10-Step Program 1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her. 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning. Read! Learn more about the computer, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop," .....The devil's name is Depression. 4. Enjoy the simple things. When the children are young, that is all that you can afford. When they are in college, that is all that you can afford. When you are on retirement, that is all that you can afford. Learn to enjoy "what you can afford". 5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. Laugh so much that you can be tracked in the store by your distinctive laughter. 6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be alive while you are alive, don't put out a mailbox on the highway of death and just wait in residence for your mail.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it is family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. 8. Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help. 9. Don't take guilt trips. Go to the mall, the next county, foreign country, but not to guilt country. 10. Tell the people you love, that you love them, at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. Personal Note: I don’t agree 100% on all of these. #2, I think good put’s “grouches” in our lives sometimes so maybe we can show them how to take the darkess of situations and find a positive in it. To show them a smile goes a lot further than the “grouchies” do. #8, I do cherish my health and on days that I hurt, even though I hurt, I thank God that I’m still on this earth to be with my family and friends. Even though some days are harder than others, always find a positive that is out there, sometimes it’s hard to find, but it’s there. ~*~ the personal note is not mine, but I do agree with it so I kept it in.
In a way I agree with that addition, but I see it this way. Anything negative is not from God. So I don't think He makes a grouch and puts them in our path. But I think He allows someone who chooses to be grouchy come in contact with a non-grouch to help them see a positive side of life, and help them start seeing the glass as half-full, instead of half-empty! I guess that's saying the same thing basically......
