A journeyman plumber watching the ease with which the master plumber was threading a thick pipe - a continuous smooth easy arcing of the big thread cutting die back and forth as new threads were created. Every now and then the master would tell the journeyman to squirt a little cutting fluid on the pipe and forming threads.

Suddenly the journeyman realized that he was witnessing two unusual occasions - the master was doing work that was usually done by apprentices or journeymen, and he was doing it without the typical struggles of threading thick pipes - with extraordinary ease and smoothness. . "Why is it that you're threading this pipe?", he asked. "Isn't this work for our apprentice to be doing?"

"I enjoy doing it myself once in a while. It contributes to the quality of everything else I do." replied the master.

After pondering the answer for a few minutes, the journeyman said, " That seems so easy for you. I've never seen anyone do that so smoothly. You must have practiced that for a long time."

The master replied, "It's how you set it up. When you set your work up to be easy ahead of time, it gets to be that way when you do it."

"How do you set work up to be easy ahead of time?", asked the journeyman.

"By making your work be an expression of your self. Happiness is a smooth, even pipe thread.", answered the master.

And the threading die continued in it's smooth unbroken circles in the hands of the master.