Page 37 - Three of Happiness

COSMOS EXPLAINS THE TREE OF HAPPINESS PART TWO
“The Tree of Happiness” story continues with the Queen carrying out the tasks assigned to her by the Elf. She builds a monument, which goes faster than the road building because now the workers are trained. Like most skills, whether math, reading or coping, the mastery of one skill makes the next one in the sequence easier.
In our story, this road and monument building also allows the people of the kingdom to have jobs and make money. This in turn makes some of the other “Tasks” easier in the future.
Too often you may focus on your immediate difficulties or frustrations. Every time you take on something difficult and finish it, you are doing more than just completing that specific task. You are teaching yourself skills that you will use with other tasks throughout your life.
Next, the Queen goes out into the world to find the 1,000 best books. She has to talk to many people and read many books. She is troubled by what the Wizard told her long ago: “You will never be smart because you were born under the wrong stars.”
She is plagued by what her Advisors told her, “This book stuff is foolish and no task for a Queen.” Many times she thought about quitting but she told herself, “Look how far you have come. You have built the road and the monument. You have gathered many of the books already so why quit now? If you quit, you will never get into the Tree of Happiness.
”She continued with her task until she got what she thought to be the 1,000 best books. She then returned to her kingdom and put them in the monument so they would be available to everyone in the Kingdom. The Queen was able to keep herself motivated by focusing on how much she had accomplished, not what was left to
be done.
This is an overlooked coping technique because it seems natural to look forward to our difficulties. It was the Queen’s, “Look how far you have come” thinking that helped her through these difficult times.
Life’s difficulties should not be underestimated or hidden from view. To obtain happiness in real life, depends on your willingness to endure and cope with hardship and difficulties. This is what the Queen did in the story and what you can do now.
Finally, she faced the Dragon. This part of the story has two lessons: First, how to raise an army (make friends) and second, what happens when you face the “Dragon” (your fears).
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