What is happiness? Let me share this little story with you .
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, one of the staff members 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.”
Why not start building your happy
memories today by choosing to be happy. Take charge of your thoughts
today. It’s not your mind if you allow anyone and any media to fill it
indiscriminately. It’s not your choice if you’re choosing between the
options programmed for you to choose between. It’s past time to
become the programmer of your own mind. To own happiness you must
first get beyond all those negative thoughts and feelings that have
been foisted upon you as a part and parcel of your enculturation.
Begin today by finding the good in
all if it requires saying to yourself, “I can’t wait to see what good
comes from this.” Hold onto that gratitude attitude and happiness will
follow. Help another and the speed by which happiness arrives will be
accelerated. Do a good deed every day and you will glue that
happiness to you.
