Ray’s Daily
January 21, 2019
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
The conversation over dinner the other night centered on how we thought of our lives. We all had infirmities and had survived major health problems. Rather than bemoaning what we have to do to keep going and the many medicines we take we all felt we were doing well.
Later I thought about how our our happiness is mainly the result of how we see ourselves. The folks I was with look at what they have rather than what they have lost.
Here are excerpts from an article recently written by Swedish author Henrik Edberg that could have been written about my new friends.
Happiness.
- One minute of appreciation. – Take a minute, sit down and just reflect on what you appreciate and love about your partner. Or a friend or family member. Or yourself.
- Express your appreciation. – Tell the partner, family member or friend what you came up with. It will brighten his or her day.
- Take 5 minutes to see how you can help someone out. Offer some practical help, some good advice, look something up for him or her, be encouraging and supportive or just lend a listening ear.
- Slow down for 3 minutes. – Walk and move slower for just these few minutes. Let your thoughts slow down. Use the 3 minutes to enjoy what is happening all around you.
- Be the smile you want to see in your world. – Smile more towards the people you meet and you’ll get more smiles back. You’ll feel better. They will too.
- Make someone else happy. – Don’t stop at just smiles. Give someone a big hug.
- Start your day with setting a low bar for happiness. – As you open your eyes and wake up to a new day tell yourself: “Today I will have a low bar for happiness”.
- Be the day you want to see. – Don’t wait for someone else to create the day you want to have. Instead, get the ball rolling yourself. Take action and take the first small step or steps forward:Take a walk or a run in the early morning to get your energy levels for the day and week up.
- Say yes to something new. – By actively going outside of what is normal for you or your comfort zone you’ll discover new, wonderful things in life quite often.
- Say no to a should. – The shoulds in life can really drag that happiness and energy down and make everything feel like heavy work. But do you have to do all of those shoulds on your to-do list? Or are you maybe stuck in a rut and are doing some of those things just out of old habit?
~~~
“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
~~~
Famous Last Words:
— Of course you don’t look fat in that dress honey. Well… maybe a little.
— Hey ya’ll watch this.
— Sure, rope bridges last forever.
— Trust me, I know what I’m doing.
— Oh shut up! I won’t fall!
— Oh, it looks like a dolphin is swimming this way…
— I wonder what happens if these two wires touch.
~~~
Cooking lesson #1: don’t fry bacon in the nude.
~~~
A daddy was listening to his child say his prayer “Dear Harold”. At this, dad interrupted and said, “Wait a minute, How come you called God, “Harold”?” The little boy looked up and said, “That’s what they call Him in church. You know the prayer we say, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, Harold be Thy name.”
~~~
If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
~~~
Two hikers are out hiking. All of a sudden, a bear starts chasing them.
They climb a tree, but the bear starts climbing up the tree after them. The first hiker gets his sneakers out of his knapsack and starts putting them on.
The second hiker says, ‘What are you doing?’
The first responds, ‘I figure when the bear gets close to us, we’ll have to jump down and make a run for it.’
The second says, ‘Are you crazy? Don’t you know you can’t outrun a bear?
The first guy says, ‘I don’t have to outrun the bear I only have to outrun you!’
~~~
Insanity is my only means of relaxation.
~~~
The businessman dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped exhausted.
His sympathetic wife was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word. “My you look tired,” she said. “You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?”
“It was terrible,” her husband said. “The computer broke down and all of us had to do our own thinking.” Exhausted
~~~
I wonder if Adam ever said to Eve, “Watch it!!! There are plenty more ribs where YOU came from!”
~~~
The homeowner got into his grubbiest clothes on Saturday morning and set about all the chores he’d been putting off for weeks. He’d cleaned the garage, pruned the hedge, and was halfway through mowing the lawn when a woman pulled up in the driveway and yelled out her window, “Say, what do you get for yard work?”
The fellow thought for a minute, then answered, “The lady who lives here lets me sleep with her.”
~~~
“Women and cats will do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
Robert A. Heinlein
~~~
“Give me a sentence about a public servant,” said a teacher.
The small boy wrote: “The fireman came down the ladder pregnant.”
The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. “Don’t you know what pregnant means?” she asked.
“Sure,” said the young student confidently. “Means carrying a child.”
~~~
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.
Logan Pearsall Smith,
~~~
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
Ray’s Daily has been sent for more than fifteen years to people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@gmail.com. Back issues are posted at http://rays-daily,com/ currently there are more than 2000 readers from around the world.
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