| Several years ago, I wrote a book for my children. this is but one out of hundreds. |
Beyond
our genetic limitations, we may have a lot of say so over our aging
process. This process started long before we were born and, physically,
will terminate about the same time we do. However, what happens during
the time between your birth and demise may have a lot to do with how
long you live.
There are many who espouse the principal of
exercise, hard work, etc, and then we have those who depend on a good
and steady diet of healthy foods. Is this enough? Is this necessary, or
is something missing? What if, and I only suggest, what if, it is our
outlook, attitude and relationships that give us the greatest strength
in a long and very happy life?
Each week as I write to you, my
children, some of which have aged beyond my recognition, I often think
about what is the most important thing I have to pass on to you before I
meet the sickle man at harvest time. It’s not money, it’s not property
and it's not anything I can hand over to you. I am not sure what it is,
but if I had to guess, I would say, it might be a positive outlook and a
great attitude. These ingredients just might be the key to a long and
happy life, because without the proper lifestyle, without the use of
honesty, integrity, hope and helpfulness to name only a few, you might
find you don’t have a positive attitude and your life is shortened. But,
again, I can’t just hand these things over to you, they must be earned.
I
am asked almost every week, why I am so happy all the time, why do I
feel good all the time, and why don’t I have problems like others my age
and place in life. This is not to say problems won’t crop up tomorrow
and not to say I haven’t felt the pressure of problems in the past, but
unlike most of those asking the questions, I don’t seem to let the past
bother me nor do I feel I am making problems here in the future. As I am
not perfect, I have tripped and stumbled from time to time, but so has
everyone else and if the truth were known, probably Mother Teresa and
the Pope as well. But it is how we handle our pressures, our
obligations, and our integrity that matters. Then too, it is not so much
how others perceive us, but how we perceive ourselves.
It is not
enough to tell yourself you are going to have a good attitude or
outlook, but you must believe it and live it. That’s why I know I am on
the right track when people ask me right out of the blue, "Why I am
always happy." It is mainly because I believe I am happy. I was
actually shocked some thirty five years ago when someone asked me why
”we” were so unhappy. It came as a shock, because I didn’t even know it.
Somehow, I believe I have always been happy, not as happy as I
am today, because this has been a growing condition and it has stayed
with me.
When someone points out that only a crazy person would
be happy all the time and not see the world in the light of disaster,
destruction, and decay. I always answer the same way, “if I live a crazy
life, I am glad I got the happy one.”
It might be that I don’t
see the problems as serious as they are, or it might be that in terms of
eternity, I see my problems are less than any generation before me or
any civilization for that matter. It might be I see a greater picture
than taxes, potholes in the road, or any imaginable event that might get
most people down.
Life is a great place to be, and when I find that better place, that is were you will find me.
Dr Robert E McGinnis author In Search Of Paradise Amazon.com |