Live The Best Possible Life Ever

Did we really experience the year 2020 or did we wake up from a scary dream? Thank God that we are still alive. On a good note, the year 2021 is indeed a New Year with endless possibilities. Certainly, I hope that you find true love, peace, courage to stand firm to tackle and overcome the obstacles in your life. I hope that you continue to show earnest kindness to others and receive true love in return. For this New Year, I wish for you to obtain a greater inner peace within yourself, which will serve as a special tool for you to stay calm ,even when life’s uncertainties attempt to knock you down. Cheers to all our humanly brothers and sisters throughout the world. Cheers, because through divine grace, we are still alive in the land of the living!! Now that we are indeed alive, it is very essential to ask ourselves the next question.

Where will we all be in the next 100 years? I sincerely hope you take a minute to ponder and have an honest answer to this question because your answer will positively impact your future forever. For instance, a child that is born on January 31, 2021 may answer this existential question and say “here on Earth.” However, for most of us reading this article, the answer is not so straight forward. The next 100 years may be different from the previous past 100 years or may be the same in some aspects. But in actuality, only God really knows. My hope for the next 100 years is to live a productive life as long as possible, build a creative program that will enrich the lives of my communities, and finally to be in Heaven one day with God along with my family, friends, colleagues and strangers that I have come into contact with while on this Earth. Our time given to us on this Earth is one of our most important commodities that we possess, and how we choose to spend that time will define our destiny. For this year I hope that you use your time wisely to create the beautiful life that you want to live.

Speaking about the concept of time, one day at work, I asked my 101 year old patient the key to living a longer life. Her answer was to enjoy working. She grew up working on a farm. I was amazed and astonished at her response because throughout our whole life, half of us worry about the long hours and constant demand of our work schedules, which can cause a lot of strain on our mind and body. Her answer opened my eyes to the fact that the right balance of work and play is essential to our longevity on this Earth. For the right balance of work and play creates a greater character for that individual and in the process toughens our body, mind and enables us to develop the art of perseverance- which is a successful trait demonstrated among the heroes of previous and current generations such as Thomas Edison, former Presidents Abraham Lincoln, and

President Jimmy Carter, who also was a farmer, and is still going strong after all these years at the age of 96.

In conclusion, the next 100 years will be the most exciting times of our lives. I sincerely hope that you develop a stronger relationship with your God this year so that you can be ready for all the possibilities that will come your way. Cheers!!!

From Kofi Amo-Mensah, Medical Doctor.

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There are certain activities in our lives that leaves us with good memories. Eating a good food is certainly one of them. What is the best food that you ever ate? My mother makes the best pancakes in the whole world!! Her pancakes are so good that you do not have to add any syrup! My wife makes the best Bofrot in the whole world!!! Bofrot is the Ghanaian version of Munchkins Donut Hole Treats from Dunkin’ Donuts.

For most of us, life is not scripted because it can be filled with surprises. For me, that surprise occurred one day when my daughter transformed one routine day into a special day. As a physician, I was post call and had arrived home from the hospital. I was physically drained after taken care of my patients, a few of them with Covid-19. My daughter’s school was cancelled due to a wintry mix of snow and sleet and my children were off for that day. After arriving from work, I performed my newly crafted routine of removing my shoes in the back of my car, washing my hands thoroughly, rushing to the bathroom to take a shower to get rid of any possible germs or viruses, then lastly, coming downstairs to meet my family. Like all healthcare workers, I have been doing my best to prevent bringing any disease from work to my family.

For this particular day, my daughter insisted on me baking her a cookie!!! I was blind sided by this request because I had never baked a cookie before in my entire life. I promised her we would bake her a cookie after I had eaten breakfast.

We got the cookies mix, preheated the oven and kneaded the dough and to my surprise, with my wife’s help, I baked my first cookie for my daughter!! The process of dough kneading was actually therapeutic to my mind and was a great stress reliever. While the chocolate chip cookies were baking in the oven, my daughter was patiently sitting three feet from the oven, and took a deep breath and smelled the aroma and inhaled the fresh scent of the cookies. I stood adjacent to her and saw one of the happiest smiles on her face. My wife decided to bake us banana bread also that day. Although it was cold outside, the inside of our house was warm with the enticing smell mixed of baking chocolate chip cookies and banana bread.

Will you believe it that after my wife’s banana bread was finished baking, the aroma transported my mind to a time period about 35 years ago when I was a child at the age of 5 or 6 years old, when my mother and her friend were baking us banana bread!!! When the cookies and banana bread were baked, my daughter, son, wife and I had the cookies and banana bread for dessert that day. They were sweet and delicious!!

In good faith, this story is shared to simply illustrate the importance of creating beautiful memories with our children, especially in such times as these. Likewise, these golden periods between the age of one to eighteen years, are the best times for us as parents to teach our children the importance of virtue, honesty, hard work, efficiency, developing great self esteem, sharing, loving others, becoming law abiding citizens, showing respect for our elderly population and providing age appropriate discipline to our children. The scripture states in Proverbs 22:6 : “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” It is an honest fact that one day these children also will grow up and start families of their own. In conclusion, let us always remember that the mutual time spent with our children will always create positive memories that will last them a lifetime!!!

By Kofi Amo-Mensah, Medical Doctor.