A parable on the topic of happiness. Parables about life with morals are short. Short parables about insult

A parable is one of the most ancient types of edifying stories. Instructive allegories allow you to briefly and succinctly give any moral statement, without resorting to direct persuasion. That is why parables about life with morality - short and allegorical - have at all times been a very popular educational tool, touching on a variety of problems of human existence.

The ability to distinguish between good and evil distinguishes a person from an animal. It is not surprising that the folklore of all nations contains many parables on this topic. They tried to give their own definitions of good and evil, explore their interaction and explain the nature of human dualism in the Ancient East, and in Africa, and in Europe, and in both Americas. A large corpus of parables on this topic shows that, despite the difference in cultures and traditions, the idea of these fundamental concepts among different nations general .

Two wolves

Once upon a time, an old Indian revealed to his grandson one vital truth:
– There is a struggle in every person, very similar to the struggle of two wolves. One wolf represents evil - envy, jealousy, regret, selfishness, ambition, lies... The other wolf represents good - peace, love, hope, truth, kindness, loyalty...
The little Indian, touched to the depths of his soul by his grandfather’s words, thought for a few moments, and then asked:
– Which wolf wins in the end?
The old Indian smiled faintly and replied:
– The wolf you feed always wins.

Know it and don't do it

The young man came to the sage with a request to accept him as a student.
– Can you lie? - asked the sage.
- Of course not!
- What about stealing?
- No.
- What about killing?
- No…
“Then go and find out all this,” exclaimed the sage, “but once you know, don’t do it!”

Black dot

One day the sage gathered his students and showed them an ordinary piece of paper on which he drew a small black dot. He asked them:
-What do you see?
Everyone answered in unison that it was a black dot. The answer was not correct. The sage said:
– Don’t you see this white sheet of paper - it’s so huge, bigger than this black dot! This is how it is in life - the first thing we see in people is something bad, although there is much more good. And only a few see the “white sheet of paper” right away.

Parables about happiness

Wherever a person is born, whoever he is, whatever he does, in essence, he does one thing - seeks happiness. This inner search continues from birth to death, even if it is not always realized. And on this path a person faces a lot of questions. What is happiness? Is it possible to be happy without having anything? Is it possible to get happiness ready-made or do you need to create it yourself?
The idea of happiness is as individual as DNA or fingerprints. For some people and the whole world is not enough to feel at least satisfied. For others, a little is enough - a ray of sunshine, a friendly smile. It seems that there can be no agreement between people regarding this ethical category. And yet, in different parables about happiness, common ground is found.

A piece of clay

God molded man from clay. He sculpted an earth, a house, animals and birds for man. And he was left with an unused piece of clay.
- What else should you make? - God asked.
“Make me happy,” the man asked.
God did not answer, thought for a moment and put the remaining piece of clay in the man’s palm.

Money can not buy happiness

The student asked the Master:
– How true are the words that money does not buy happiness?
The master replied that they were completely correct.
- It's easy to prove. For money can buy a bed, but not sleep; food - but not appetite; medicines - but not health; servants - but not friends; women - but not love; home - but not home; entertainment - but not joy; teachers - but not the mind. And what is named does not exhaust the list.

Khoja Nasreddin and the traveler

One day Nasreddin met a gloomy man wandering along the road to the city.
- What happened to you? – Khoja Nasreddin asked the traveler.
The man showed him a tattered travel bag and said plaintively:
- Oh, I'm unhappy! Everything I own in the infinitely vast world will barely fill this pitiful, worthless bag!
“Your affairs are bad,” Nasreddin sympathized, snatched the bag from the traveler’s hands and ran away.
And the traveler continued on his way, shedding tears. Meanwhile, Nasreddin ran ahead and placed the bag right in the middle of the road. The traveler saw his bag lying on the way, laughed with joy and cried out:
- Oh, what happiness! And I thought I had lost everything!
“It’s easy to make a person happy by teaching him to appreciate what he has,” thought Khoja Nasreddin, watching the traveler from the bushes.

Wise parables about morality

The words “morality” and “morality” in Russian have different connotations. Morality is rather a social attitude. Morality is internal, personal. However, the basic principles of morality and ethics are largely the same.
Wise parables easily, but not superficially, touch upon these basic principles: the attitude of man to man, dignity and baseness, attitude towards the Motherland. Issues of the relationship between man and society are often embodied in parable form.

Bucket of apples

A man bought himself a new house - large, beautiful - and a garden with fruit trees near the house. And nearby, in an old house, there lived an envious neighbor who constantly tried to ruin his mood: either he would throw garbage under the gate, or he would do some other nasty things.
One day a man woke up in good mood, went out onto the porch, and there was a bucket of slop. The man took a bucket, poured out the slop, cleaned the bucket until it shined, collected the largest, ripest and most delicious apples into it and went to his neighbor. The neighbor opens the door in the hope of a scandal, and the man handed him a bucket of apples and said:
- He who is rich in what, shares it!

Low and worthy

One padishah sent the sage three identical bronze figurines and ordered him to convey:
“Let him decide which of the three people whose statues we are sending is worthy, who is so-so and who is low.”
No one could find any difference between the three figurines. But the sage noticed holes in his ears. He took a thin flexible stick and stuck it into the ear of the first figurine. The stick came out through the mouth. The second figurine's wand came out through the other ear. The third figurine has a wand stuck somewhere inside.
“A person who divulges everything he hears is certainly low,” the sage reasoned. - Anyone whose secret goes in one ear and comes out through the other is a so-so person. The truly noble one is the one who keeps all secrets within himself.
This is what the sage decided and made corresponding inscriptions on all the figurines.

Change your voice

The dove saw an owl in the grove and asked:
-Where are you from, owl?
– I lived in the east, and now I’m flying to the west.
So the owl answered and began to hoot and laugh angrily. The dove asked again:
– Why did you leave your home and fly to foreign lands?
- Because in the east they don’t like me because I have a nasty voice.
“It was in vain that you left your native land,” said the dove. “You don’t need to change the land, but your voice.” In the West, just like in the East, they do not tolerate evil hooting.

About parents

The attitude towards parents is a moral task that was solved long ago by humanity. Biblical legends about Ham, gospel commandments, numerous proverbs, and fairy tales fully reflect people’s ideas about the relationship between fathers and children. And yet, there are so many contradictions between parents and children that to modern man From time to time it is useful to remind about this.
The constant relevance of the topic “Parents and Children” gives rise to more and more new parables. Modern authors, following in the footsteps of their predecessors, find new words and metaphors to again touch on this issue.

Feeder

Once upon a time there lived an old man. His eyes were blinded, his hearing was dull, and his knees trembled. He could hardly hold a spoon in his hands, he would spill soup, and sometimes food would fall out of his mouth.
The son and his wife looked at him with disgust and during meals began to sit the old man in a corner behind the stove, and the food was served to him in an old saucer. One day the old man's hands were shaking so much that he could not hold the saucer of food. It fell to the floor and broke. Then the young daughter-in-law began to scold the old man, and the son made a wooden feeder for his father. Now the old man had to eat from it.
One day, when the parents were sitting at the table, their little son entered the room with a piece of wood in his hands.
- What do you want to do? - asked the father.
“A wooden feeder,” answered the baby. – When I grow up, dad and mom will eat from it.

Eagle and eaglet

An old eagle flew over the abyss. He carried his son on his back. The eaglet was still too small and could not make it this way. Flying over the abyss, the chick said:
- Father! Now you carry me across the abyss on your back, and when I become big and strong, I will carry you.
“No, son,” the old eagle answered sadly. - When you grow up, you will carry your son.

Suspension bridge

On the way between two high-mountain villages there was a deep gorge. The residents of these villages built a suspension bridge over it. People walked on its wooden planks, and two cables served as railings. People were so used to walking across this bridge that they didn’t have to hold on to these railings, and even children fearlessly ran across the gorge on the planks.
But one day the ropes and railings disappeared somewhere. Early in the morning people approached the bridge, but no one could take a single step on it. While there were cables, it was possible not to hold on to them, but without them the bridge turned out to be impregnable.
This is what happens with our parents. While they are alive, it seems to us that we can do without them, but as soon as we lose them, life immediately begins to seem very difficult.

Everyday parables

Everyday parables are a special category of texts. In a person’s life, every moment a situation of choice arises. What role can seemingly insignificant little things, unnoticed little meanness, stupid provocations, absurd doubts play in fate? Proverbs answer this question clearly: huge.
For a parable, nothing is insignificant or unimportant. She firmly remembers that “the flutter of a butterfly’s wing echoes with thunder in distant worlds.” But the parable does not leave a person alone with the inexorable law of retribution. She always leaves the opportunity for the fallen to rise and continue on their way.

All in your hands

In a Chinese village there lived a sage. People came to him from everywhere with their problems and illnesses, and no one left without receiving help. For this they loved and respected him.
Only one person said: “People! Who do you worship? After all, he is a charlatan and a fraudster!” One day he gathered a crowd around him and said:
- Today I will prove to you that I was right. Let's go to your sage, I will catch a butterfly, and when he comes out onto the porch of his house, I will ask: “Guess what I have in my hand?” He will say: “Butterfly,” because anyway, one of you will let it slip. And then I’ll ask: “Is she alive or dead?” If he says that he is alive, I will squeeze his hand, and if he is dead, then I will release the butterfly to freedom. In any case, your sage will be made a fool!
When they came to the house of the sage, and he came out to meet them, the envious man asked his first question:
“Butterfly,” answered the sage.
- Is she alive or dead?
The old man, smiling into his beard, said:
- Everything is in your hands, man.

Bat

A long time ago, a war broke out between animals and birds. The hardest thing was for the old Bat. After all, she was both an animal and a bird at the same time. And therefore she could not decide for herself who it would be more profitable for her to join. But then she decided to cheat. If the birds prevail over the animals, then she will support the birds. Otherwise, she will quickly go over to the animals. So she did.
But when everyone noticed how she was behaving, they immediately suggested that she not run from one to the other, but choose one side once and for all. Then old Bat said:
- No! I'll stay in the middle.
- Fine! - said both sides.
The battle began and the old Bat, caught in the middle of the battle, was crushed and died.
This is why he who tries to sit between two stools will always find himself on the rotten part of the rope that hangs over the jaws of death.

A fall

One student asked his Sufi mentor:
- Teacher, what would you say if you found out about my fall?
- Get up!
- And next time?
- Get up again!
– And how long can this continue – keep falling and rising?
- Fall and rise while you're alive! After all, those who fell and did not rise are dead.

Orthodox parables about life

Also Academician D.S. Likhachev noted that in Rus' the parable as a genre “grew” from the Bible. The Bible itself is littered with parables. It was this form of teaching the people that Solomon and Christ chose. Therefore, it is not surprising that with the advent of Christianity in Rus', the genre of parables took deep roots in our land.
Popular faith has always been far from formalism and “bookish” complexity. Therefore, the best Orthodox preachers constantly turned to allegory, where they generally transformed the key ideas of Christianity into a fairy-tale form. Sometimes Orthodox parables about life could be concentrated into one phrase-aphorism. In other cases - into a short story.

Humility is a feat

Once a woman came to the Optina hieroschemamonk Anatoly (Zertsalov) and asked him for a blessing for a spiritual feat: to live alone and fast, pray and sleep on bare boards without interference. The elder told her:
– You know, the evil one does not eat, does not drink and does not sleep, but everything lives in the abyss, because he has no humility. Submit in everything to the will of God - that’s your feat; humble yourself before everyone, reproach yourself for everything, bear illness and sorrow with gratitude - this is beyond any feats!

Your cross

One person thought that his life was very difficult. And one day he went to God, told about his misfortunes and asked Him:
– Can I choose a different cross for myself?
God looked at the man with a smile, led him into the storage room where there were crosses, and said:
- Choose.
A man walked around the storehouse for a long time, looking for the smallest and lightest cross, and finally found a small, small, light, light cross, approached God and said:
- Lord, can I take this one?
“It’s possible,” God answered. - This is your own.

About love with morals

Love moves worlds and human souls. It would be strange if the parables ignored the problems of relationships between men and women. And here the authors of the parables raise a great many questions. What is love? Is it possible to define it? Where does it come from and what destroys it? How to find it?
Parables also touch on narrower aspects. Everyday relations between husband and wife - it would seem that what could be more banal? But here too the parable finds food for thought. After all, it’s only in fairy tales that things end with a wedding crown. And the parable knows: this is just the beginning. And keeping love is no less important than finding it.

All or nothing

One man came to the sage and asked: “What is love?” The sage said: “Nothing.”
The man was very surprised and began to tell him that he had read many books that described how love can be different, sad and happy, eternal and fleeting.
Then the sage replied: “That’s it.”
The man again did not understand anything and asked: “How can I understand you? All or nothing?"
The sage smiled and said: “You yourself just answered your own question: nothing or everything. There can be no middle ground!”

Mind and Heart

One person argued that the mind on the street of love is blind, and that the main thing in love is the heart. As proof of this, he cited the story of a lover who swam many times across the Tigris River, bravely fighting the current, to see his beloved.
But one day he suddenly noticed a spot on her face. After this, while swimming across the Tigris, he thought: “My beloved is imperfect.” And at that very moment the love that held him on the waves weakened, in the middle of the river his strength left him, and he drowned.

Repair, don't throw away

An elderly couple who had lived together for over 50 years was asked:
- Probably, you have never had a fight in half a century?
“We were arguing,” the husband and wife answered.
– Maybe you never had any need, you had ideal relatives and a full house?
- No, everything is like everyone else.
– But you never wanted to separate?
– There were such thoughts.
– How did you manage to live together for so long?
– Apparently, we were born and raised in a time when it was customary to fix broken things and not throw them away.

Don't demand

The teacher learned that one of his students was persistently seeking someone's love.
“Don’t demand love, so you won’t get it,” said the teacher.
- But why?
- Tell me, what do you do when uninvited guests break into your door, when they knock, scream, demanding to open it, and tear out their hair from the fact that it is not opened for them?
“I lock it tighter.”
– Don’t break into the doors of other people’s hearts, as they will close even more tightly before you. Become a welcome guest and any heart will open to you. Take the example of a flower that does not chase bees, but by giving them nectar, attracts them to itself.

Short parables about insult

The outside world is a harsh environment that constantly pits people against each other, striking sparks. A situation of conflict, humiliation, or insult can unsettle a person for a long time. The parable comes to the rescue here too, playing a psychotherapeutic role.
How to react to an insult? Give vent to anger and respond to the insolent? What to choose – the Old Testament “an eye for an eye” or the Gospel “turn the other cheek”? It is curious that of the entire corpus of parables about insults, the Buddhist ones are the most popular today. The pre-Christian, but not Old Testament, approach seems most acceptable to our contemporaries.

Go your own way

One of the disciples asked Buddha:
– If someone insults or hits me, what should I do?
– If a dry branch falls from a tree and hits you, what will you do? – he asked in response:
- What will i do? “It’s a simple accident, a simple coincidence that I found myself under a tree when a branch fell from it,” said the student.
Then the Buddha remarked:
- So do the same. Someone was mad, angry and hit you. It's like a branch falling from a tree on your head. Don’t let this bother you, go on your way as if nothing happened.

Take it for yourself

One day, several people began to viciously insult Buddha. He listened silently, very calmly. And that's why they felt uneasy. One of these people addressed the Buddha:
– Don’t our words hurt you?!
“It’s up to you to decide whether to insult me or not,” replied the Buddha. – And mine is to accept your insults or not. I refuse to accept them. You can take them for yourself.

Socrates and the insolent

When some impudent person kicked Socrates, he endured it without saying a word. And when someone expressed surprise why Socrates ignored such a blatant insult, the philosopher remarked:
- If a donkey kicked me, would I really bring him to court?

About the meaning of life

Reflections on the meaning and purpose of existence belong to the category of so-called “damned questions”, and no one has a definite answer. However, deep existential fear - “Why am I living if I’m going to die anyway?” - torments every person. And of course, the genre of parable also touches on this issue.
Every nation has parables about the meaning of life. Most often it is defined as follows: the meaning of life is in life itself, in its endless reproduction and development through subsequent generations. The brevity of everyone's existence individual person viewed philosophically. Perhaps the most allegorical and transparent parable in this category was invented by the American Indians.

Stone and bamboo

They say that one day a stone and a bamboo had a heated argument. Each of them wanted a person's life to be similar to his own.
The stone said:
– A person’s life should be the same as mine. Then he will live forever.
Bamboo replied:
- No, no, a person’s life should be like mine. I die, but am immediately born again.
The stone objected:
- No, it’s better to be different. Let better person will be like me. I do not bow to the wind or the rain. Neither water, nor heat, nor cold can harm me. My life is endless. For me there is no pain, no care. This is how a person's life should be.
Bamboo insisted:
- No. A person's life should be like mine. I die, it is true, but I am reborn in my sons. Isn't that right? Look around me - my sons are everywhere. And they too will have their own sons, and all will have smooth and white skin.
The stone was unable to answer this. Bamboo won the argument. This is why human life is like the life of bamboo.

Good afternoon, my dear friends!

Let's start our conversation about happiness, about how success and happiness are connected, as always, with parables.

A parable about happiness.

The sage walked along the road, enjoying the beauty of the world around him, admiring the sunny day, flowering fields, colorful butterflies. An unhappy man, who clearly had no time for the joys of the world, wandered towards him, hunched over from an unbearable burden.

“For what purpose are you dooming yourself to unbearable suffering? Why do you need this?” the sage turned to him.

“For the happiness of my children and grandchildren, I suffer. All his life, my great-grandfather suffered so that my grandfather would be happy, and my grandfather suffered, caring for happiness for my father. So that happiness would not bypass my home, my father suffered. And I will endure all the suffering for the sake of the happiness of my children and grandchildren,” he heard in response.

“Was there anyone in your family who was happy?”

“No, but my children and grandchildren will certainly become happy!”

“An illiterate person cannot teach reading, and a mole will never educate an eagle! To understand how to make children and grandchildren happy, you must first learn to be happy yourself,” said the sage.

A parable about family happiness.

Two families lived nearby in a small town. In one of them there are eternal quarrels and discord, and in the other happiness and mutual understanding have settled. How envious the obstinate housewife was that everything was so fine in her neighbor’s house. One day she says to her husband: “Go to the neighbors, see why everything is so quiet and smooth for them.”

There was nothing to do, the man went to the neighbors, quietly entered the house and hid in a secluded corner. He watches with interest what is happening in the house. And the hostess, singing cheerfully, puts the house in order and she does everything cleverly.

And then I started cleaning the expensive vase from dust, but the phone rang at the wrong time. The woman got distracted and put the vase on the very edge of the table. At this time, her husband also needed something in the room. He caught the vase and dropped it on the floor.

“Lord, what’s going to happen now,” thought the hidden neighbor.

And the woman, sighing with regret, said to her husband: “I’m sorry, dear, I placed the vase so carelessly. It's my fault".

“What are you doing, dear? It was I who didn’t notice the vase in a hurry, and it’s my fault. But other than that, the main thing is that greater misfortune does not come to us.”

...How painful it was for my neighbor to listen to all this. His heart sank. I was very upset and went home quietly.

“And why did you walk there for so long? What did you manage to spy on?” — his wife met him on the threshold.

"Managed!"

“So how are they doing?”

“Everyone is to blame for them, but with us everyone is always right.”

A parable about the happy and the unhappy.

There lived one person in the world. He was very rich and famous. It would seem that success and happiness are his constant companions. He had everything he could dream of, everything he liked and fell in love with: dozens of cars and even a plane, but no one even counted the rest. But at the same time he was completely unhappy. Even when he took to the skies on an airplane, he felt nothing but sadness.

All his wishes were fulfilled instantly, and he no longer had them. There was not a single obstacle on his way that would interfere with success and happiness, but they were absent. A rich courtyard, exquisite cuisine, amazing attractions, travel - nothing amused him. He himself was unable to explain the cause of his suffering. Sadness and discontent were his constant companions.

And he decided to commit suicide, for which he went to the river. And on the shore the beggar was catching fish for himself in order to figure out a simple dinner. He rejoices at the caught fish like a piece of gold. All glows with happiness.

“And why are you so happy?” - asked the unfortunate man.

“Why, the evening is so warm, the sunset is beautiful and my dinner will be excellent.”

“Is this really enough to be so happy and satisfied with your life?”

“Yes, today success accompanies me and I’m just happy!” - answered the beggar.

“But you don’t have anything.”

“Oh, yes, I’m the richest in this world,” the beggar looked at the rich man with bewilderment.

“I have everything, but what is your wealth if you don’t even have shoes?”

The beggar smiled slyly: “I have the main thing: my desires, goals, the future to which I am directed, an endless number of problems that need to be overcome. I'm solving the most exciting crossword puzzle - my own life. What could be more interesting? Today I am the luckiest person on this earth, I have a wonderful dinner. And I rejoice, I’m happy!”

The rich man thought for a long time in the dark night when he returned home. What he understood is not known, but the next day he disappeared. They couldn’t find him and he never showed up again. Obviously he went in search of success and happiness, to a place where there are problems, plans, goals, dreams. Into the world where desires appear.

Rejoice if there are still desires in your life that are not fulfilled, problems that have to be dealt with, tasks that await your solution. When all this is gone, the joy of achievement will disappear. An endless night will come in which success and happiness cannot be considered.

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When one of founders of The Beatles John Lennon was little, his mother told him that happiness is the most important thing in life. IN primary school The children were given the task of telling what they want to be when they grow up. John wrote "Happy." The teachers said: “You don’t understand the task!” The future great musician replied: “You don’t understand life!”

And he was right. Every person's dream is to be happy. But what kind of feeling is this, and how to feel and preserve it?

Let's try to find answers to questions using parables about happiness. After all, these short and wise stories answer the most important questions in life. And parables can also explain what happiness is.

Parables about happiness

The best selection of life stories.

Bring me happiness

God molded a man from clay, and he was left with an unused piece.
- What else do you need to make? - asked God.
“Make me happy,” the man asked.
God did not answer anything, and only placed the remaining piece of clay in the man’s palm.

Happiness in a hole

Happiness wandered around the world, and granted wishes to everyone who met on its way. One day, Happiness carelessly fell into a hole and could not get out of there. People came to the pit and made their wishes, and Happiness fulfilled them. No one was in a hurry to help Happiness get up.
And then a young guy approached the pit. He looked at Happiness, but did not demand anything, but asked: “What do you want, Happiness?”
“Get out of here,” answered Happiness.
The guy helped him get out and went his way. And Happiness... Happiness ran after him.

Can you buy happiness?

One day a woman had a dream that the Lord God was standing behind the store counter.
- God! It's you? - she exclaimed with joy.
“Yes, it’s me,” God answered.
- What can I buy from you? - the woman asked.
“You can buy everything from me,” came the answer.
- In that case, please give me happiness.
God smiled benevolently and went into the utility room to get the ordered goods. After a while he returned with a small paper box.
- And it's all?! - exclaimed the surprised and disappointed woman.
“Yes, that’s all,” God answered. “Didn’t you know that my store only sells seeds?”

A parable about the science of being happy

Once a sage was walking along the road, admiring the beauty of the world and enjoying life. Suddenly he noticed an unfortunate man hunched over under an unbearable burden.
- Why do you condemn yourself to such suffering? - asked the sage.
“I suffer for the happiness of my children and grandchildren,” the man answered. - My great-grandfather suffered all his life for the happiness of my grandfather, my grandfather suffered for the happiness of my father, my father suffered for my happiness, and I will suffer all my life, only so that my children and grandchildren become happy.
- Was anyone happy in your family? - asked the sage.
- No, but my children and grandchildren will definitely be happy! - answered the unhappy man.
- An illiterate person cannot teach you to read, and a mole cannot raise an eagle! - said the sage. - First learn to be happy yourself, then you will understand how to make your children and grandchildren happy!

Three ideas about happiness

Once upon a time there lived three friends in this world, and each dreamed of his own happiness. But they imagined happiness differently. The first thought that happiness was wealth, the second thought talent was happiness, and the third believed that happiness was family.
Whether long or short, they all achieved their happiness. However, everything has an end. Before the hour of death, friends gathered to take stock. The first one said:
- I was rich, but I didn’t experience happiness. I am dying a miser and a misanthrope.
The second one said:
- I was talented, but I didn’t experience happiness. I am leaving this life tormented by loneliness.
The third said:
- And I learned what happiness is. I leave, treated kindly by my loved ones, and leave the most valuable thing to the earth - new people.

Parable about hidden happiness

One day the gods gathered and decided to have some fun. One of them said:
- Let's take something away from people?
After much thought, another exclaimed:
- I know! Let's take away their happiness! The only problem is where to hide it so that they don’t find it.
The first one said:
- Let's hide it at the top of the highest mountain in the world!
“No, remember that they have a lot of strength, someone will be able to climb and find, and if one finds, everyone else will immediately know where happiness is,” answered the other.
Then someone came up with a new proposal:
- Let's hide it at the bottom of the sea!
They answered him:
- No, don’t forget that they are curious, someone will be able to design a device for underwater diving, and then they will definitely find happiness.
“Let’s hide it on another planet, away from Earth,” someone else suggested.
“No,” they rejected his proposal, “remember that we gave them enough intelligence, someday they will come up with a ship to travel around the worlds, and discover this planet, and then everyone will find happiness.” The oldest god, who remained silent throughout the conversation and only listened attentively to the speakers, said:
“I think I know where to hide happiness so that they never find it.”
Everyone turned to him, intrigued, and asked:
- Where?
“We’ll hide it inside them, they’ll be so busy looking for it outside that it won’t even occur to them to look for it inside themselves.”
All the gods agreed, and since then people spend their whole lives in search of happiness, not knowing that it is hidden in themselves.

Parable about happy people

Once upon a time, a group of former study comrades, and now highly qualified professionals, successful, respected and rich people, gathered to visit their old favorite professor. They came to his house, and very soon the conversation turned to the incessant stress that both work and modern world, and life in general.
The professor offered coffee to all his students and, having received consent, retired to the kitchen. He returned with a large coffee pot, next to which there were surprisingly different coffee cups on a tray. The cups were multi-colored and of different sizes. Among this company there were expensive porcelain, and ordinary ceramic, and simply clay, and glass, and plastic. They differed in shape, decor, comfort of handles... The professor placed a coffee pot in the middle of the table and suggested that everyone choose the cup they liked and fill it with freshly brewed coffee. When the cups were sorted and the coffee was poured, the professor cleared his throat a little and quietly, with incredible warm goodwill, addressed his guests:
– Did you notice that the most beautiful and expensive cups were sold out first? Are the simplest and cheapest ones left? This is normal, because everyone wants the best for themselves. In fact, this is in most cases the cause of the stress you mentioned. Let me continue: the cup did not add to the taste or quality of the coffee. The cup only masks or hides what we are drinking. You wanted coffee, not a cup, but instinctively you looked for the better one.
Life is coffee. Work, money, social status– they are simply cups that give shape and contain life in something. And the type of cup does not determine or change the quality of the life we lead. On the contrary, if we concentrate only on the cup, we stop enjoying coffee. Enjoy your coffee!
The most happy people not those who have the best, but those who do the best with what they have. Remember.

A parable about happiness and unhappiness

One Chinese peasant lived his whole life in labor, did not gain any wealth, but gained wisdom. He worked the land with his son from morning to night. One day the son said to his father:
“Father, we have a misfortune, our horse has gone away.”
- Why do you call it misfortune? - asked the father. - Let's see what time will tell.
A few days later the horse returned and brought a horse with it.
- Father, what happiness! Our horse returned and brought a horse with him to boot.
- Why do you call it happiness? - asked the father, - Let's see what time will show.
After some time, the young man wanted to saddle the horse. The horse, not accustomed to carrying a rider, reared up and threw off its rider. The young man broke his leg.
- Father, what a misfortune! I broke my leg.
- Why do you call it misfortune? – the father asked calmly. - Let's see what time will tell.
The young man did not share his father’s philosophy, and therefore politely remained silent and jumped on one leg towards the bed.
A few days later, the emperor's messengers arrived in the village with an order to take all capable young people to war. They came to the house of an old peasant, saw that his son could not move, and left the house.
Only then did the young man understand that one can never be absolutely sure of what is happiness and what is unhappiness.
You always have to wait and see what time says about what is good and what is bad.
Life works like this: what seemed bad turns into good and vice versa. It is best not to rush to conclusions, but to give time the opportunity to call things by their proper names. It's better to wait at least until tomorrow. In any case, everything that happens to us carries a positive beginning for our life experience.

Happiness is the way

We expect life to get better when we turn 18, when we get married, when we get the best place work when we have a child, a second...
Then we feel tired because our children are growing slowly, and we think that when they grow up, we will feel happy. When they become more independent and go through adolescence, we complain that they are hard to get along with, and once they get through this period, it will become easier.
Then we say that our life will be better when we finally buy a bigger house and a better car, we can go on vacation, we retire...
The truth is that there is no better moment to feel happy. If not now, then when?
It seems that life is about to begin, real life! But there is always one problem along the way, one unfinished business, one outstanding debt that needs to be addressed first; and after this life will begin. And if we look closely, we will see that these problems are endless. Of these, in fact, life consists.
This helps us see that there is no path to happiness, happiness is the path. We must cherish every moment, especially when we share it with someone dear, and remember that time waits for no one.
Don't wait until school ends or college starts, when you lose five pounds, when you have children, when children go to school, get married, get divorced, New Year, spring, fall or winter, next Friday, Saturday or Sunday, or the moment you die to be happy.
Happiness is a path, not a destiny.
Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, dance like no one is watching.

A parable about the search for happiness

It was a long time ago when the Lord created the earth, trees, animals and people. Man became the ruler over them all, but when he was expelled from paradise and became unhappy, he asked the animals to bring him happiness.
“Okay,” said the animals, accustomed to obeying humans. And they went around the world in search of human happiness. They searched for a long time, but never found his happiness, because they didn’t even know what it looked like. And so they decided to bring what made them happy. The fish brought fins, tail, gills and scales. Tiger - strong paws, claws, fangs and nose. Eagle - wings, feathers, strong beak and a keen eye. But none of this made the person happy. And then the animals told him that he should go seek his own happiness.
Since then, every person walks the earth and seeks his own happiness, but few people think of looking for it in themselves.

The big dog, seeing the puppy chasing its tail, asked:
- Why are you chasing your tail like that?
“I studied philosophy,” answered the puppy, “I solved the problems of the universe that no dog had solved before me; I learned that the best thing for a dog is happiness and that my happiness is in the tail, so I chase him, and when I catch him, he will be mine.
“Son,” said the dog, “I was also interested in world problems and formed my own opinion about it.” I also realized that happiness is wonderful for a dog and that my happiness is in the tail, but I noticed that wherever I go, no matter what I do, he follows me.

In one small country, in a small, provincial town, where everyone knows each other and there are no secrets, where joys are common, and misfortunes shared among everyone no longer seem like misfortunes, one boy was born in ancient times, who proved that there is no place makes a person beautiful, and that, on the contrary, there are people who can not only decorate any place and time with themselves, they can remain in people’s memory forever. This is how this ordinary boy turned out to be.

The only extraordinary thing about him was that very early he learned not only to hear and see. He knew how to absorb everything he heard and saw, he knew how to understand everything and fearlessly seek answers to questions that were missing and incomprehensible to him. Hidden within the curious boy was a tireless seeker of Truth. He wanted to know more, more, even more... Everything! Having learned one thing, he immediately rushed in search of something new, even more interesting and incomprehensible.

When the boy was one year old, residents of the town gathered at his parents’ house to congratulate the boy on his first anniversary. Everyone gave him a hand-written drawing with one, only wish. Everyone wished the boy Happiness, and accompanied their wish with their own image of Happiness. And all these images were different from each other, and there were exactly as many of them as there were inhabitants in the city.

The boy grew up and never parted with his collection of ideas about Happiness. He couldn’t understand what “Happiness” was?..

Why did everyone want him, but portrayed him differently.

When he grew up, he left hometown and dedicated everything free time conversations with people, and asked them all the same question:

What is happiness?

People laughed or became sad, describing happiness, or the lack thereof, and just like in the drawings, each person had his own Happiness. But it never coincided even between two people, regardless of whether they were strangers or the closest. Everyone described happiness in their own way. For men it was work, profession, friends, money, cars, yachts, travel. For boys and girls - love, fun, entertainment. For women - family, children, husband, wealth, clothes, jewelry, beauty. But the overall picture did not work out. He tried to assemble it from separate parts, like a mosaic, but no - it was not a whole picture. It resembled a blanket of shreds devoid of life.

The boy became a youth, then a man, and devoted his entire life to the search for Happiness. Sometimes it seemed to him that he had achieved it, but as soon as he made one awkward move or admitted one wrong thought, his picture of Happiness again shattered into thousands of fragments, plunging him into sadness. It seemed that he would never get an answer to the question of his life.

He survived everything that could be experienced. He loved and was loved, he had children and gave them a decent upbringing, he worked and traveled, but he always conscientiously and tirelessly searched for an answer to his question... In vain!

And one day he prayed to God:

God! I am happy with everything I have, I don’t ask you for anything, but answer me, what is “Happiness”? All the residents of my hometown wished it to me when I turned one year old. So have I ever owned one? Did I have it?

He did not notice how, from prayer, he fell into a deep sleep and plunged into oblivion... And there, in the very depths of oblivion, he heard:

Become a Master and sculpt Happiness yourself, then you will know what it is.

He became a Master, he sculpted Happiness and went to compare it with people to hear what they would tell him. But again there was no agreement. There were so many opinions, so many people. And the Master continued to improve his beautiful, unearthly beauty vase, but still there were people who suggested some new additions, new details, and completion did not come.

The master grew old, his time had come to end his earthly life, but there was still no answer. But at the last moment, his gaze once again lingered on the perfection he had created, and a ray of sun reflected on the ideal surface suddenly revealed to him the secret of happiness as if by inspiration.

There is no recipe or picture of happiness for everyone. Each Person is a Great Master, capable of creating his own crystal, gold, or any other wonderful happiness, giving it the outlines hidden in his own Soul and corresponding to it. Your Happiness is a mirror reflection of your Soul.

A beautiful legend-parable from Paulo Coelho about happiness and the three pillars of the “three sisters” in national park Blue Mountains in Australia: There is an Australian legend about a shaman who was walking with his three sisters when they met the most famous warrior of the time. - I want to marry one of these beautiful girls, - said the warrior. “If one of them gets married, the other two will suffer,” said the shaman. - I'm looking for a tribe that allows a man to have three wives. Behind …