The alarm clock shook Mr. M. out of a sound sleep at 5:00 a.m. He reached over and turned off the alarm, and then lay there for a few minutes feeling sorry for himself. "Nobody should have to get up at this time in the morning!" he thought to himself.
He threw the covers off and got out of bed. Duty was calling. He was an airline pilot and had an early flight that morning.
It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. The shiny jet rose majestically into the blue sky and leveled off at 20,000 feet. It sped south over a landscape of breathless beauty.
The landscape contained the hometown of Mr. M. Every time he flew this course, he recalled the days of his childhood. This day his thoughts were concentrated on the lake which was shining in the sun beneath the plane.
"When I was a little boy," he said to the copilot, "I used to spend hours a day sitting in a boat fishing on that lake. Airplanes would fly over occasionally, and I would look up at them and wish that I was the pilot. Now I wish I were down on the lake fishing."
There is humor in these words of the pilot. But a very important characteristic of human nature is also brought out. There is an inclination in all of us to continually think that we would be happier doing something else than what we are doing at any particular moment. Much happiness is lost because of this tendency.
The true secret of happiness is to concentrate on what we are doing at any particular time and enjoy it, whether it be work or play.
