Movie mogul Sam Goldwyn used to mangle the English language so badly that his mixed metaphors came to be known as Goldwynisms. Some of his classics are: ‘A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on,’ ‘Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is named William;’ ‘Don’t talk to me while I’m interrupting;’ and ‘I may not always be right, but I’m never wrong.’
It reminds me of that seeming contradiction Jesus made when he said, ‘If you want to find your life, you have to lose it.’ What he was saying was, the more we concentrate on our own happiness the less we find it. But the more we concentrate on making others happy, the more we do find it.
As someone said, ‘Happiness is like a butterfly. Pursue it and it will elude you. But turn to other things and you’ll find it softly sitting on your shoulder.’