Has our culture been so brain washed by pharmaceutical companies’ TV commercials that we now believe that everything is a disease, including aging? Have we given our health and wellness over to doctors who dole out the RX samples like free candy?
New research about aging and health is actually exciting and encouraging. There are ways to facilitate more creativity, health, and build a better brain — no matter how old you are. Genetics of the brain and body are being unlocked revealing that we cannot just live longer, but live a high quality of life as we do.
Aging is part of the continuum of life. The continuum is from optimal wellness to death. Aging is part of life — just as toddlerhood, adolescence, and adulthood are part of the continuum. Here is a metaphor I use to explain the continuum and how many factors affect growth, health, vitality and quality of life.
If you plant two fruit trees, one in the shade, in a shallow hole, no room for the roots to grow, and it receives no nutrients, not much sun and there are other bushes around it that crowd it; it’s growth and health are stunted and it produces little if any fruit. The other tree is planted in fertile soil with plenty of room for the roots. It receives sunlight during the daytime and is watered as needed. It has plenty of space to grow and it grows strong and full and produces a lot of fruit.
Our bodies, like the trees, have genetic material encoded, but there are many other factors that affect growth, development, and health. Recent studies in mind body psychology indicate that enriching life experiences that evoke newness, and stimulation of new brain patterns occur during creative moments of art, music, dance, drama, humor, literature, spirituality, awe, joy, and cultural rituals — and that these can positively affect healing and the aging process.
Studies show that a mother’s touch creates stimulation of the immune system, growth hormones, and neural growth in her baby’s brain. Yes, we may be living longer but quality of life begins every day with making a choice to promote health, creativity, neurogenesis or new brain neural pathways, and a strong immune system.
Learn more about healthy living and aging at emdrcoach.com.
Being a volunteer may be a first step. You will have so much experience and many skills built up over the years. Personal, domestic, financial, creative etc etc.
If you are too close to see them ask a friend to help you list them. What you'd learned
Hello lovely women,
When I was sad and somewhat lost in 2006 I found an amazing course called Awakening Joy. You can attend the course live in Berkeley, California, or you can take the course online. There is a sliding scale, so if you really nee
Dear Sparkle - This is so unfair, which makes it all the more frustrating! I'm sorry for your situation!!! I am partnered with a wellness company that specializes in helping people to start over. I'm happy to share what I do. Perhaps it is ju
Great article. I just read The Gift of Aging. It is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Aging is not a disease. It’s not a crime. How you age is up to you. The quality of life you create for yourself is also up to you.
Before those issues can be addressed it is helpful to ask what it means to age, what are the gifts. I think we dismiss those gifts when we equate aging well with being young. That’s an issue for me because I get told how young looking I am all the time and people are surprised when I tell them my age. Does that mean that I only have value when I’m young looking? I asked the younger women I work with what they mean when they say I’m not old. It was surprisingly in line with my own thinking.
For me, aging well means being active, because that’s who I am, it means being deeply engaged with my soul and the world around me. I’m still passionate and curious. This is the time in my life for me to become fully human and the best me I can be.
I think too many people use age as an excuse to give up and have a sense of entitlement. Maybe that’s because our culture doesn’t celebrate age. Why should it when we don’t? How different are we from young girls who look to culture for identity and self worth if we don’t embrace the gifts of aging and live our best lives. The question is what does that mean to age well and how to do we do that. The Gifts of Aging goes a long way to answering those questions.
Sorry for the rant…teacher on vacation. Great post.