Ray's Daily

Ray’s Daily

October 8, 2020

http://rays-daily.com

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters

 Epictetus

Over the past few years my main job has been helping to care for my wife. I would give her medicine, food and whatever she needed. My daily chores turned into a rewarding ritual. Now that she is being moved into a permanent resident where she can receive specialized care for both her physical and mental well being, my life has changed.

The limitations created by the Covid epidemic make it difficult to fill the gaps in my days. I will conitue to do what I can to stay positive and visit my wife with a good attitude.

Here is an abridged article that outlines some of the steps I am taking to stay upbeat.

The Best Doctors

My best doctors are: Movement, Sleep, Moderation, Family/Friends, Stimulation and Attitude. Let me introduce you.

Movement. Movement can be anything – walking, skipping, swinging your legs, waving hello or goodbye and millions of other everyday actions that gets our bodies going in one direction or another . . . all without a gym membership.

Sleep. While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults, including seniors, need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. Sleep comes easy to some and is elusive to others.

Moderation. Today, researchers and scientist promote moderation as a principle of life reflecting that too much of a good thing is bad and too much of a bad thing is worse.

Family/Friends. Yes, family can be stressful. Regardless of the highs and lows, family is an important element in our lives. Friends- these are the family of our heart. People we’ve chosen and, who have chosen us. They’re the forever constant of support, acceptance and a reality check. They love us enough to tell us we’re wrong and the first to defend us when others say we’re wrong.

Stimulation. What gets you going? What causes the light behind your eyes to shine brightly? What makes you smile, think and cheer? Whatever ‘stimulates’ you it should be fun, engaging, and interactive as well as helping you think, learn and understand.

Attitude. A positive attitude, or POSITUDE as my husband and I call it, is the best ‘doctor’ and one of the most important factors in getting you through the highs and lows of life. By changing the inner thinking of your mind, you can change the outer aspect of your life. The best thing about attitude – you control it. You take the positive or negative ‘picture’ of situations you want to. Imagine, the ability to be happy lies within you. Now that’s power!

Written by Rosie Taylor

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Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.

Benjamin Disraeli

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The 5 toughest questions for men are:  

1. What are you thinking about?  

2. Do you love me?  

3. Do I look fat?  

4. Do you think she is prettier than me?  

5. What would you do if I died?  

 What makes these questions so difficult is that each one is guaranteed to explode into a major argument if the man answers incorrectly (i.e. tells the truth). Therefore, as a public service, each question is analyzed below, along with possible responses.  

Question # 1: What are you thinking about?  

The proper answer to this, of course, is: “I’m sorry if I’ve been pensive, dear. I was just reflecting on what a warm, wonderful, thoughtful, caring, intelligent woman you are, and how lucky I am to have met you.”  

This response obviously bears no resemblance to the true answer, which most likely is one of the following:  

a. Baseball.  

b. Football.  

c. How fat you are.  

d. How much prettier she is than you.  

e. How I would spend the insurance money if you died.  

(Perhaps the best response to this question was offered by Al Bundy, who once told Peg, “If I wanted you to know what I was thinking, I would be talking to you!”)  

Question # 2: Do you love me?  

The proper response is: “YES!” or, if you feel a more detailed answer is in order, “Yes, dear.”  

Inappropriate responses include:  

a. Oh Yeah, loads.  

b. Would it make you feel better if I said yes?  

c. That depends on what you mean by love.  

d. Does it matter?  

e. Who, me?  

Question # 3: Do I look fat?  

The correct answer is an emphatic: “Of course not!”  

Among the incorrect answers are:  

a. Compared to what?  

b. I wouldn’t call you fat, but you’re not exactly thin.  

c. A little extra weight looks good on you.  

d. I’ve seen fatter.  

e. Could you repeat the question? I was just thinking about how I would spend the insurance money if you died.  

Question # 4: Do you think she’s prettier than me?  

Once again, the proper response is always: “Of course not!”  

Incorrect responses include:  

a. Yes, but you have a better personality.  

b. Not prettier, but definitely thinner.  

c. Not as pretty as you when you were her age.  

d. Define pretty.  

e. Could you repeat the question? I was just thinking about how I would spend the insurance money if you died.  

Question# 5: What would you do if I died?  

A definite no-win question.  

(The real answer, of course, is “Buy a Corvette!”)  

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“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.

Eddie Cantor

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When a customer left his cell phone in my store, I scrolled through his saved numbers, stopped at “Mom” and pushed Send.

His mother answered and I told her what happened.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll take care of it.”

A few minutes later, the cell phone rang. It was “Mom.”

“Martin,” she said. “You left your cell phone at the convenience store.”

~~~

It’s bad luck to be superstitious.

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My broker called me this morning and said, “Remember that stock we bought and I said you’d be able to retire at age 65?”

“Yes, I remember,” I said.

“Well,” my broker continued, “your retirement age is now 108.”

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Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

Kahlil Gibran

~~~

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 twenty 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.