Part 2 Do's & Don'ts

Here's part two of sharing my friend’s list.

“Make peace with your past so that it won’t spoil the present. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.”

This is why we have eyes that look forward and not backward! The past should be laid to rest. Focus on the present and look forward to the future. Your happiness is what you make of it. The simple things in life can make one happy, such as breathing in the fresh air in the early morning and listening to the first songs of the birds as they greet the new day even before the sky lights up. Try this experience. Take a deep breath and walk barefoot on the grass still wet with dew. I’m so lucky that this is how my day begins (on the mornings that I don't play golf 'cos I leave home before the birds wake up). The birds sing different songs and the early morning breeze is so cool and silky against my skin. It’s a great start to the new day.

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.”

Growing old doesn’t mean that we have to stop enjoying life. It doesn’t mean that we have to forgo the little pleasures that make us smile or laugh aloud. A hearty laugh is good for the soul, good for our health. Look at the laughing clubs that have been set up in India. It’s therapeutic. When you laugh, others laugh along with you but when you cry, you cry alone.

Look on the funny side of things, laugh more and you will live longer.

“When you wake up ALIVE in the morning, say a prayer of Thanks to God.”


This is a wonder of life. Where do we go when we sleep? What happens to our souls?
Some people don’t wake up from their sleep. Even babies have been found cold and lifeless the following morning after they had been put to bed, alive and well the previous night. Some old people expire in their sleep and we say that they are lucky to “go” so peacefully in their sleep. I find that as I grow older, I recall more clearly what my father said to me a long time ago when he was still alive. He said that everyday is a bonus.

So indeed, everyday is a bonus, as we never know what will happen the next day. Will we be here still? Or will we have made our exit? Have we done all that we want to do before we check out? Will our passing make a real difference to those left behind?

Thus I tell myself that I will make each day meaningful, thank the Lord for a good day before I go to sleep, ask for His protection for my family and when I wake up in the morning, I thank the Him for the bonus.

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