0:00 You know, Bridget, I'm sitting here watching a little ol' water strider skate across the top of the creek.0:07 Doesn't seem to have a care in the world.0:10 And it got me to wonderin'...0:12 is that little bug happy?0:14 Ey up, Earl.0:15 Are you asking if an insect has feelings?0:18 My cat's just jumped on my lap for a cuddle, and I'm pretty sure he's happy.0:24 But I take your point, love.0:26 What is it, really?0:27 That's the thing.0:28 Last week we were wrestling with finding the whole point of it all, and it feels like this question is hitched to the same train.0:38 We all say we want to be happy, but I'm not sure we've agreed on what the cargo is.0:44 Ooh, that's a good way of putting it.0:47 For most folk, it’s just a feeling, isn't it?0:50 Like my first sip of tea in the morning.0:53 A little moment of bliss.0:55 But that's gone in a minute.0:57 That can't be the whole story.0:59 I don't reckon it is.1:01 The old Greeks, they had a word for it—eudaimonia.1:04 Now, I know how that sounds.1:06 But hang on.1:07 The old-timers I knew would've just called it 'livin' right' or 'a life well-spent'.1:13 It wasn't about a big grin on your face all the time.1:17 It was about...1:18 flourishing.1:19 Like a good, strong oak tree.1:21 Ah, I see.1:22 Not just a pretty flower that blooms for a day, but summat with deep roots.1:28 I knew a woman back in Whitby, worked on the fish counters for fifty years.1:33 Always smelled of herring.1:35 I don't think she'd have said she was 'happy' every single day.1:40 Some days were cold and hard.1:42 But she had a purpose, you know?1:44 She was part of things.1:46 There was a sturdiness to her.1:48 Sturdiness.1:49 I like that.1:50 That's a word with some heft to it.1:52 It makes me think that maybe happiness isn't about avoiding the hard stuff.1:58 Maybe it's about what the hard stuff makes of you.2:01 Some of the most contented men I knew on the railroad, they'd been through derailments and washouts and seen things that'd turn your hair white.2:12 But they had a peace about 'em.2:14 It's because they'd been tested, you reckon?2:18 It's like baking a cake, love.2:20 You can have all the best ingredients—sugar, flour, all the nice things.2:25 But without the heat of the oven, it’s just a sticky mess.2:29 You need the fire to make it into summat real.2:33 I tell you what, that's it exactly.2:35 The heat of the oven.2:37 So is happiness a place we get to?2:39 Like the grand depot at the end of the line?2:42 Or is it something else?2:44 Well, if it's a destination, I think a lot of us have got the wrong map.2:50 We think if we just get that new job, or move to that new house, then we'll arrive.2:56 But we never seem to stay there long, do we?2:59 No, we don't.3:00 I'm starting to think it's not a place at all.3:03 I think it's the...3:05 it's the rhythm of the wheels on the track.3:08 It's the journey itself.3:09 It's looking out the window and seeing the world go by, the good and the bad.3:15 It's the conversation in the dining car.3:18 It’s not a state you achieve, it's a way you travel.3:22 Oh, that's lovely.3:23 It’s the tending of the garden, not just the prize-winning rose.3:28 It's the weeding and the watering and feeling the sun on your back while you do it.3:34 The feeling that you're growing something.3:37 Even if some days all you see is mud.3:40 Mm-hmm.3:40 Even the mud.3:41 Because you know that's where the good stuff grows from.3:45 So maybe that little water strider...3:48 maybe he ain't happy.3:50 Maybe he's just...3:51 balanced.3:52 And maybe that's enough.3:53 Just finding your balance on the surface of it all.3:57 I think you might have it there, Earl.4:00 Just finding your balance.4:02 My cat's purring so loud I can feel it in my chest.4:06 He's not worrying about tomorrow, he's just balanced, right here, right now.4:11 Maybe we could learn a thing or two from him.4:14 Maybe so.4:15 Well.4:15 That is about the size of it.4:18 Just sitting here, talking with a good friend...4:21 I reckon this is a pretty good track to be on.4:25 It is, love.4:25 It really is.4:26 Right then.4:27 Night night, sleep tight, chuck.
