The Meaning of a Three-Leaf Clover

Happy Day Healing Music

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
I was told that I would need to have one of my breasts removed.

Until then, I had never really given much thought to my breasts.
They had always been a part of me, something I simply took for granted. I thought of them as something every woman had, so it had never occurred to me how precious they were.
I may have wished they were a little bigger, but I don’t think I had ever truly appreciated them just as they were.

But the moment I learned I would lose one of them, I was suddenly overwhelmed with regret.

Why hadn’t I realized how precious it was while it was still there?
Why had I never once thought to be grateful for it?
I had always thought it would be there.
With a heart full of regret, I underwent surgery to have one breast removed.

After the surgery, as I struggled with the ongoing side effects of medication, the way I looked at life began to change.

I realized how little we really know about tomorrow.
Here I was, going about my day, breathing as I always had,
yet there was no guarantee that tomorrow would come.
Life could end just like that.

I began to question how I wanted to live,
what I had been holding on to all these years,
and what life really meant to me.

Around that time, someone I knew said something to me.

“Did you know that a three-leaf clover symbolizes happiness, while a four-leaf clover symbolizes good luck?”

Those words touched me more deeply than I could have imagined.

Three-leaf clovers are everywhere.
All you have to do is put on your shoes and step outside, and you’ll find them growing almost anywhere.
They’re so common that most people walk right past them without a second thought.

And yet, surrounded by all those three-leaf clovers,
we can spend ages searching for a single four-leaf clover, carefully scanning the grass, hoping to spot one.
And if we happen to find one, the joy is hard to put into words.

That was when it hit me.

If a three-leaf clover represents happiness,
then all this time, I had been overlooking the happiness growing all around me,
searching instead for a little bit of luck I might never find.

I began to look back on my life.

All the things I had enjoyed without a second thought,
all the things I had taken so completely for granted that I hadn’t even recognized them as happiness,
had been sources of happiness all along.

Being able to breathe on my own.
Being here for another day.
Being able to walk on my own two feet.
Hearing the voices of the people I love.

None of it had ever been guaranteed.

Why hadn’t I recognized all that happiness for what it was?
Why had I spent so much time focusing on what was missing, what I didn’t have, or what seemed more special?

I cried. A lot.

Then one day, another thought came to me.

Maybe luck is just one of the many forms happiness can take.

Of course, it’s wonderful when good luck comes our way.
But even without it, happiness is still all around us.

Only then did I begin to understand.

Instead of focusing only on what I was losing,
I wanted to look at everything I still had.

Rather than letting the sadness of losing one breast overshadow everything else, I wanted to appreciate all the happiness that remained in my life.

None of it should ever have been taken for granted.
And even in the midst of sadness, there could still be happiness.

That was how my own philosophy of life began to take shape.

The Way to Happiness.

It wasn’t some distant road I had yet to discover.
It wasn’t a destination I needed to reach someday.

It was the very path I was already walking.

Happiness can be found in even the smallest moments.
Even the most ordinary day can be filled with happiness.

If I simply lift my eyes,
if I look at things a little differently,
I can find happiness anywhere.

Just like a three-leaf clover.

Capturing Life’s Little Joys

I started wondering how I could capture those small, everyday moments of happiness. That’s how I came to create a video called Happy Day.

I brought together beautiful oil paintings depicting the simple, heartwarming moments we experience in everyday life, then added music to accompany them.

I wanted to listen to this music, watch these scenes, and spend each day appreciating the little joys all around me.

And just like the three-leaf clovers we can find almost anywhere if we only take a moment to look, I wanted to fill each day with happiness.

If this video can somehow share that feeling with others—my simple wish to make each day a little more beautiful with happiness—that alone would make me truly happy.

Work Information

Work Title: Happy Day Healing Music
Essay Title: The Meaning of a Three-Leaf Clover
Artist: Find Happy Way Music
Created by: Glory Kim
Work Type: Healing Music Video Essay

Find Happy Way Music shares the happiness that’s been around us all along through music, words, and visual storytelling.

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