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Very Good Advice
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 manoeuvered 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 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.
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
- Free your heart from hatred.
- Free your mind from worries.
- Live simply.
- Give more.
- Expect less.
No one can go back and make a brand new start. Anyone can start
from now and make a brand new ending. God didn't promise days
without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He
did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light
for the way.
Disappointments are like road bumps, they slow you down a bit
but you enjoy the smooth road afterwards. Don't stay on the bumps
too long. Move on! When something happens to you, good or bad,
consider what it means. There's a purpose to life's events, to
teach you how to laugh more or not to cry too hard.
You can't make someone love you, all you can do is be someone
who can be loved, the rest is up to the person to realize your
worth. It's better to lose your pride to the one you love, than
to lose the one you love because of pride. We spend too much time
looking for the right person to love or finding fault with those
we already love, when instead we should be perfecting the love
we give.
Never abandon an old friend. You will never find one who can
take his/her place. Friendship is like wine, it gets better as
it grows older.
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