Happiness

It occurred to me today that happiness is not something definite or concrete.  It is a method of walking, not a particular trail (marked with signposts that all can follow to a single destination).  For much of my life, I was obsessed with finding the right trail, when what really mattered was not where I walked, but how.

This reminds me of the famous song from Facundo Cabral, and of course the great poem by Antonio Machado ("Proverbios y cantares XXIX," Campos de Castilla, pub. 1912):

Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino, y nada más;
caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante, no hay camino,
sino estelas en la mar.

Thinking these thoughts and reading this poem reminds me that I really want to walk the Camino de Santiago one day.  That for me would be a path of great happiness.