I’ve been thinking about a character in a novel I read a few years back. The character I’m thinking about was a prisoner in a Soviet work camp. Conditions in that concentration camp were absolutely horrendous and many inmates died due to the appalling conditions. The character I have been thinking about was awakened one morning at four o’clock, given a piece of bread and sent out to work in a warehouse. The man thought to himself, “I had better hold on to this piece of bread because I may need it through the night. At night I am so hungry that I cannot sleep and if I don’t sleep, I’ll never have the strength to endure tomorrow.” After working all day, the man fell exhausted into his bed and pulled the thin blanket he had been given up over his head to try to stay warm. He was famished. He thought of that piece of bread. Slowly he consumed each tiny morsel. As he savored the bread, he thought to himself, “What a good day this has been. I did not have to work out in the freezing wind and rain, but was permitted to work indoors. And now, when I am most hungry, I have these scraps of bread. Thank you, God, for blessing me so.” I don’t know about you, but I am not so sure that I would be able to see myself as being blessed locked up in a concentration camp slowly starving to death. Yet, the character in that novel has much to teach us. His attitude and his thoughtfulness illustrate the basic spiritual principle that happiness is not found on the outside. It is not found in external things or in particular people. Changing where you live or changing jobs, or even changing your appearance cannot necessarily make you happy. Many people assume that money, power, prestige and respectability will bring happiness. The same people who have assumed these things have found that none of those things ensures happiness. Happiness is, in a sense, an “inside job”. It is our inner “lights” or way of seeing that can determine whether or not we find happiness. Many well- meaning people have set out on very long journeys in search of happiness, only to discover that the path to happiness is a much shorter pilgrimage within. If you are looking for happiness, go within and learn how to see. Why not take some time right now to ask God to give you the grace to let go of the past?