Each Day Is A Gift 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 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." She went on to explain, "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." And with a smile, she said: "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." _____ Empowering Words Use Empowering Words When You Talk to Yourself (whether you are speaking out loud or silently) How do you talk to yourself? Do you use the words can't, won't, don't need to, why try? Many people do. Do you find that what you say to yourself turns out to be true? Why is this? You see your brain is like a computer that you feed each day. It doesn't know always know what's real or not unless you tell it. Example: If someone you love has hurt you, you may tell yourself that all people who love you will probably hurt you too. Your brain just files this information for reference, it's data, little zeroes and ones and no column that asks "true or not true?" Now your brain thinks, based on what you told it, that everyone you'll ever love will hurt you. How do you think you will respond the next time you get hurt? Right! Now, what if we instead told our brain: "Okay this person ripped my heart out... but that's only one person. I'm lovable and have many loving people in my life who are not out to hurt me. I know that the right people are coming into my life all the time. If someone hurts me, I will forgive them and bless them on their way." Words can be empowering. I can I love to I want to I will I must I am We can reach a new level of living, if we feed ourselves empowering words and practice saying them until they become a habit. I know first hand that it takes time. And I also know that it's worth it. Try it for a week. Catch yourself saying, I can't, when you don't really mean it and instead try, I can, and see how you think and feel about yourself. Remember, the words you use to empower yourself will have a lasting effect, only if you practice them and they become a habit, an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary. They say it takes at least 28 days to develop a habit. After a week, you will see that it becomes easier. It's a mindset and you can control your thoughts. Be proactive and not reactive - give yourself some good words. Dream big and empower yourself! Believe you can and you will. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Access the Recipes And More list archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/recipesandmore%40googlegroups.com/ Visit the group home page at: http://groups.google.com/group/RecipesAndMore -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
