Happiness - A Cat "Tale"

I was not able to find an official copy of this story... but it went something like this...

An old alley cat spies a little kitten chasing its tail and asks, "What are you doing?"

The little kitten replies, "Well, I have just returned from Cat Philosophy school where I learned the two most important lessons that any cat can learn!"

"And what, my little friend, might those be?" the alley cat said with a grin.

"First, that the most important thing for a cat is Happiness and secondly, that Happiness is located in a cat's tail," said the kitten. The kitten continued, "So I surmised that if I chase my tail until I finally catch it, I will have Happiness forever!"

The old cat replied, "Well, I haven't had the same opportunities as you and I have not had a chance to go to Cat Philosophy school; I have simply wandered the alleys most of my life. But amazingly I have been able to come to the same conclusion as you! Happiness is in fact the most important thing for a cat and Happiness is indeed located in a cat's tail. The only difference between us is that I've discovered that if you go about your business, and do the things that are important to you, Happiness will follow after you wherever you go."

-Author Unknown

****I was able to find the original source! I happened to be reading Dr. Wayne Dyer's Your Erroneous Zones and the original story is included and cited:

A big cat saw a little cat chasing its tail and asked, "Why are you chasing your tail so?" Said the kitten, "I have learned that the best thing for a cat is happiness, and that happiness is my tail. Therefore, I am chasing it: and when I catch it, I shall have happiness."

Said the old cat, "My son, I too, have paid attention to the problems of the universe. I, too, have judged that happiness is in my tail. But, I have noticed that whenever I chase after it, it keeps running away from me, and when I go about my business, it just seems to come after me wherever I go."

As cited in Dr. Dyer's book:

C.L. James, "On Happiness," in To See a World in a Grain of Sand, by Caesar Johnson (Norwalk, Conn.: The C.R. Gibson Co., 1972.)

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