Growing Old With Age Esteem
One Key to Life
(as we are told)
Is aging best by growing old.
Growing wise and staying bright,
Being strong and showing might.
Spend your years by growing UP!
Fill to brim each daily “cup”!
Grow, not old but ageless, and
With Age Esteem you’ll be just grand!
Written by Alexandra Taylor for AgeEsteem®
Eating Alone – With Age Esteem
I love to travel, but I do admit that it took me awhile to feel comfortable eating alone.
Usually when you are welcomed to a restaurant the person who seats you says, “Just one?” as though there is something objectionable about being alone, and that you must therefore be lonely. As a result, you do feel alone. I used to pull out a book or writing paper to seem busy. Then a friend shared this story.
She and her business partner closed a huge contract in New York. Although her partner had to fly out immediately, my friend decided to celebrate with a delicious dinner and wine at one of the top Manhattan restaurants.
When she arrived the maître d’hôtel looked down his nose at her and announced, “Ah, I see Madam is alone tonight.” My friend’s prompt reply was, “Oh, no, tonight I am with myself!”
Her story changed my outlook from eating alone, to eating “with myself”. I now savor the moment, the food, and the joy of being in my own good company.
Today at the Tampa airport the woman who greeted me asked, “A party of one?” I responded, “Yes. And it is going to be a great party!” – And it was.
Next time you eat out alone, glow with age esteem and make it a party of one.
Bonnie Fatio
Age Esteem – A Poem
Age Esteem
Is when you’ll seem
To like the age you are.
There is no old
If you are bold
To be your shining star.
It isn’t hard
To draw the card
That’s highest in your hand…
The one which wins
Your youthful whims
And slows the hour-glass sands!
Written by Alexandra Taylor for AgeEsteem®
Dr. Jen Palmer, 44, Florida
I love the term Age Esteem because it has such a positive image. I have always hated the term “anti-aging”, because it implies the natural process of aging is a negative event that should be avoided and fought against. That creates an unreasonable pressure to try to look younger than we are, and to even pretend we are younger than we are.
Personally, I believe we should embrace the gifts that come with getting older and consider life to be a great adventure. For me, every decade gets better and better! Age Esteem brings to mind confidence, wisdom and strength. The term is a great reminder as to how we should feel, at any age, especially as women.
My personal conerns? For the most part, I look forward to getting older because life gets better every year! I think as long as we have our mental and physical health, we can create a great quality of life for ourselves whether we are 30 or 80. So my biggest concerns would be losing my memory, or having difficulty walking, because those would present challenges (but not roadblocks) for living the kind of life that I imagine.
Jen's tips: My focus is on creating a lifestyle that promotes health for myself and my husband, while still enjoying some splurges here and there. We try to get a good dose of activity and exercise through the week, eat lots of veggies and whole foods, and take supplements. It’s all about balance and moderation. And have fun, because that keeps us youthful and positive about life.
We have plenty of inspiration because we live in an area of Florida that has a large senior population, and the majority of the people we meet are fit and happy. Every day, I see people in their 70s and 80s playing tennis, walking, and swimming- sometimes better and farther than I can! So my assumption is that I will be one of those happy, healthy seniors when the time comes, as long as I take care of myself.
Dr. Jen Palmer is a Naturopathic Doctor ProAgingLiving partnering with AgeEsteem.
Love with Every Age
Do you remember the first time you were kissed? – Really kissed! Your heart seemed to stop, your toes tingled and you felt as though the ground was opening under your feet.
I hope you did, or will. It is never too late.
Let’s face it, though. Lights don’t always go off and bells don’t always ring. – Nor is it necessary.
There are many ways to love. The media focuses our attention on romantic love as though it were the end-all. They forget the love of a parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle, teacher or tutor, or the love of a sibling for another.
The media also overlooks the love that we share among friends. It has nothing to do with romance. It has everything to do with listening, understanding, and being there for the other person. It is based on shared experiences, memories, laughter and tears. It carries the knowledge that you can say what you really feel and not be judged, or ranting over something silly and not be laughed at.
Love is an important ingredient to aging with vitality and health, and with age esteem.
Look at your own relationships and ask yourself
Age-esteemers know that love is a gift. They use it generously.
Bonnie Fatio
More Dr. Shigeaki Honohara’s, 101 years, (See blogs Nov. 23 & 24)
Advice for a Long, Healthy Life = Tips for Age Esteem
* To stay healthy, always take the stairs and carry your own stuff. I take two stairs at a time, to get my muscles moving.
* My inspiration is Robert Browning’s poem “Abt Vogler.” My father used to read it to me. It encourages us to make big art, not small scribbles. It says to try to draw a circle so huge that there is no way we can finish it while we are alive. All we see is an arch; the rest is beyond our vision but it is there in the distance.
* Pain is mysterious, and having fun is the best way to forget it. If a child has a toothache, and you start playing a game together, he or she immediately forgets the pain. Hospitals must cater to the basic need of patients: We all want to have fun. At St. Luke’s we have music and animal therapies, and art classes.
* Don’t be crazy about amassing material things.Remember: You don’t know when your number is up, and you can’t take it with you to the next place.
* Hospitals must be designed and prepared for major disasters, and they must accept every patient who appears at their doors. We designed St. Luke’s so we can operate anywhere: in the basement, in the corridors, in the chapel. Most people thought I was crazy to prepare for a catastrophe, but on March 20, 1995, I was unfortunately proven right when members of the Aum Shinrikyu religious cult launched a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway. We accepted 740 victims and in two hours figured out that it was sarin gas that had hit them. Sadly we lost one person, but we saved 739 lives.
* Science alone can’t cure or help people. Science lumps us all together, but illness is individual. Each person is unique, and diseases are connected to their hearts. To know the illness and help people, we need liberal and visual arts, not just medical ones.
* Life is filled with incidents. On March 31, 1970, when I was 59 years old, I boarded the Yodogo, a flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka . It was a beautiful sunny morning, and as Mount Fuji came into sight, the plane was hijacked by the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction. I spent the next four days handcuffed to my seat in 40-degree heat. As a doctor, I looked at it all as an experiment and was amazed at how the body slowed down in a crisis.
* Find a role model and aim to achieve even more than they could ever do. My father went to the United States in 1900 to study at Duke University in North Carolina . He was a pioneer and one of my heroes. Later I found a few more life guides, and when I am stuck, I ask myself how they would deal with the problem.
* It’s wonderful to live long. Until one is 60 years old, it is easy to work for one’s family and to achieve one’s goals. But in our later years, we should strive to contribute to society. Since the age of 65, I have worked as a volunteer. I still put in 18 hours seven days a week and love every minute of it.
These tips were sent to me in an e-mail concerning Dr. Hinohara. His advice also offers excellent tips for enhancing your age esteem.
Bonnie Fatio
Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara
Age Esteem at 101 Years
Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, Japan, turned 101 on 4th October 2012
Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world’s longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara’s magic touch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke’s College of Nursing.
He has published around 15 books since his 75th birthday, including one “Living Long, Living Good” that has sold more than 1.2 million copies. As founder of the New Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a long and happy life, a quest in which no role model is better than the doctor himself.
I received this message in an e-mail and find it well worth sharing. I researched to find that Dr. Hinohara was lecturing in August of this year and probably still continues. He is a model of age esteem for all of us.
Bonnie Fatio
Happy International Day of Older Persons
“The world population is rapidly ageing. Between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years will double from about 11% to 22%. The absolute number of people aged 60 years and over is expected to increase from 605 million to 2 billion over the same period.” (World Health Organization)
Age is not what it used to be. We are living longer and fuller lives. Age-esteemers know there are joys to being an older person. Age-esteemers continue to contribute their expertise and talents to the world. Age-esteemers love, laugh and make the most of what they have.
Join AgeEsteem® in celebrating this day of recognition for the contributions of older people.
A Film For Age Esteem – Quartet
Quartet is a delightful film that openly addresses, with humor, the trials of growing old. Directed by Dustin Hoffman, now 75, it stars a quartet of age-esteemers: Maggie Smith 78, Billie Connolly 71, Pauline Collins 73, and Tom Courtenay 76.
Together they prove that age is not for sissies (famous quote from Bette Davis). At the same time they prove that how you live your age is your choice. They each choose to live it manifesting many of the traits of age esteem.
No, age is not for sissies. Choose how you want to live your age.
Bonnie Fatio
Albert Gallatin – Historical Age-Esteemer
I love to discover historical expositions that feature age-esteemers. Albert Gallatin is one of these historical age-esteemers.
Few people know Albert Gallatin. Certainly I don’t remember learning about him in history classes while growing up. Yet this Swiss American was Secretary of the Treasure under both Presidents Jefferson and Madison, helped found New York University, was instrumental in the Louisiana Purchase, and was responsible for many improvements in the infrastructure such as roads within the United States.
Albert Gallatin left his home in Geneva, Switzerland at the age of 19. From that time on he was active in the development of the “new world”. He seemed to never stop.
At the age of 69 he was asked to run as Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with William Crawford. The letter that Albert Gallatin wrote to say that he would not run for this office was on display at the Exposition Gallatin in Geneva, Switzerland, as was a letter written to Albert Gallatin in 1806 by Thomas Jefferson.
Looking at these amazing artifacts, I remember wondering what virtual artifacts will be saved in cyber space from our lives today.
Bonnie Fatio
