Hidden Treasure

For people like me that weren't always listening to the teacher or had a limited education, the British system meant that after the age of sixteen you only really study three subjects which in my case were chosen at random and with no great success, the upside of this lack of study is that the world is full of wonder. In Spring the miracle of bulbs that have been dry and brown all winter, when they bloom and blossom in a myriad of colours I am totally in awe. The same in Autumn when the leaves turn such stunning shades of gold, russet, brown, yellow. I am in awe. The sight of a beautiful display of flowers that appear in a pot that I had left in a corner, thinking they were dried up and useless and I really should throw them away, all these things are a constant form of delight and wonder. the sun that moves across the sky with the changing seasons and goes to Australia when it's time for us to go home, never loses its appeal and fascination. the seas and oceans that don't drop of the Earth in a great whoosh. Somewhere in the depths of my head I sort of know the scientific explanations for all these things but they are still everyday miracles for me.

The biggest most wonderful place where miracles happen, where there is real treasure to be found, where shining secrets are kept is the human heart.
No greater way is this mystery displayed than in the heart of a child.
We all know that we can't make people love us, no matter how hard we try, it has to come from them.
We might gain their approval but we know this is different from their affection. So when a small child runs towards you with arms wide open and love shining from their face our own hearts expand and swell in gratitude and joy.

So where is all this waffle leading you might be thinking. Playing with a child is what set off this train of thought.
The other day I was asked many questions by a small child, one that doesn't go to school yet and doesn't know how write apart from the names of the ones she loves.
She set up a little office with a desk and a telephone and everyone was ordered to enter her workplace and she would fill in a questionnaire.
As I answered her questions she bent over a piece of paper, looking thoughtful and with pen to paper wrote my answers.
The questions were all about the secret of happiness, about what makes people happy.
She knows that already, she's known it since she was born, there is no doubt at all about the secret of happiness. It's not a secret really, it's all on the paper below.