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 Fruitful Thoughts for a Cornucopia of Blessings!
Eleanor Heacock, MA, MEd, ADTR
Everyday I check my e-mail for those all important messages. Most of the time I am simply doing finger exercises, another form of piano practice without the beautiful tones. (Has the click, click, click of the keyboard become the new music?) Sometimes, however, in addition to the very welcome personal correspondence, I receive a gift, reminding me of the gifts in my life. The following excerpt is one of those gifts:
A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed 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."
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
- Free your heart from hatred.
- Free your mind from worries.
- Live simply.
- Give more.
- Expect less.
Each day I am grateful for IHC, where positive attitudes are nurtured and lives are changed by changing thoughts. I am grateful to be part of an organization that reminds each of us of our thoughts. I am grateful to be part of an organization that reminds each of us of our own perfection and wholeness.
When our friends and family members talk about changes in their lives, some fear and concern is usually prevalent; it shows up externally in their facial expressions, their postures, and their voices. (We can only wonder what is happening internally.) I love watching the immediate positive change in their faces and in their entire being, when my husband blithely says, "Ah, another grand adventure!"
May each of our days continue to be a gift and may each change be experienced as another grand adventure.
- Eleanor Heacock, MEd, ADTR
(This article is from our 3rd Qtr 2006 Newsletter)
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