Happiness Is from Within
Written by Fiona Hehir Illustrated by Mary Walker
Happiness Is from Within Written by Fiona Hehir Illustrated by Mary Walker
There once was a girl named Mikayla...
...who was made of many questions.
She liked to figure things out on her own such as puzzles,
where butterflies come from, and what happens to the sun when the moon comes out.
Mikayla loved asking questions because she got to see new things every day.
One day Mikayla decided she wanted to know how things become happy, so she went to find out.
On her journey, she talked to the beautiful flowers that her mother had planted outside her front door.
She asked them, “How do you become happy?”
The flowers smiled back at her and said, “We just are!�
But Mikayla was not convinced so she asked her puppy the same thing.
She said, “Lexie, how do you become happy?”
Lexie wagged her tail and barked back, “I just am!�
But again, Mikalya did not believe it.
She looked up at the clouds and wondered how they were always so happy. She noticed that the sun was always smiling.
She saw that the trees were always dancing...
...and she listened to the birds as they sang their happy tunes.
Now Mikayla was very confused.
So, she went to ask her mom. “Mom, if you cannot see anything making you happy then how do you become happy?�
Her mom replied, “Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there!”
Mikayla looked at her mother with big bright eyes.
“I’ve got it!” she screams.
She ran outside and pointed at the grass, “Look! The grass is happy!�
Then she hugged the big oak tree outside her window and said, “Now I understand!�
“Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.”
And then Mikayla understood. Not everything you feel can be given to you.
Sometimes it must just be felt.
Moral of the story: Happiness is found inside a person and cannot always be given to someone.
This book was printed in 2015 at St. Norbert College as a collaboration project between design and education students. It was written by Fiona Hehir. It was made using Adobe Indesign. All illustrations were done with pencil, marker, and pen by hand and then scanned and edited with Photoshop by Mary Walker.