Want to have a good life? Then own up to your mistakes and be a giving person. If for whatever reason you happen to be already endowed with these traits, then you’re already a long way down the happiness trail. Why? Because you now have two really big bonuses to negotiate life’s mine fields with, without getting blown up.

What gives me the right to lecture on how to lead a life that at the end of the trail one can say ,”I’ve enjoyed the journey?” I’m going to show you my cards right now. “

I’m going to play the almost 80 card. I hope this doesn’t turn you, the reader off by thinking, “This guy is probably out of touch with today’s world.” But rather, “This guy is really old, he must know something.”

Well I really believe that the giving quality is essential because It’s the one that you can practice whenever you have a mind to and always makes you feel good. Plus the receiver will be engulfed with a case of the Warm Fuzzies.

Owning up to your mistakes is a must because if you don’t you’ve given up your right to fix whatever is causing you grief. To say it’s the other guy’s fault says that: “I can’t fix my problem, somebody else has to fix it for me.”

So what if he or she doesn’t fix your problem. Now you’re back to being scared, angry or feeling bad to name just a few. All because you choose the, it’s not my fault way, which is a dead end way to solve a problem.

If your health is lousy, boy that’s a tough one and until you get to feeling better changing the way you react to life’s challenges might not happen. This raises the question that quite possibly your attitude could be part of the reason for your sickness in the first place. Part of the contents to Reader’s Digest magazine every month was a column called, Laughter is the Best Medicine. What a great piece of advice.

For me none of the above can exist for long without some form of exercise. A mailman with a walking route gets his as part of the job description. Computer Programmers, that sit all day in front of a computer screen, better find a gym or a place to walk. Otherwise he will find himself (or herself) with the dreaded expansion of the waistline, and more trips to the family doctor will be a given.

Then there’s the other really big and weighty option, as told in the words of an old country song “Live hard, die young and have a beautiful memory.”

It’s your choice.

See ya,

Jack