It’s hard to avoid the news these days. With the turmoil of the world, the arbitrariness of suffering is scary. In point of fact, we are more likely to get the Zika virus than experience a terrorist attack! Yet it tugs at the fragility of life; that, at any moment, the life we know can crack open and fall apart.
And that is the best reason I can think of to take hold of life and ride it full out with all its ups and downs, joys and sorrows. The people who live the longest in the world, those in the Blue Zones, live longer in part because they don’t fret over what they can’t control. They tend to either let these things go or seek support within their moai –family, tribe or community.
They maintain meaningful connections with others. They have purpose and they know that they matter. These qualities, along with a fresh, natural diet and plenty of exercise are the essential elements that allow them to persevere and flourish up to ten years longer than we do here in the U.S.
How do they do it? Well, they don’t worry on and on about what might have been or what might happen tomorrow… or ten years from now. Those who live the longest are in the present moment. It’s the only thing that is real. Yesterday is gone, it’s a memory and tomorrow is a dream. Right here, right now is the moment to choose to make these years productive, meaningful and above all, filled with a sense of purpose, whatever that might be for you.
There is no time like the present to connect to the truth that every breath you take is an opportunity to be more, do more and contribute more. What are your dreams? What did you always put off “until tomorrow”? What can you do that would make you feel alive and challenged? Who can you help? Why not do it now?
Develop an awareness about what you are thinking and doing because what you think and what you do in any moment is completely under your control. You get to choose!
Be a Savvy Senior. take pen to paper (or finger to iPad) and start making a list of those dreams.
