when shall we set sail for happiness?

ruskin was right. about the trees, that is. i looked this morning on my walk. and i have to say that i have never really paid attention to the shape of branches before quite like he described them. this is just one example of how alain de botton outlines concepts such as paying attention, beauty, contentment and happiness in his book "the art of travel". even this early in the reading calendar year, i predict it will be in my top three reads of 2012. the format of the book itself is genius; botton taking us to a geographic locale with a different guide (wordsworth, ruskin, van gogh...). he really emphasizes not just the "where" of travel, but the how and the why. we, for example, take ourselves with us wherever we go. so it is not necessarily the scenery which makes us happy but our ability to bring our whole interior landscape to any particular environment. i practised this. time: 2:17 on a rainy, rather ordinary friday afternoon. place: park a few blocks from school. walked in the rain. studied a line of trees. i think i'm ready to go somewhere because i realized i was content in that moment. if i could pick just one quotation to whet your appetite for this book it would be, "no changing of place at a hundred miles an hour will make us one whit stronger, happier or wiser. there was always more in the world than men could see, walked they ever so slowly; they will see it no better for going fast. the really precious things are thought and sight, not pace. it does a bullet no good to go fast; and a man, if he be truly man, no harm to go slow; for his glory is not at all in going, but in being" (p. 218). with this book, i have the distinct feeling that "finishing" reading the words is only the beginning of setting sail; that now i can really begin to think about what he's written and hope to embody the truths found on the pages no matter where in the world i might find myself.