A picture of health

It has been said that being in a good frame of mind helps keep one in the picture of health.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “All sorts of bodily diseases are produced by half-used minds.” And I think there’s a lot of truth in that.

Now, the question is how to keep a good frame of mind when everyday in the daily papers we are bombarded with all kinds of negative and disturbing news.

It hurts to know, the world is actually rich yet poor.

Hunger, diseases, human sufferings and injustice are not just prevalent in many parts of the world, but are literally right at our front door. So do tell me, how are we to have a good frame of mind?

If nothing else works, we have to remain strong, think happy thoughts and change our very own perception of the world around us to something more palatable, I guess.

Have yourself a breath of Heaven like what Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott wrote:

"Every now and then,
when the world sits just right,
a gentle breath of heaven
fills my soul with delight..."
(~Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott, A Breath of Heaven)

However, if you still have the blues and cannot help thinking of the topsy-turvy world that we live in, I suggest you take time off and go made some marmalade or get busy with your hands. Just do something useful.

Indeed, it's amazing how it cheers one up, takes the blues away, just to shred oranges or to scrub the floor. Try it.

We need to use our minds to their fullest, to think as our Creator would want us think, for what we do and who we become depends a lot on what we think.

Minds that think seldom wear out but those that don’t often rust out, if you are not careful.

A Swedish proverb says, “Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours.” Really?

So forget about chasing the big stuff, why not learn to enjoy the little things - there are so many of them like reading, writing a blog or tendering to a garden for instance.

As they say, the best things in life are free! And why can’t that be? Like the air we breathe and the friends we have. Isn’t life great?

The way to go is: “Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.” This is what H. Jackson Brown, Jr., advises in his Life's Little Instruction Book.

Irving Berlin puts it this way:
“Got no checkbooks, got no banks,
Still I'd like to express my thanks -
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.”

What’s there to complain about, so have we!

In conclusion, I like what J. Brotherton said and that is this, “My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants.”

To keep that in mind is to stay happy, healthy and wise.

God bless.