HEALTHY AGING BY STAYING ACTIVE

To be alive is to be active. Conversely, when a person stops being active, that person becomes less alive. This gives us a basic formula for healthy aging, namely, Keep yourself active in every dimension of life. Simple! Keep yourself actively alive mentally, emotionally, behaviorally, relationally, etc. Now while that is the general principle, we have to be more specific. To that end here are some questions: “What makes you feel alive? What enlivens your mind? Your emotions? Your activities and behaviors?” And if you don’t know, then, “What could enliven these aspects?”

Your answers to these questions may serve as possible directions for how to stay active. As I have already mention, the very idea of “retiring” countermands this idea of staying active. Retiring is probably the worst thing to you can do and the worse goal you could possible to set. Don’t do it! Instead, set the goal of staying active and continuing to strive to “be more, do more, think more, feel more, have more, give more.” That is one of the objectives of living in the Being-dimensions where self-actualizing occurs. And because of that, this is one of those interconnections between self-actualization psychology and the psychology of healthy aging.

This also brings up one of the problems or challenges for people in the “golden years.” As most people grow older, they become less and less active. They opt for sitting rather than walking. They opt for watching TV rather than engage themselves in an activity that calls upon them to stretch themselves. The problem is actually more sinister than this. If in growing older, you become less active, your less activity will result in you having less energy and stamina, and with less energy and stamina, you will tend to do less, take on fewer activities. In this way, a negative downward cycle is initiated. You do less, have less energy, so do even less, feel less energy, etc. This is a formula for growing older unhealthily!

Yet while that may seem to be a “natural” and inevitable process, it is not. You can interrupt that process and you can, in fact, create a virtuous upward cycle in its place. You can keep taking on activities that stretch your mind, body, emotions, actions, etc. And as you do, you can experience more energy and more stamina. Whether you experience life as a downward vicious cycle or an upward virtuous cycle—it is up to you. It’s your choice. It’s one choice that plays a significant role in healthy aging and it’s a crucial choice.

What does this take? Mostly mindfulness. Mostly you need to be mindful of the choices you make and consciously use your intentionality to set goals that keep stretching you. In fact, you can use that as a way to monitor how you are doing. “Is this choice I’m making one that will stretch me or not?” “Is this choice an option to rest and retire?” However you use your intentionality for setting goals and objectives, you will be setting in motion a life-orientation.

That’s what intentionality does—it establishes a direction in life and from that, a sense of purpose. Mindfulness is the quality that enables you to not default on these choices.

Now knowing that to be alive is to be active, I’ve set this as one of my conscious intentions, namely, to stay active. I may no longer be able to do 10-mile runs before breakfast as I did in my 20s and 30s, but I can and will keep my mind, body, emotions, speech and behaviors as active as I can. I don’t want to rest on a beach or play bingo. I intend to keep studying and learning new things, things that I hope will disturb my current knowledge and keep opening up new possibilities, new patterns, new trainings, etc. My intention is to stay on the cutting-edge of things in psychology and Neuro-Semantfics as I can.

In this I recall the fabulous words of George Bernard Shaw in the following quotation when he said that he wants to “be thoroughly used up when I die.”

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ’brief candle’ for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” [Source: Dedicatory Letter, Shaw, G.B. (1980), Man and Superman, Penguin, Harmondsworth]