Overview
Positive and Successful aging are about quality of life and the enjoyment of living. Overall wellness depends upon attitude, spirit, resilience and adaptability to the new opportunities and challenges of later life. We all have the potential to bring these qualities to our senior years.
Last update: 9.4.18
Positive and Successful aging are about quality of life and the enjoyment of living. Overall wellness depends upon attitude, spirit, resilience and adaptability to the new opportunities and challenges of later life. We all have the potential to bring these qualities to our senior years.
Last update: 9.4.18
Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian-born Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist who witnessed the atrocities at Auschwitz first hand. He wrote about his experience in a book called Man’s Search for Meaning. With people living longer than ever before, and boredom now causing more problems (depression, aggression and addiction) than distress, his recommendations for leading a fulfilling life are all the more relevant. The bottom line: each person is responsible for answering for his own life and must actualize its meaning. There are three ways to do so:
Love…No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being without love, which empowers us to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, we see their potential, even if it is not actualized yet. Suffering…Finding meaning in life when confronted with a hopeless situation; when facing a fate which cannot be changed; transforming a personal tragedy into a triumph, turning a predicament into human achievement. What matters is to make the best of any situation. Happiness…Happiness can’t be pursued; it must ensue. We must have a reason to be happy. Once the reason is found, we become happy automatically. For example, if you want someone to laugh, you need to provide a reason, e.g. tell a joke. Learn more about the Science of Happiness. Choice…We constantly make choices. At any moment, we must decide, for better or worse, what will be the monument of our existence. Nothing can be undone, and nothing can be done away with. Change…Every one has the freedom to change at any instant. The freedom to change requires being responsible. Conscience…Indicates the direction in which we have to move in a given life situation. In order to carry out a task, conscience must apply a measuring stick to the situation we are confronted with, and this situation has to be evaluated in the light of a set of criteria based on a hierarchy of values. These values cannot be exposed and adopted by us on a conscious level—they are something that we are; something that has become clearer in the course of the evolution of humankind. They are founded on our biological past and are rooted in our biological depth. More About Positive & Successful Aging
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Faith, Spirituality, Belief, and Religion
What's the Difference?
A Question of Faith Based on a speech by Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick at the Ceifin Conference in Ennis, Ireland, November, 2007--the quest for meaning arises from reflecting on life's goal. Whether you sway toward the secular or religious, all of our longings and hopes come from our restlessness, our desire to be what we or our Creator are capable of becoming.
Why Kids Need Spirituality Children who are raised with a robust and well-developed spiritual life are happier, more optimistic, more thriving, more flexible, and better equipped to deal with life’s ordinary (and even extraordinary) traumas than those who are not, NY Magazine. 
Work and Volunteering
Employment Options Eldercare.gov, Widgets Magazine, Encore.org Volunteering Opportunities US...US National Parks Service, AmeriCorp, VolunteerMatch, Points of Light, United Way Abroad...Gviusa, Volunteer Travel Warning...Do your homework when selecting the volunteer organization and assignment. The wrong experience can prove to be unrewarding and demoralizing. Muere lentamente
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet and diplomat who died under questionable circumstances during the Pinochet coup of Salvador Allende in 1973. He began writing poems at the age of 10 and he was once called “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.” Below is a poem attributed to Neruda that speaks to all generations. It's worth a read even though the Pablo Neruda Foundation says he never wrote it. More likely it was written by the Brazilian poet Martha Medeiros. You start dying slowly You start dying slowly if you do not travel, if you do not read, If you do not listen to the sounds of life, If you do not appreciate yourself. You start dying slowly When you kill your self-esteem; When you do not let others help you. You start dying slowly If you become a slave of your habits, Walking everyday on the same paths… If you do not change your routine, If you do not wear different colors Or you do not speak to those you don’t know. You start dying slowly If you avoid to feel passion And their turbulent emotions; Those which make your eyes glisten And your heart beat fast. You start dying slowly If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love, If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain, If you do not go after a dream, If you do not allow yourself, At least once in your lifetime, To run away from sensible advice. |