Every day messages from pilgrims who travel and travel without ever reaching the goal enter my mailbox. This is one of the malicious breaches of the Internet: the email chains that uselessly overload the servers with the negative consequences for the fluidity of the system that this implies.
Most of these messages remain “shelfed” forever in my inbox, sometimes for computer security reasons and other times for lack of time to review beyond the senders or known issues. But occasionally someone catches my attention and I notice him, as happened in the one that has motivated these lines.
It was a message that in its Subject matter claimed to be the bearer of “Advice of great pedagogical value” and because of being a mother and having school-age daughters I opened it and here I transcribe what I found.
Tips to be happy today
- Just for today
- Just for today I will try to live exclusively for the day, not wanting to solve the problem of my life all at once.
- Just for today I will take the utmost care of my appearance, I will be courteous in my ways, I will not criticize anyone, and I will not try to improve or discipline anyone but myself.
- Just for today I will be happy with the certainty that I have been created for happiness, not only in the other world, but also in this one.
- Just for today I will adapt to the circumstances without pretending that the circumstances adapt to my desires.
- Just for today I will dedicate ten minutes of my time to a good read, remembering that just as food is necessary for the life of the body, good reading is for the health of the soul.
- Just for today I will do a good deed and not tell anyone.
- Just for today I will firmly believe – even if circumstances tell me otherwise – that God’s paternal providence takes care of me as if no one else existed in the world.
- Just for today I will have no fears. In a particular way I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and not to let myself be conquered by goodness. I can do good for twelve hours; what overwhelms me is thinking about what I have to do for the rest of my life.
- “Do not allow yourself to be overcome by sadness or overwhelmed by your own fault; joy of heart is the life of man, joy lengthens his years; be consoled, recover your spirits, take sorrow away from you, because sadness has killed many and not nothing is gained by grief and anger shorten the years, worries grow old before their time, a happy heart is a great feast that benefits those who eat it.” (Ecclesiasticus 30: 21-25.) So far the message and with it came the question of
- Only for today? behind which was hidden the certainty that not infrequently we are silent witnesses of the fatal staging of an excellent script. We know what must be done to achieve the utopia of being happy, and we are content to do it “just today”.
- I flatly refuse to be happy for just one day and invite her to join the club. (Thank God I checked the mail)