Skip to main content

How to Be Happy Always

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 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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Buried Treasures in Bohol Philippines

Written by Joe Espiritu       Four persons died in a treasure hunting accident last week. They died for nothing. Many had lost their shirts in the venture, the propensity for Filipinos to get rich quick attribute to the treasure hunting mania. The sad part is that only the ignorant venture on the search, those in the know, being sure that nothing will come out of the effort would not think of investing money, time and effort – this time lives – in a fruitless enterprise.        There had been stories of people getting rich uncovering treasure troves in unlikely places. Most stories are false. Ancient graves of archeological and anthropological value had been desecrated by treasure hunters. They had found nothing. Those people may have struck it rich but not from some hidden riches. Contrary to what other people say, there are no buried treasures in Bohol . If there had been, they were unearthed years ago.         If one traces the history of this province from the first time the huma

Davao Culinary Night

DAVAO CITY, Feb. 14, 2020 (PIA) -- The Davao Tourism Association (DATA) recently held the first-ever One Davao Culinary Night which featured indigenous inspired dishes concocted by its member chefs . Founded in 1974, the DATA is a group composed of stakeholders coming from tourism-related establishments in Davao Region. The One Davao Culinary Night at the Marco Polo Davao Ballroom on January 31 was held to coincide with the group’s belated 75th anniversary celebration. “What we really wanted to do is to define what is Davao cuisine. When we formed the DATA chef’s club composed of 10 chefs coming from our DATA restaurant members we were able to collaborate and learn from the immersion that we did with the two indigenous tribes we invited- the Kagan and the Tagabawa,” Gatchi Gatchalian, DATA president said. Gatchalian said they wanted the people to discover what Davao cuisine is, as people associate Davao cuisine to ihaw-ihaw (grilled specialties) and kinilaw (cerviche). Gatchalian

Sourcing of Agricultural Products

DAVAO CITY, Feb. 19, 2020 -- The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) signed partnership agreements on Monday, February 17, 2020, with various government agencies and a private institution for the sourcing of agricultural products from agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) in this province. These institutions are the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Region XI, Department of Health Region XI, Davao Regional Medical Center, Southern Philippines Medical Center, and Medical Mission Group Hospital which all agreed to assist in the government’s fight against hunger and poverty in the countryside under the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty program (EPAHP). Cabinet Secretary and EPAHP Committee Chairman Karlo B. Nograles said these partnerships work in two ways. It provides institutions with a steady supply of food items, such as rice, vegetables, root crops and other farm produce, while the farmers gain regular markets for their farm yields. “EPAHP is our government’s