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Happiness
The 92-year-old, petite,
well-poised and proud lady, who
is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair
fashionably coifed
and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved
to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed
away, making the move necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home,
she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she
maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description
of her tiny
room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window.
"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having
just been presented with a new puppy.
"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room ... just wait."
"That doesn't have anything to do with it," she 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
my mind. I've 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
Contributed
by
P.J. Ray
Defining
Moments
Archives
Copyright
© 2006, Jace Carlton. All International Rights Reserved.
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