this time, his heart was lighter. He no longer studied the map with desperation but looked around, truly seeing the world in which he travelled. He laughed with the children of villages, danced in the rain, and shared stories with fellow wanderers. Happiness, he realized, wasn’t about arriving but about how he chose to travel through life.
And so, the parable of Marco teaches us that happiness isn’t a place or a state to be reached but a continuous journey, a way of being, where each step, each moment, holds the potential for joy, if only we choose to see it.
