And we don't see the pattern as a whole; it's too complex, too vast for us to grasp.

About the best we can hope for is the optimistic detachment that lets us see that those birds are needed.

The squirrels in our attic, the ants at the picnic, the angry driver honking behind us, are all needed.

What can we learn from them?

Sometimes we begin to sound like a broken record when things go wrong, so certain that if the events and conditions of our lives were different, we'd be happy. 

It's an old and unfortunate habit that we look around outside ourselves for happiness. We can never be sure of it if we count on certain conditions to guarantee it.

However, we can always be sure of happiness if we carry it with us wherever we go.

The happiness habit can be developed, with practice, just as surely as good piano playing or accurate pitching. 

We can control our own thoughts. The decision to make them happy ones is ours to make.