I recently read Carl Richards’s personal finance book The Behavior Gap, in which I came across this quote that struck a chord with me:
When the Zen master Wu Li was asked what to do to achieve enlightenment, he responded, “Chop wood, carry water.”
Page 66, The Behavior Gap
When he was asked what to do when you have achieved enlightenment, he
responded, “Chop wood, carry water.”
Maybe happiness comes easiest when we are so busy working, taking care of
kids, shoveling snow, or cleaning the house that we forget to look for it.
That’s precisely how I derive my happiness: from boring and mundane tasks. So it felt reassuring to see that definition of happiness mentioned in a popular book!
The book also has a fantastic set of sketches, which you can check on the Sketch Store on the author’s website.
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