Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Is it really that Simple?

This was sent to me today, it was one of those 'send this on and you will receive a miracle,' type things. I don't usually even read these let alone send them on but I happened to read this and thought it was relevant and wanted to post it.

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

'I love it,' he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

'Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait.'

'That doesn't have anything to do with it,' he replied.

'Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged .. it's how I arrange it in my mind. I already decided to love it. 'It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life

Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in.

So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!
Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank.
I am still depositing.' Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Unfortunately these 5 simple rules hang up a lot of people, including me so my goal today is to pick one of the 5 and make it work for me today.
I will check back later and confess how I did.

2 comments:

Little GrumpyAngel said...

Another beautiful post! I'm glad you read the e-mail and put it on your blog. Very edifying. Do you mind if I blog lift? I want to e-mail this to friends and family.

Heidi said...

I would agree that it could be really that simple, but it is probably like a muscle. At first it could be very difficult for some people but it will get easier and easier. Unless you are missing a chemical in your brain that won't allow you to be positive about things. In which case you have to have the meds THEN start working that "attitude" muscle. Some of the people here at my house are still struggling with that one. Studies show that some people are genetically born optimistic and some are born pessimisstic. Then, if you live in a house with a bunch of people who are the same, your genes are reinforced. This makes it pretty tough for some people. Thank goodness I was born with the optimistic gene! I just bring this up because you asked. (Remember? "Is it really that simple?" And I have a lot to say on the subject. As you can see.).