Ray’s Daily
March 30, 2020
“For myself I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use to be anything else.”
Winston Churchill
I know that there will come a day when the Coranavirus epidemic will end. I am learning that staying isolated is not easy. It is like we were being jailed, or food is brought to us, we are not Allowed visitors nad we no longer mix with friends.
The good news is that my wife and I are still together. I know how my I benefited from all the help provided by my family. I am grateful to them, the staff where I live, and to you who keep in touch.
I am optimistic that this too will pass and we will be together again. In the meantime I will continue to appreciate the past good times and those to come. The following abridged article reminded me of what I have found in my older friends.
How Optimism May Keep You Alive Longer
BY KIRA M. NEWMAN
According to a new study, one secret to a long life might be wholly unrelated to what we eat or how much we exercise: our optimism. Researchers examined long-term surveys of more than 69,000 women and 1,400 men. Both groups reported how optimistic they were: whether they expected good or bad things to happen to them in the future, and if they felt in control of important aspects of their life.
Who was still alive by the end of the study? As it turns out, more optimistic people tended to have a longer lifespan. The most optimistic survived 10-15 percent longer than the least optimistic. The most optimistic also had a better chance of living to age 85—perhaps not as impressive as the fabled centenarians, but that’s still considered “exceptional longevity.”
“Optimism may be an important psychosocial resource in promoting healthy aging,” the researchers write.
While previous studies have found that optimists are protected against premature death, this is the first to examine the “exceptional longevity” that people strive for. And it complements other research suggesting that happy people—people who demonstrate more positive emotions or are more satisfied with life—may also live longer.
These findings might not seem like good news to those of us who aren’t natural optimists. But perhaps that’s my knee-jerk pessimism talking. Luckily, research suggests that optimism is something we can cultivate—by practicing gratitude, envisioning our “Best Possible Self,” or doing certain types of therapy. And that makes the future look a little bit rosier.
~~~
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Oscar Wilde
~~~
RULES OF THE AIR (from Australian Aviation magazine):
- Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.
- If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the stick all the way back, then they get bigger again.
- Flying isn’t dangerous. Crashing is what’s dangerous.
- It’s always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here.
- The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.
- The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start sweating.
- When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No-one has ever collided with the sky.
- A ‘good’ landing is one from which you can walk away. A ‘great’ landing is one after which they can use the plane again.
- Learn from the mistakes of others. You won’t live long enough to make all of them yourself.
- You know you’ve landed with the wheels up if it takes full power to taxi to the ramp.
- The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival and vice versa.
- Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn’t get to five minutes earlier.
- Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in clouds.
- Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of take offs you’ve made.
- There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
- You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
- Helicopters can’t fly; they’re just so ugly the earth repels them.
- If all you can see out of the window is ground that’s going round and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be.
- In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.
- Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience usually comes from bad judgment.
- It’s always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward.
- Keep looking around. There’s always something you’ve missed.
- Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It’s the law. And it’s not subject to repeal.
- The three most useless things to a pilot are the altitude above you, runway behind you, and a tenth of a second ago.
- There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. There are, however, no old, bold pilots.
~~~
“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
Aldous Huxley
~~~
In California’s Sonoma Valley, where vineyards cater to wine snobbery, a woman phoned the classified ad department of a newspaper. She offered for sale what sounded like “well-aged Caumeneur.”
The ad-taker was unfamiliar with that particular wine, but was used to the infusion of French words into the local vocabulary.
“Could you please spell that?” she asked.
“You know,” said the woman impatiently, “C-o-w M-a-n-u-r-e.”
~~~
“When a man’s best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.”
Edward Abbey
~~~
She said: Prior to our wedding, David and I met with the minister to discuss our marriage ceremony and various traditions, such as lighting the unity candle from two individual candles.
Couples usually blow out the two candles as a sign of becoming one. Our minister said that many people were now leaving their individual candles lit to signify independence and personal freedom. He asked if we wanted to extinguish our candles or leave them burning.
After thinking about it, David replied, “How about if we leave mine lit and blow out hers?”
~~~
Dogs are wise. They crawl away into a quiet corner and lick their wounds and do not rejoin the world until they are whole once more.
Agatha Christie
~~~
An old man was relaxing at his hundredth birthday party when a reporter went up to him.
“Sir, what is the secret of your long life?”
The man considered this for a moment, then replied “every day at 9 PM I have a glass of port. Good for the heart I’ve heard.”
The reporter replied, “That’s ALL?”
The man smiled, “That, and canceling my voyage on Titanic.”
~~~
“Life is too short to spend your precious time trying to convince a person who wants to live in gloom and doom otherwise. Give lifting that person your best shot, but don’t hang around long enough for his or her bad attitude to pull you down. Instead, surround yourself with optimistic people.”
Zig Ziglar
~~~
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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