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# The rewards of the unsought
- URL: https://www.chrismessina.me/blog/the-rewards-of-the-unsought/
- Published: 2007-01-12T07:15:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-25T03:42:28.000Z
- Author: Chris Messina
- Tags: Personal

I've just discovered that "[serendipity](http://wordie.org/words/serendipity?ref=chrismessina.me)" originates from a story of ["The Three Princes of Serendip"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FThree%5FPrinces%5Fof%5FSerendip?ref=chrismessina.me). I read ["The Pursuit of Emptiness"](http://www.eff.org/Misc/Publications/John%5FPerry%5FBarlow/HTML/The%5FPursuit%5Fof%5FEmptyness.html?ref=chrismessina.me) by John Perry Barlow the other day. In it, he suggests that the challenge is not to seek happiness but to open yourself to its arrival. In other words, **the challenge is not to seek, but to open yourself to arrival.** Is it [serendipitous](http://wordie.org/words/serendipitous?ref=chrismessina.me) that I should learn the meaning of the word by having recently stumbled upon an example which illustrates it perfectly only slightly prior to having the [origins](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=serendipity&ref=chrismessina.me) revealed to me? Perhaps.