From there to here, and here to there, funny things are

“From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.” — Dr. Seuss

In this childlike yet profound declaration, Dr. Seuss unveils a truth that has echoed through every age — that wonder and joy dwell not in distant lands, but in the simple act of seeing. Beneath the rhyme and rhythm lies an ancient wisdom: that the world, when viewed with an open heart, brims with miracles hidden in plain sight. “From there to here, and here to there,” he writes — a phrase that sounds playful, yet it speaks of the journey of life itself. It is a reminder that whether one stands in palaces or in the dust of the street, the world hums with funny things, moments of delight and absurdity that invite us to laugh, to marvel, and to live awake.

The ancients would have called this the art of noticing — the discipline of wonder. The philosopher Epicurus taught that happiness is found not in riches or fame, but in the small and the near: the rustle of leaves, the warmth of sunlight, the companionship of friends. So too does Dr. Seuss, in his child’s voice, proclaim the same eternal truth: that joy surrounds us, but only the seeing soul perceives it. The wise of every age have said it — the world is as you choose to behold it. To the weary, it is drudgery; to the innocent, it is enchantment. The difference lies not in the landscape, but in the eyes that gaze upon it.

There is a story told of Leonardo da Vinci, that great mind of the Renaissance. It is said that he would pause in the marketplace, watching the flight of birds, the motion of clouds, or the laughter of a child, and from these small spectacles, he drew inspiration for his art and inventions. Where others hurried past, he lingered. Where others saw the ordinary, he found revelation. In him lived the spirit that Dr. Seuss describes — the awareness that “funny things are everywhere.” Not funny in the sense of trivial, but in the sense of life’s delightful absurdity — the cosmic joke that creation itself is both fragile and marvelous.

To find the funny things is not to ignore sorrow, but to rise above it. The laughter of a child, the quirks of nature, the oddities of human behavior — all are antidotes to despair. The ancient Stoics believed that life must be faced with dignity, but also with humor. Even Marcus Aurelius, emperor and philosopher, who ruled over storms of war and plague, wrote in his Meditations that one must learn to smile at the ways of men — not with scorn, but with compassion. He knew, as Dr. Seuss reminds us, that laughter and perspective are shields against the weight of the world. To laugh, to notice, to delight — these are sacred acts.

“From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.” This line may sound like a child’s rhyme, but it carries the heartbeat of eternity. It tells us that every moment is alive with humor, every step is an invitation to see the divine hidden within the ridiculous. It is the wisdom of the fool and the philosopher alike — the awareness that life, for all its seriousness, is also play. The same spirit that animates the laughter of children also stirs the curiosity of scientists and the imagination of poets. The one who learns to find joy in the smallest things has learned the secret of contentment.

To live this way requires practice. One must slow down the hurried mind, soften the hardened heart, and look anew at what has become invisible through habit. Notice the way a cat chases its tail, or how rain plays music on the roof. See the pattern of the stars, the way strangers smile by accident, the comedy of your own mistakes. Each is a thread in the tapestry of joy. When Dr. Seuss wrote for children, he was also writing for the child buried inside every adult — the one who still remembers how to see the world as bright and strange and full of possibility.

So, my child, if the days feel heavy and the path seems dull, remember this teaching: look again. Seek the funny, the beautiful, the unexpected. Find delight not after the struggle, but within it. Laugh at life’s mischief, for laughter is a kind of prayer — a declaration that the soul is still alive, still free. For from there to here, and from here to there, the world offers endless wonders to those who look with eyes unclouded by worry. Let your days be filled with curiosity, your steps with laughter, and your heart with gratitude — for indeed, funny things are everywhere.