Be kind, it is for your own good.
Be kind, it will make you healthier.
There is evidence to suggest that being kind to others can improve your health. Random acts of kindness can have very real physical and mental health benefits. Other than the social benefits of being well regarded as a decent person, being kind can have specific physiologic responses in our body.
•Endorphin rush: When we work out, or eat chocolate or generally experience pleasurable moments. Doing good or being kind can also cause the body to release endorphins and therefore experience a feeling of euphoria.
•Reduces stress: Helping others can overturn feelings of depression, hostility and isolation, it can also decrease the likelihood of experiencing stress.
•Recurring benefits – Acts of kindness, are often remembered by yourself or others and when this memory is relived, the health benefits are also relived in the body. Sometimes this wellbeing can last even for days.
•Emotional strength – Helping others can create feelings of emotional resilience, increased vigor and optimism.
•Social connections – When social reactions are more positive than not, the immune system is strengthened.
References from the Niagara Wellness Council.
Saying God dey can extend your life!
There may not be a more common phrase said in Nigeria than God dey. It is a common refrain found in the every man’s conversation. It symbolizes hope irrespective of the current circumstances. It may seems cliché to say, God dey, however there is evidence to suggest that the assertion of God dey and the faith and hope in a better tomorrow can actually have tangible health benefits.
The Mayo clinic in the US recently came out with a report showing a correlation between hopeful thinking and reduced stress. Researchers found that people who had hopeful outlooks and thought positively had better responses to stressful situations, which in turn reduces the negative effects of stress on the body. In general, people who are more hopeful experience better overall health and live longer. They also tend to have lower incidences of cardiovascular disease and depression.
How can you become more hopeful?
1. Pray, meditate or reflect: Regardless of one’s religious beliefs there is evidence that taking the time to be reflective and connecting with one’s inner self or with one’s deity can be beneficial to our physical selves.
2. Count your blessings: Taking stock of the good things that have happened in your life can impact your perception of life. When you recognize that in your life there has been plenty of good, it helps you be optimistic about the future.
3. Find the right birds: Birds of a feather, flock together. If you continue to associate with people who are negative and pessimistic about life, they will not only skew your life view, but they will deplete you of whatever positive energy you carry within.
4. Filter your news: If you listen to every bad story that comes through, it will make it difficult to maintain a hopeful outlook. Bad things happen everyday, this is true, however, good things happen also. Try to make sure your news is balanced.
5. Be good to yourself: Exercise, eat right, laugh and enjoy the company of people that you love and that are loving. This alone is a necessary ingredient for a healthy life.
6. Be good to others. When you are kind and compassionate and wishing others well, it makes it is easy to believe that others are doing the same. If you are wishing for your enemies to die, then it can make it difficult to conceptualize a world where death doesn’t surround you on every side.
7. Practice the art of acceptance: Recognize that just as the earth experiences moments of rain and sunshine alternately, every life has its dark moments and given time, this too shall pass. A wise person once said without pain to hollow out our hearts, we would not have room for joy. Consider joy and pain as both sides of the same coin and take things in stride.
Ten ways to make your home a healthy, happy place!
Ten ways to make your home a healthy healing space
1. Clean up:
You don’t have to be a neat freak, but keeping your house in some sort of order can instill you with a sense of calm and studies have shown that this in turn can reduce stress levels which can impact your heart and mental health in the long run.
2. Add color:
Colors have been shown to evoke an emotional response in people. Green can be calming, yellow can be joyful, red can be stimulating. Use color thoughtfully in your interior design and it can add value to your well being.
3. Bring the outdoors in:
Plants are wonderful for many reasons. They have aesthetic value and they also increase the oxygen levels in an enclosed space. Consider adding houseplants to your existing space or at the very least bring home some fresh cut flowers every once in a while.
4. Aerate and ventilate:
Open the windows, invest in a HEPA filter if necessary but do all you can to ensure that the air you are breathing is as clean as possible. Take off shoes outside before you come indoors, particularly on a carpeted space to reduce the amounts of chemicals and allergens brought in from outside. Asthma and other respiratory conditions can be aggravated by allergens in the air.
5. De-clutter:
Get rid of things that are unused and simply taking up space. Tackle that closet that is overflowing, pare down your kitchen utensils, give away or sell some shoes. Too much stuff can actually choke life out of us slowly but surely.
6. Aromatherapy:
Light a scented candle or two. Lavender, citrus scents are just some examples of scents that can be calming or invigorating. Candles are not the only option. You can used scented oils or incense sticks. Just be mindful of overdoing it.
7. Plant a garden:
A space that grows things, can be a healing space. Gardening is a great stress reducing tool.Add to the fact that if you grown vegetables and more, you can actually eat right from your garden and nothing gets fresher than that.
8. Get in some light:
Open up the curtains, or use lighter fabrics to let light in. If you are building, consider designs that let in the light. Strategically place mirrors to create the illusion of more light in an enclosed space.
9. Bake:
Real estate agents in the US have long since used the smell of freshly baked bread or cakes to lull people into feeling at home in a place. The smell of baking or even cooking certain things can create feelings of comfort in people, so as much as possible, fill your home with these smells that evoke warm happy feelings.
10. Unplug:
A home that is filled with the electronic twings and twangs of TV’s, Wii’s, blackberries and computers can sometimes become cold and impersonal, especially if all the members of the home are always plugged in. Being plugged in to the internet can leave families and couples disconnected if care is not taken to be conscious about being together. Turn off the TVs every once in a while and read a book to your children, play a game with your spouse, have a glass of wine with your friend and shoot the breeze. As we well know in Nigeria, life can exist without electricity.
Have you had dinner yet?
There are so many reasons to eat with your family but studies are now suggesting that eating with your family regularly could be the best thing you can do for your children’s health and lifestyle.
In 2000 researchers found that adolescents and preteens who eat dinner with their families generally eat more fruits and vegetables and less minerals/soda and fried foods. Their food choices were usually more nutritious.
Studies have al so shown that households were family dinners are common are less likely to have children who get depressed, or suicidal, have an eating disorder.
Family dinners at least five times a week can drastically reduce the chances of your teenager smoking, drinking, and using drugs. Teens who have fewer than three family dinners a week are 3.5 times more likely to have abused prescription drugs and to have used illegal drugs other than marijuana, three times more likely to have used marijuana, more than 2.5 times more likely to have smoked cigarettes, and 1.5 times more likely to have tried alcohol, according to the CASA report.
So today, get home early and have dinner with your kids!
Are you a Superwoman?
Yesterday I met this wonderful woman. And she was a mess.
She came to me because she had been having trouble sleeping. She had tried tranquilizers but hated the zoned out feeling they gave you and they actually made her more anxious because she was scared about what they were doing to her.
So I asked her what was really going on in her life. Was her inability to sleep a response to stress or to her body being ill? As we started to talk, within seconds, she completely broke down, weeping profusely and shaking uncontrollably. My heart went out to her immediately. I gave her a hug and I told her, it was really all going to be alright.
We sat down to talk. Me, her and our box of tissues; you guys should know by know that I am a crier. She was carrying a huge burden.
Now here’s the part that got me. She felt guilty and ashamed that she was unable to handle her problems. She was so mad at herself. She told me she was a woman of faith and that she knew God was with her and that she knew how to pray and as she said these things, she cried all the more. I rubbed her back; passed her the tissue and I asked her, “Do you feel like you are failing God?” She nodded emphatically yes! “Do you feel like your faith is too weak, that’s why you are having trouble coping?” She cried out “Yes! I do, I do! I know I should be able to handle this, I can do all things through Christ!” And then she became inconsolable.
After some time, she calmed down and we talked. I took off my health hat and put on my sister-girl baseball cap and t-shirt that said, “Look, y’all! I am not superwoman! And I am ok with that!”
I reminded her that she was composed of spirit and flesh. I asked her to understand and accept that flesh is limited and at times, it can fail you. I urged her to forgive herself for not being perfect. I encouraged her to accept her own limitations. I celebrated her for trying and then I asked her to get real and get help.
She wasn’t talking to anyone, she wasn’t sharing her burdens. I can understand praying to God, but fellowship with other people can allow you to feel God’s love in the flesh. She told me she felt guilty of taking medicine to sleep. I reminded her that the impetus for most pharmaceuticals come from natural sources on the planet that God himself placed here to help us. So if drinking some valerian tea will calm your flesh enough for you to connect with your spirit then why not?
Can we all just give ourselves permission to be human? It is arrogance to hold ourselves up so high that we feel guilty when we fall. Because fall we will. We are not God, simply created in his image, which means that while we can tap into His creative power, we are not the source, simply conduits.
We have many resources to help us be our best. Not the least of which is each other. Being stoic is not always the best course of action and pretending like we have everything under control when we are a mess inside, is propagating a lie.
I told the woman about the benefits of adding herbal and vitamin supplements to her diet and I also reminded her about Vitamin P – People. She needed to connect with the resources – the people supplements that had been placed in her life for a reason. Lean on her sisters, her pastor, whoever, but share the load.
She smiled. “Do you feel better?” I asked her. She nodded yes and gave me a hug and a kiss and said “Thank you! I really needed that!” I hugged her back. “No worries! By the way, my name is Ekene, what is yours?
Love your enemies…It is good for you!
I am currently reading a book called the stepmother. It is a work of fiction but it gives a very vivid account from the ex-wife and new wife’s perspective about the blending of two families.
It’s not lala land. Everything is not perfect. The two women do not meet and form some sort of instant friendship, like add husband and mix. Not at all. They spend a lot of time wondering, fearing, secretly wishing away and envying each other. But I am at the part where they meet. And it is in a not so good way. In fact it is in a terrible way. A way that could have made them adversaries for life. But because these characters are open, honest and compassionate, I can see cautious and tentative bonds forming. These women actually help each other. They even begin to like each other.
Of course it sucks to know that the man one slept with for years, had babies with and pledged to love forever is now loving another and that another actually spends time parenting said babies, every other weekend and on Wednesday nights, of course it sucks. But it is. And because it is, it must be dealt with. And because it must be dealt with, these characters choose to look past the stereotypes and embrace the humanity. All stepmothers aren’t wicked and all ex-wives aren’t evil. People are sometimes just people. Most are innately good not wicked but sometimes even when they are, there are opportunities to change.
Sounds great right? I wonder how life would be if we adopted this attitude. When things are not magnified in an overly dramatic way. When simple slights do not spark lifelong feuds, when we start to believe the best and not look for the worst? How would it be?
I find that in Nigeria, we are incredibly suspicious. Not that we can be blamed. The average person can name at least one person who has sworn, e no go betta for that person. We have had our belongings pilfered by family members, our loved ones kidnapped through an inside job, we have discovered chicken legs tied together end to end and placed under the bed by our househelps – Don’t act brand new…that stuff doesn’t just happen in the movies.
Not that I haven’t been guilty of this myself (Not the chicken legs o! The being suspicious), I have. I have also had times when I had extended a hand in friendship and drawn it back with blood and teeth marks. I have had people swear for me with such vehemence that you would wonder what I did and be surprised to know that all I did was smile at them at precisely the wrong moment and apparently in the wrong way. I have known people who have no doubt stood in the crossroads naked, in attempt to destroy me, simply because they think they want what I have. Meanwhile like MTV’s the diary…you think you know, but you have no idea!
Ha! I have been woken up in the midnight hour by a nagging and prayed, only to hear later that at that moment, this one was planning for me. Hia! Meanwhile, I don’t have any interaction with these so called enemies. In fact it was on their own that they decided we were enemies, I wasn’t even called to the meeting.
There was something someone said they wished for me that shocked me. I was truly and deeply hurt. Na wetin! I thought. What is it? Even at that moment, God pushed me to see their humanity. Hmm… It is still a process sha, I won’t lie. Every time I take communion I say I have forgiven, but mention their name and an eyebrow goes up.
However today I am once again challenged, to think and see them as humans. Like me. Haven’t I made terrible decisions in anger? Haven’t I said horrible things when I let my emotions get the better of me? If I were judged by every bad thing I ever did, then where would I be today. True I don’t know the way to any babalawo and honey, you can’t catch me at any crossroads, but really can I not understand the fear, the insecurity, the pain, the frustration that gives root to their behaviors? Can I not see the human being that lies beneath? Should I give a dog a bad name and hang it?
I wonder what would happen if we began to give each other the benefit of the doubt. The country that has supposedly some of the happiest people in the world, what would happen if we became the kindest and most compassionate people?
I am not asking you to be naïve and be led to slaughter. There are many people with whom I dine with a very long spoon. In fact there are many with whom I don’t dine at all. However what I think matters most here is how I view and think about them. I can forgive and understand. I can see them as flawed humans like myself. I can also understand that said flaw is quite dangerous and something over which they have no control or no desire to stop and as such I can remove myself from harm’s way if necessary, but I don’t have to hate them right?
I wish you could hear the sigh that escaped as I wrote that line. Some folks make it hard for you to love them. Yet we are commanded to. And I continue to think, especially as I read this simple book that I bought as a distraction, that when we love and lay down suspicion, anger and thoughts of treachery, irregardless of what may come, ultimately it is our lives that are the better for it.And so, I lay you down! If you want to fight, you are fighting yourself. Me, I see you. Just as you are, a scared little person who has no idea of your own strength, power and purpose in this world. I see you. And yes by the grace of God, I love you…And one day, I may like you.
Go deep
The other day I went swimming with my husband. Well he went swimming and I went paddling. You see I much prefer to hang out on the side of the pool where my feet just about touch the bottom and I paddle along nicely there, however according to David, my husband, that is not swimming.
“Come on out into the deep end” He called, determined to share with me the joy of doing laps. I shook my head. He came out to meet me and tried to show me some basic moves. “Just relax and let go” I stared at him blankly…let go into what, didn’t he understand the panic that rose up inside of me, the new sensation of being completely underwater was so uncomfortable that I kept jumping up gasping for air? Clearly not, because he kept pushing me to come out of my comfort zone, to go deep, so to speak.
I decided to take swimming lessons. So eventually I will really learn how to swim properly.
However I was thinking about how that experience is like a reflection for life. So many of us paddle along thinking that we are really living; we deal in the superficial, focusing on the aspects of life that keep us from drowning, (or so we think) a big house to live in, a fancy car to drive, a marriage that looks good to onlookers, designer clothes to rock and so on.
When something doesn’t feel right we address it on the surface. We feel inadequate because we don’t have what others in our social circle have, so we hustle to make it, in order to keep up with the Jones. We feel a little unsure with our looks, so we weave, paint and glue on, false pieces to embellish our sense of identity. We starve ourselves if necessary not to be healthy but to fit into a contrived version of beauty.
We only focus on what is on the surface. And I don’t blame anyone, going deep, going underwater is scary. You feel as if your lungs are going to explode and that life as you know it will no longer continue because you might drown.
Here’s the thing I am finding.
No matter how much you are paddling and how cool you look in your bathing suit with your hair not really getting wet, David was right, you are not swimming. No matter how comfortable your life appears and how glamorous you may be, if your life serves no purpose, then you are not living. Simply existing. If I can be morbid, you are a walking corpse, albeit a fabulously dressed one.
Whose life have you touched? What heart have you inspired? What kindness have you proffered that has impacted someone’s existence? What is your life’s purpose? What were you born to do?
I was coaching a woman the other day and she said “I have no idea what my purpose is. I don’t know what my passions are either.” Now this woman holds a professional degree, is a mother, wife and has been working in corporate America for more than a decade, but recently she came to the conclusion that she wanted to change her life. She was dissatisfied with so much in her life. Her marriage wasn’t quite what everyone thought it was, intimacy between she and her spouse had all but died, she felt like she was shortchanging her children because she never had any quality time to spend with them and while she was a competent worker she felt like she would never reach a certain pinnacle of success at work. And moreover, she just simply wasn’t happy.
So we talked about what it would take to create the life she wanted.
And at the end of that conversation, she responded with “Ekene, I just don’t know, you are asking me to change my life, I don’t think I can…” I smiled and reminded her that I wasn’t asking her to change her life, she desired to do so, but her response was what I expected. She was like me, content to paddle along and watch others swim powerfully, slicing through the water and creating a new path. I was afraid and so was she.
Going deep isn’t easy. It’s about looking at yourself and dealing with what lies underneath. Not focusing on the extra weight you are carrying about but dealing with the reasons why you are carrying it around (I could write a book on this…wait, I am writing a book!:)), not fretting about the cost of that designer bag you feel you have to have, even though you know you can’t really afford it, but facing your feelings of inadequacy that push you to have it, it’s about getting to the core of who you are, discovering your weaknesses, fears and strongholds and dealing with them, strengthening your core.
In the world of fitness, you will hear a lot about strengthening your core, it is where your true strength lies. Well going deep is about doing just that, strengthening your emotional and spiritual core. Understanding and accepting who you are and the value you add uniquely to this world. It takes work, it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not about a man shrugging his shoulders and saying “yeah, I cheat occasionally, it’s just who I am”, It’s about recognizing that you have the power to be better than who you think you are and pushing past your comfort zone to achieve it.
I say this, not because I am there yet, but because I am in the process of going deep. And it has been painful at times and exhilarating at times. I have looked into what lies underneath my emotional responses to things, why did I make some of the choices I made in my past, who am I really, under the words and the sound bytes? What are my areas of insecurity, what are my areas of strength?
Going deep is a process and it is scary at first. But just like you won’t drown while learning to swim, you lungs expand and your endurance builds, your life changes, you get stronger, wiser and deeper. When you choose to leave your comfort zone, then you can begin to live in a way that is purposeful and impactful to the world at large. Then your actions and choices will begin to add positivity to your life.
Then you can really begin to swim.
Smile! It’s good for your health.
Smile from Max Qubit on Vimeo.
Smiling is not just something you do to make others feel at ease, it is critical for your good health.
Why should you smile?
Smiling makes others want to be around us: People are drawn to genuine smiles. They want to find out why we are feeling so good.
Smiling can make us happy: Have you heard the saying, turn that frown upside down? Well smiling can turn your mood upside down. If you are in a funk, trying smiling at someone, they might smile back and even make you laugh.
Smiling releases endorphins: Studies have shown that smiling releases serotonin and endorphins, two natural
chemicals that make us feel good. Smiling one of nature’s antidepressants.
Smiling lifts the face and makes us appear younger, and more attractive.
Smiling makes one seem more confident, making one more likely to be promoted. Put on a smile at meetings and appointments and watch how things change for you.
Smiling can lower blood pressure. There is evidence that smiling can cause a measurable decrease in blood pressure.
Go ahead and smile. It’s good for you.
You are not your bag
image from classyluxuryhandbags.com
I was at dinner the other day with some girlfriends and the conversation turned to the intense materialism some of our Nigerian sisters display in their day to day lives. We talking about the lengths some women go to just to carry certain bags or wear certain shoes or drive certain cars, well you get the drift…My friend said it in her tell it like it is way, “Let’s face it, some have even dabbled in the diabolical!” I laughed hard but it’s true. So I started thinking about these material things and how we have let them define us.
Trappings of wealth or trapped by wealth?
I used to have a thing for handbags, I mean I can’t compete with some of the heavy bags carriers out there, never have been able to, never really wanted to. I always said that if I couldn’t express my personal style for a reasonable price then just forget it. But last year, I fell hard for this Fendi purse. It was not overly loud, well I mean it was as quiet as anything with a logo splashed all over it could be…It was just my style…and it was too expensive. I could afford it, but that wasn’t the point, I knew as I forked over my debit card, that it was an unnecessary expense, but somehow I felt like I needed it and had to have it.
Now I went to Nigeria and rocked the purse among others and of course found myself many a time being looked over and checked out to see whether I was among or not. Needless to say, I saw many purses in my bags family, some real, some fake and every woman carried it like an ID card.
Now I must confess, I don’t treat my bags very well. Any purse that comes into my home better be prepared to work. Gone are the days of sitting in a lighted case looking pretty. No way, you are going to be put to work, you will carry load and yet you might get set down in some not so fancy places and you may not always sleep in your dust bag…so get over it. Apparently this Fendi didn’t get the memo, because a few months ago, the handle pulled off. I was mortified. I mean the bag was packed full, I mean I had a juice box or two, a couple of lip gloss, a highly disorganized wallet, a child’s t-shirt, almonds, a novel, a small bible, sunglasses, sina’s sunglasses, crackers, a light bulb ( don’t ask) and a screwdriver. (Hey you never know!)
Now I was so irritated when the handle pulled off, I mean it’s not like this was a fake and even though Bloomingdale’s reassured me that they would be happy to send it off for repairs I was slightly irritated. I mean what was the point of paying so much for a bag that couldn’t stand up to my other ones.
It got me thinking about how we assign value to things.
I have heard of women putting hair on layaway, I have heard of women chasing married men because they hear that just for dinner the man will gift you enough to get the latest Jimmy Choo. I like nice things just as much as the next person, but I like one thing more. Me!
I haven’t carried that Fendi for months, I just have no desire. The thing disappointed me and now I can’t trust that it can handle what I am going to throw in it. So it sits on the shelf and I carry my other purses that I know can handle the pressure. However, I don’t find myself yearning for it, it doesn’t impact me, it doesn’t define my life.
And this is the truth, no matter how many designer bags you own, no matter what kind of car you drive, it doesn’t define you, even when you want it to. You are still you. Underneath that expensive clothing, if you don’t wash your body, it still stinks. So what’s all the fuss about?
We have been bamboozled. Lied to and its still going on, with every ad that says you’ve got to have it, it will make you more noticeable, people will respect you, people will love you, you will be somebody…lies, every one of them. From the airbrushed models to the seductive copy, its all lies.
No bag can make you somebody. No car, no brazilian hair just cut from the baby’s scalp can define you. They are simply things. Some nicer than others but all the same just things, and they can never compensate for what and who you should be. I mean nice things are just that and if you can afford them why not, but if you have to stretch or do some crazy things to be among, please o!
I paid too much for my lazy bag. Have you? Your life is too much to trade for the trappings of wealth, your dignity, your pride. Your love, your body…all these are priceless, so bartering with them makes no sense.
I know people who have traded their futures for an upgrade. Dating a man who you don’t love and who certainly doesn’t love you just so you can be among those who now travel business class. I mean it is certainly comfy but again not worth it if I have to give up myself to do it.
Let me paint you a picture. A glossy magazine ad, a woman, beautiful seeming to radiate light from within her, happy and fulfilled and yes, fly. That’s you and me. That picture right there is what we are and we are worth more than rubies! More than Gucci, Chanel and even “Hermes”.
So I am suggesting that we stop trading ourselves for these trappings of wealth. Instead let’s trade these trappings in, so we can be the people we really want to be.
Be happy!
Happiness is not a reaction to things that happen to us, it is a life choice, an attitude which then actually impacts your life positively. If we choose to be happy regardless of our circumstances then studies show that we will be healthier – Carnegie Mellon University released a study in that found that people who described themselves as happy actually had stronger immune systems; If we choose to be happy, then we can live longer – US news and world reports stated that happy people have been reported to suffer less from cardiac disease, heart attacks and strokes and have longer life expectancy in general. There are so many benefits to being happy.
I have this friend who is probably the sunniest person I know. For a while there I couldn’t understand her, because this was a person who I had never seen down. She was a mystery as I couldn’t understand how she existed in the world and seemed to have no problems.
One day we spoke about it. I asked her how she was able to live seemingly problem free. She told me that of course she had problems but she chose not to dwell on them. She chose to think on the things in her life that were wonderful and be thankful for the blessings she did have, and even when she did think about her problems, she always remembered that it could be worse.
It was like I saw the sky for the first time that morning. I mean really these are precepts that I know, talk about but didn’t really live. I was challenged. Then she went further and thoroughly blew my mind by simply asking, “What good is having faith if you can’t use it” Indeed! If one has faith then joy should be a natural complement.
In a world fraught with problems and challenges sometimes it’s all we can do to keep a smile on our face. Yet my friend was teaching me how to live and truly be happy in spite of circumstances. Neither she nor her life is perfect by any means but she is accepting of all the flaws and circumstances that come with life and truly tries to make the best of it.
So many of us are so cautious in life, guarded even, because we have been hurt so many times before, but when you are guarded you find it hard to love others and even more crucial, you make it difficult for people to love you.
People and even life rise up to meet your expectations. The more you think about something, the more you revel in something, the more you speak about something, the more you fear something, the more you breathe life into it.
There is a scripture that states “That which I feared the most has happened to me” So if that happens then what? How will you live your life, If you have no plans of dying?
Won’t you join me today as I choose to use my faith like a sledgehammer against my problems, like a fence against danger, like balm on my heart. As I choose to focus on the wonderful things I have in my life, an amazing brown ball of energy, love and pure delight of a daughter, a husband who has added value to my life and has cared for me in countless ways and inspired me in others, a father, who has sent me the sweetest text messages, a mother who prays for me night and day, sisters who are my best friends, a brother who keeps it real, friends who teach me and hold me up when I am down…a life that while imperfect is beautiful and mine.
Thanks to my friend the optimist who reminds us all that the glass is never half empty, it is always half full.
Indeed this life has problems but it also has joys, no matter the circumstance you find yourself, this is true of everyone, so let’s all go on and get happy! Let’s chase all our blues away!