Bank Account
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 descriotion 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, just having been presented with a new puppy.
"Mr. Jones, you haven't even 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, its how I arrange it in 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 have 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."
I dont know for certain why this struck such a chord with me today, but it did. How often we get drug down within ourselves....I know for one I take dips in the pity pool often...when that is a choice I make, not one that is forced upon me. Now, mind you-- everyone has bad days. Everyone has days that require some pity party soaking. But there are many days that one just has to DECIDE to be happy and keep on trucking.
Are YOU happy today?
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