Ray's Daily

“It’s your life. Live it with people who are alive. It tends to be contagious.”

Peter McWilliams

Yesterday I met with a group of really nice people my age. The meeting gave us a chance to talk about how we maintained some level of sanity by staying mentally young. When one is up on years there are a multitude of people who tell you how you should live but these folks don’t fall into that trap, they live their lives the way they want to. Well-meaning children, friends and relatives don’t hesitate to tell us what we should do to be happy, unfortunately they often assume we can’t do much on our own or they think that we should behave like the stereotypical old folk that are so often based on cultural myths.

This group, many well into their 80’s are not old, some might be moving slower than they use to but they continue to live their lives well and in a way that is right for them. I will someday appreciate people offering ways to ease my burdens when I start to have difficulty functioning, but until then I like the fact that they don’t try to stop me from enjoying my youthful journey through life pretending to be an old guy. No matter how old you are you owe it to yourself to live your own life.

Here is a piece I saved from the ever wise Ralph Marston that I think is right on target, I hope you do too.

Live your own life

You are special, so act like it. You are unique, so make the most of that uniqueness.

There’s something you can contribute to this moment that no one else has to offer. There is a perspective from which you can experience this day that is unlike any other.

Don’t settle for merely doing the same thing as anyone else, or mimicking the opinions, desires and dreams of others. Live your own life, and explore the unique beauty of your very own dreams, thoughts, opinions and interests.

Your greatest value comes from being who you truly are. Let your beautiful, unique, fascinating and authentic self come fully to life.

Instead of spinning your wheels and striving to be someone you’re not, enjoy the sweet fulfillment of being who you really want to be. Instead of trying in vain to please others with who you think they think you should be, impress them with who you really are.

Know the true joy of being your true self. Honor and appreciate all of life by fully and authentically living the one very special life that is yours.

~~~

“I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.”

Paulo Coelho

~~~

Asked by his third-grade teacher to spell “straight.” The boy did so correctly.

“Now,” said the teacher, “what does it mean?”

“Without water.”

~~~

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Samuel Beckett

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Rabbi Bloom caught two of his rabbinical students gambling and drinking on Sabbath. Next day, Rabbi Bloom called them into his office and asked them what was going on. They immediately confessed to having given in to weakness and agreed that they deserved some form of punishment for their sin. Rabbi Bloom thought a lot about this and then came up with the answer. He bought two bags of dried peas from the delicatessen and told them,

“Put these in your shoes and walk on them for a week to remind yourselves how hard life can be when you turn away from God.”

A few days later, the two students met each other in the street.  One had a pronounced limp and had dark circles under his eyes.  He looked very tired and weary.  On the other hand, the other was the same as he had been before.

“Hey,” said the first.  “How is it that you are walking so easily? Didn’t you do as the Rabbi asked and put the peas in your shoes?”

“I did,” said the other.

“But I boiled mine first.”

~~~

Real confidence comes from knowing and accepting yourself – your strengths and your limitations – in contrast to depending on confirmation from others.

Judith M. Bardwick

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MARRIAGE “MIRANDA” RIGHTS for men…

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted AND MISUNDERSTOOD AND then used AND HELD against you FOREVER.

~~~

There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.

Christopher Morley

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Ever since I was a child, I’ve had a fear that someone is under my bed at night. So, I went to a shrink and told him, ‘I’ve got problems. Every time I go to bed, I’m scared. I think I’m going crazy.’

‘Just put yourself in my hands for one year,’ said the shrink. ‘Come talk to me three times a week and we should be able to get rid of those fears.’

‘How much do you charge?’ ‘Eighty dollars per visit,’ replied the doctor. ‘I’ll sleep on it,’ I said.

Six months later the doctor met me on the street. ‘Why didn’t you come to see me about those fears you were having?’ he asked.

‘Well, eighty bucks a visit three times a week for a year is an awful lot of money! A bartender cured me for $10. I was so happy to have saved all that money that I went and bought me a new pickup!’

‘Is that so!’ With a bit of an attitude he said, ‘And how, may I ask, did the bartender cure you?’

‘He told me to cut the legs off the bed! – Ain’t nobody under there now!!!’

~~~

Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.

~~~

A recently divorced woman was walking along the beach contemplating how badly treated she had been over the settlement, when she saw a magic lamp washing up onshore. She rubbed the lamp, and out popped a genie!

The genie sensed her anger and allowed her to vent her troubles to him. As a consolation, the genie informed her that he would give her three wishes. But he cautioned her that because he does not believe in divorce, he would give her ex-husband ten times the amount of whatever she wishes.

The woman is steaming mad, thinking that this is hardly fair, but she makes her first wish. The first wish was for a billion dollars. The genie granted her wish and she found herself sitting on a pile of one billion one-dollar bills.

The genie then reminded her that her husband was now the surprised recipient of ten billion dollars. The woman could barely contain her anger when she made her second wish. The second wish was for a beautiful mansion on the shore of her own private beach. In an instant it was granted, exactly as she had imagined her dream home, in every tiny detail. But the genie reminded her again that her ex-husband now owned ten of what she had wished for, and pointed out across the bay to a small development of ten such mansions.

Upon seeing this, the woman took her time to consider her final wish. Just as the genie was about to give up on her, the woman said she had made up her mind. But, before she could say anything, the genie again warned her that her ex-husband would get ten times whatever she wished for. “No problem,” said the woman, smiling at last. “For my final wish, I’d like to give birth to twins.”

~~~

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake…”

Francis Bacon

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

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