“Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time”
This is another of those shared e-mails that I’ve been keeping, waiting for the right time to share in a Commentary. And this is the time.
Envision 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 his is legally blind. Then imagine him moving in 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, an assistant 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,” said the helper, “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! You see, 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!” Then he said, “Thank you for your part in filling my Memory Bank. I am still depositing.”
Now envision your own day. Did you decide on happiness ahead of time? And how many memory deposits will you make? So have a nice day…unless you already made other plans. That’s Colleen’s Comment, and I’ll see you soon, the Lord and weather willing.
(E-mail referenced received from Richard Condrey)
email: colleencall@sbcglobal.net
website: www.colleencallahan.com
fax: 309-692-0148
mobile: 309-208-1209