Ray’s Daily
April 20, 2022
“What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore—plays in defining the quality of our life.”
Cal Newport
Ray’s Daily first published on April 20, 2006
The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window.
“I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. “Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room just wait.” “That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she 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, just for this time in my life….”
Old age is like a bank account … you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories. Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.
As hard as it may seem, we really do have a choice. It is a pity that so many seem to choose anger and despair when happiness is within their reach. Possibly it stems from how we value our lives. I will always trade a material thing for peace of mind. I wonder how many of us don’t put value on the little good things and have few blessings to count. So how about following her lead and decide to be happy today”
~~~
Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
Margaret Lee Runbeck
~~~
She said, I am a Dominican sister, I lived in a convent named for a deceased pope. One day while I was wearing contemporary clothes instead of my habit, I drove into a gas station to get the communal car filled up.
After the young attendant topped off the tank, he walked toward my car window to return my credit card. It was clear from his furrowed brow that he had something on his mind.
The young man looked at me shyly and pointed to the convent’s name, John XXIII Hall, imprinted on the card.
“Pardon me,” he asked hesitantly, “but how do you pronounce your husband’s middle name?”
~~~
I used to be lost in the shuffle. Now I just shuffle along with the lost.
~~~
ROMANCE MATHEMATICS
Smart man + smart woman = romance
Smart man + dumb woman = affair
Dumb man + smart woman = marriage
Dumb man + dumb woman = pregnancy
OFFICE ARITHMETIC
Smart boss + smart employee = profit
Smart boss + dumb employee = production
Dumb boss + smart employee = promotion
Dumb boss + dumb employee = overtime
SHOPPING MATH
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.
A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn’t need.
GENERAL EQUATIONS & STATISTICS
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
HAPPINESS
To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little.
To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.
PROPENSITY TO CHANGE
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, and she does.
DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE
A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.
~~~
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
~~~
They say that a preacher’s wife is always his number one assistant. An example of this comes one Sunday morning after the preacher had just finished his sermon.
He went and sat down with his wife and she asked him how he thought the church service went.
The Preacher shrugged and said, “The worship was excellent, and I think the prayer time went quite well, but,” he continued, “I just don’t think the sermon ever got off the ground.”
The wife looked over at him, and before she could stop herself, she said, “Well, it sure did taxi long enough!”
~~~
One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
Sigmund Freud
~~~
Morris and Rachel are sweethearts. Morris lives in a small village out in the country and Rachel lives in town. One day, they go to see the Rabbi and set a date for their wedding. Before they leave, the Rabbi asks them whether they want a contemporary or traditional service. After a short discussion, they opt for the contemporary service.
Their day arrives but the weather is rotten and a storm forces Morris to take an alternate route to the synagogue. The village streets are flooded, so he rolls up his trouser legs to keep his trousers dry.
When at last he reaches the shul, his best man immediately rushes him up the aisle. As the ceremony starts, the Rabbi whispers to Morris, “Pull down your trousers.”
“Rabbi, I’ve changed my mind,” says Morris, “I think I prefer the traditional service.”
~~~
Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
~~~
A blonde was shopping at a Target Store and came across a silver thermos. She was quite fascinated by it, so she picked it up and brought it over to the clerk to ask what it was.
The clerk said, “Why, that’s a thermos…..it keeps things hot and some things cold.”
“Wow, said the blonde, “that’s amazing….I’m going to buy it !” So she bought the thermos and took it to work the next day. Her boss saw it on her desk. “What’s that,’ he asked? “Why, that’s a thermos…..it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold,” she replied.
Her boss inquired, “What do you have in it?”
The blond replied, “Two popsicles, and some coffee.”
~~~
Why is it called ‘after dark’, when it is really after light?
~~~
A man looked at the menu at the airport restaurant, and saw that the sandwiches were named for planes. “I’ll have a Jumbo Jet,” he said. When the order arrived, he was disappointed to see how small his burger was, but he ate it anyway.
He called his waiter over and asked, “Was that the Jumbo Jet?”
“Yeah,” the waiter answered. “Went pretty fast, didn’t it?”
~~~
“You can have peace of mind only if you forgive rather than judge.”
~~~
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@comcast.net. Back issues are posted at http://rays-daily,com/ currently there are hundreds of readers from around the world.
Ray's Daily 
Comments on: "Be Happy" (1)
great post, ray