The Freedom of Aging I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime moan about my body, the wrinkles, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long. I would never trade my amazing family, my wonderful friends, my great life for less gray hair, more hair, or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.          I don't chide myself  for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly three story birdhouse that I didn't need, but looks so cool in my yard. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.          I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60's &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.          I will walk the beach in a swimsuit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old before they know it.          I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.          Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when your beloved pet dies? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.          I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning grey, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.          As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care a lot less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong on occasion.          So, I like being older. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be.

 

 

Helping the Mind

After a minor mishap recently I was left with a sore right shoulder for a while. Nothing too serious, however I was advised to stop using my right hand as much as possible. It is my dominant side so be able to continue to function in day-to-day activities like eating, brushing my teeth, etc. I began using my left hand. While awkward at first, my ability slowly improved.      

As I was beginning to feel sorry for myself I came across an article on how to stretch brainpower in order to avoid cognitive impairment. And lo and behold one of the suggestions was that everyone should shake up their daily routine by using their non-dominant hand to perform some tasks from time to time. So what I was forced to do proved to be useful for my brain after all. Other suggestions to shake up our routines from the experts include taking different routes from time to time when driving to work or visiting family and friends.

            Of course, other things we can do to improve our brains as we age. According to experts, exercise appears to protect both the structure and the function of the brain so that there is a reduced decline in brain tissues in older adults. Regular exercise is associated with reduced risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.

            Cortisol, the stress hormone, has been associated with memory impairments. One way to reduce cortisol is with meditation which anyone can practice. Also research shows that participating in brain-stimulating activities encourages the development of synapses. Activities like learning a new musical instrument, learning a new language or playing video games are all brain protective.

            I don’t think that mental lapses like forgetting where we left our car keys are all serious. Many times they occur because we don’t pay attention to what we are doing. The trick is to become more mindful in the present moment.

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          New Words

Teachers make sure young minds understand that language is dynamic and that it changes and evolves over time. Old words become archaic and fall by the wayside, others are modified

            And, of course, people have developed their own common regional words. Hearing a Scot and an Australian in conversation, you might wonder if they are speaking the same language. Also, words are created when people find nothing suitable exists. Take for example the word recreationist, a person who plans and designs activities for seniors and others.  While the word cannot be found in the dictionary, it clearly expresses the work the person does.

            With the current state of politics and the speed of communication today, new words or acronyms seem to appear on a regular basis.

            A poll of Americans is showing a list of annoying words that have appeared in the last year of so. They include cofefe (which as far as I can tell no one knows what it really means) and of course fake news as well as post-truth (information that appeals to emotion rather than being objective facts).  Non-annoying words have also appeared and include working memory, as opposed to long-term or short-term memory, refers to memory that involves focusing on information for a just a few seconds, i.e. the number we punch into a phone. The term funk up means to raise the energy level, as in “I need to funk up when I wake up in the morning.”

            I was surprised to read that the commonly used word whatever annoys older people more than younger ones.

            The advent of new avenues for global information and communication has spun its own vocabulary. Now twitter is all the rage as people feel a need to let the world know what they are doing or thinking, almost minute by minute. Today, m-learning i.e. mobile or distance learning via electronic devices, is welcome by many who otherwise may not be able to get an education. This means there is no reason not to learn no matter a person’s age; the options are limitless.

            We are all familiar with the acronyms millennials use to save time and energy as they text, i.e. BTW (by the way); LOL (laughing out loud); but new ones have come into usage: BWL (bursting with laughter); BWA (bitch with attitude); and one that applies to me: SPEXY (sexy with glasses).

             Awesome is still very much in usage by the younger crowd and applies to almost anything and anyone. But, let’s not forget that cool is still very much in usage and is even used as a verb as in cool it. We all know the sign # for hashtag has replaced the sign that used to indicate number. Remember?

            The travel industry now has its own lexicon. Staycations, popular in hard times, are vacations taken at home or close to home. Voluntourism combines travel with doing volunteer work abroad, while, as the name implies, microvacations are brief vacations. And grey nomads are retired people who travel around in motor homes getting together with other grey nomads along the way.   

            Spin has many meanings. Putting a spin on it or being a spin doctor is a latter-day definition which certainly applies to advertising, or to efforts used these  days by men caught in possible career-ending dilemmas.

Power of the Mind

I want to expand on my blog of a few weeks ago about the power of the mind. There is no longer any doubt that the mind can lead us to happier lives. There are many books on the market that discuss how we can be affected in a negative manner by the way we think.

            To me it’s especially important to be aware of that fact as we age because it would indicate that it is possible to feel younger if we set our minds to it. In one experiment, men in their 70s and 80s practiced pretending they were younger, and the end result was that their bodies were in fact younger.

            In her book Joy! Joy! Joy! Ellen Wood says that she reversed cognitive decline with a program of mind/body/spirit self-help that she developed. She was worried that her fate would be the same as that of her mother who had been a victim of Alzheimer’s disease.

It seems to me that as they age some people simply give up and accept the physical and mental decline of old age without any thought to how their lives could be better. They say things like: my mother died of cancer, that’s what will happen to me, or my grandmother had osteoporosis, so will I. Or dementia runs in my family, so there’s nothing I can do about it. That’s very sad, because so much can be done

One of the habits I have adopted some time ago now is that I meditate every day, twice a day most of the time. The result for me has been that it not only calms me and helps me sleep better but that it has also improved minor physical problems. So why not take advantage of such a simple habit that does not cost anything and has so many positive benefits. It simply involves guiding the mind to positivity.

And positivity is important at any age, and as we get on in years good thoughts should always be our primordial aim. Why suffer when we can let the mind makes us feel better, happier and even younger!

           

             

Points to Ponder 

Most people make resolutions at this time of year. While these may fall by the wayside in short order, there is nevertheless an effort made.

For me and all the others who don’t make resolutions as such, here are some interesting ideas I came across recently that can improve our lives:

-         Stress is a choice we make when we react to events in our lives in an emotional manner.

-         The quality of life is not based on what we own, but rather by how we feel inside.

-          Fear or anger enters our lives because of the way we look at what is happening around us.

-         Comparing ourselves to others can only make us miserable.

-         I wish I were what I was when I wished I were what I am.

-         Fear of death is simply fear of the unknown, not the thing itself.

-         We should recapture some of the urgency for living we had in childhood.

-         Try to admire without envy.

-         Honesty has the power to destroy fear.

-         Change and the world will change with you.

-         Be your own best friend.

-         The future happens just one day at a time.

-         Why do we so hate being taught when we’re so happy to learn?

-         We can accept blame for something, yet we’re unhappy when somebody else blames us.

-         Is there a humble person who is not proud of the fact?

And,

-         Most of us would like to be remembered for something that made others happy.

Happy New Year to all those who read my blog.

 

Joy All Around

Christmas is almost here, and there’s joy all around. It’s time for family and friends, for gifts and for laughter and for smiles.

I wish all my readers the best of life and the joy of the season.

I am taking a few weeks off, and will be back in January.

Our Future

Some folks still hang on to the idea that climate change is not real, just something cooked up by naysayers. Such a denial should worry all of us because the predictions of the scientific community are dire indeed if we continue in our current path. One consequence will certainly be an increase in numbers and intensity of natural disasters. After a year where disasters killed so many people and caused so much damage all around the world, we can no longer afford to ignore the warnings if we want a future.

            For example, I don’t think we can afford to continue being a throw-away society. Recently, my washing machine stopped working. When a repairman came he easily found the problem: an accumulation of lint in the pump which was easily cleaned. My machine is more than 25 years old, and the repairman told me he seldom sees machines that age because they last a long time. He says that what he sees now is the newer models that are not as well built. Newer is not necessarily better.

            In my neighborhood there was a fellow who repaired electronics. Some years ago he repaired my VCR (remember those?). He is now retired and when I saw him recently he said he was sad that few people repair their television sets today. They prefer to buy something new with the latest innovation in picture and sound. So more garbage is being generated! Do we really need to have the latest product as soon as it comes out? And where does it end?

            When one of my aunts moved into a retirement apartment from her home, she told me that the thing she missed most was her clothesline. She had hung her clothes outside all her life and had a difficult time adjusting to only using a clothes dryer. I understood because I have been using a clothesline most of my life. There’s nothing like the smell of clothes dried outside.

            I am hopeful that the young generation coming after us might turn things around. They are certainly trying. My granddaughters hang their washed clothes on folding expandable racks that can be used in the house as well as outside.. They do it because it is easier on their garments than tumbling then in a machine, but also because it helps the environment. Imagine if everyone did this how much energy we would save!

            Another point for the younger generation is that many of them are vegetarians. It’s no secret that meat production accounts for some 2/3 of the greenhouse gas emissions, and the millennials have taken notice. Because of reduced red meat consumption in North America, there has been a steep decline in the number of beef cattle, a trend which will surely continue. In a few years, this is bound to have an effect on the environment and hopefully prevent an increase in natural disasters.