No more sniffling, beloveds. Be not a sniffler in life. Beat your chest if you must, but don’t sniffle. Don’t whine, don’t feel sorry for yourself or anyone. Sniffling and whining and feeling sorry for yourself are not recommended activities. Who wants to hear about them anyway? It’s better that you get along in life. It’s better that you get up from feeling sorry for yourself. This is absolutely no way to spend your life. Certainly you didn’t think it was. Life doesn’t offer you opportunity in order for you to stew in your own juice. Life has other things lined up for you.

Consider life for one moment as the sport of bowling. There are times when you knock down all tenpins. There are times you don’t. Have fun bowling. Have fun when you get a good score. Have fun when you don’t get a good score. Have a good time in life regardless of what may happen in it. The score card you are to keep is a winning attitude. You can always win with how you feel. By and large, how you feel is what you make of something. Make losses and a bad day, and that’s what you have. Make losses like salt you throw over your shoulder, and what do you have but a new slate?

When you exercise your rights to be wimpy and weepy in life, this is called Poor Me. Do you want to go there? Do you want looks of condolences from others in order to stay feeling sorry for yourself? Better to accept no invitations. Don’t go to any Poor Me parties, yours or others’. Stay away from such congregating across the board. Poor Me parties are not in your best interest. They aren’t in anyone’s best interest. They are not agents of welfare. Poor me parties are as much petty as they are pity. Go to places where you don’t get support for how sorry you feel for yourself or anyone. Go places where you get support for good cheer.

Don’t paste feeling sorry on yourself or anyone. What is part of life is part of life. You may not be able to escape all that you would like to escape from, nor is it your job to run away. Whatever the perceived trouble is, it is yours to face. Who would ever face what is called tragedy unless he had to? When what you call the loss of a loved one falls to your lot, cry your tears, weep your tears, and then get up. Put yourself to good use as soon as possible. You are not here on Earth to spend time crying for yourself.

You may be sure that I do not suggest pretending that you are happy when you are bereft. I am suggesting that you get up after you have a good cry. A good cry is not to be frowned on. But how long are you going to stay there strung out on misery? Even if you are in misery, there is no question about it, you can still get up. You can still offer something to someone else. This is something worthwhile for you to get up for. Bless someone else. Offer something to someone else. Instead of wringing your hands, or holding a Kleenex, put your misery aside. Get up from it. The purpose of your life is decidedly not to agonize over either little or big things.

Self-pity may be what a bed of nails is. In any case, don’t lie down on it. As soon as you realize you’re lying on a bed of nails, get up. Go about your Father’s business.