They say it takes more muscles to frown than to smile.  I believe that it also takes more energy to have a negative attitude than to have a positive one.  It’s easier to enjoy the moment than to waste energy worrying about what might happen tomorrow.

If you have trouble finding the positives, try this simple exercise.

Surround yourself with nature.  Take a walk in a park, in the countryside, or even your own back yard.  Sit quietly and discover the life around you.  Watch the leaves swaying in the breeze and the insects in the grass.  Listen to the birds.  Smell the flowers.  Breathe in the fresh air.

When the Creator designed our world, it was with a tremendous imagination and purpose.  Watching an inch worm persistently climb a stalk is a wonderful lesson in positive attitude.  Listening to the happy trill of a singing bird reminds us to sing with our own joy.  Going barefoot in the grass helps us touch down with our inner child and that wonderful time in life when we had no responsibilities, helping us to put life into perspective.

It’s easier to wear a positive attitude when we remember the little miracles of this world: the song of the lark, the journey of the inch worm and the feel of grass between our toes. – And to realize that we too are each one of God’s wonders.

Bonnie Fatio

Rise and shine!  What a great expression that is.

Don’t just get up in the morning, rise and shine.  Make it a great day for those around you.  This includes the new people you meet in the course of your day as well as those you know.  A simple smile to someone walking towards you or a friendly greeting to the bus driver or sales clerk.  It is easy to shine, to share your own happiness and talents.

I’ve always loved the stories of Winnie the Pooh and to hear him exclaim as he got up in the morning,  “Ho hum, I wonder what great thing will happen to me today.”  When we arise with that positive attitude in the morning, it is easy to rise and shine.  We are ready and eager to discover the day and the adventures it will bring – and to greet it with open arms of enthusiasm.

Bonnie Fatio

Brighten up a bad day with a positive attitude.

All of us have bad days.  And it’s true that some of us have worse days than others.  However, I feel sorry for people who think they need to drag others down with them.  It accomplishes no purpose.  In fact it only makes them feel worse themselves.

It’s possible to turn your day into a bright one at every age.

• If you wake up feeling miserable, turn your day around immediately.
• Before you open your eyes, tell yourself, “This will be a great day!”
• Smile.  The effort of lifting the corners of your mouth with lift your spirits.
• Think of something you can do today to make someone else feel good.
• Turn on some music and loosen up.  Dance and sing.
• Look for humor during the day.

Bonnie Fatio

Do you enjoy exchanging a hello and “How are you today?” with people you meet?

Yesterday when I greeted a sales clerk in that manner, she shot back “It’s the worst day of my life.  Nothing could possibly be worse!”  Her face scowled and became ugly with her disgust.  I felt attacked by her answer.  It was as though the only thing that could make her day better would be to ruin mine.

“Then this is your lucky day.” I responded.  “It can only get better!”  She looked at me as though I had thrown cold water in her face.  It momentarily changed her thought pattern as she tried to decide how to react.

I didn’t mean to be flip, but she was nurturing her sour and negative attitude.  She didn’t need to dwell of her sorrows.  She also had the option to say, “If this is the worst day of my life,  it will soon be in the past. – And my life will improve.

As grandparents we try hard not to spoil our grandchildren with “things”.  Instead, we offer them endless unconditional love, educational experiences, happy memories filled with fun and adventure.   As much as we laugh together and play together, we remain their grandparents.  This is important for their age esteem as much as it is for ours.

Recent studies at Yale University, USA and the National Institute on Aging in the USA show that the attitude that children have towards aging influences how they feel about age when they become older.  This means that our attitude towards our own age is an important factor for our little ones later in their lives as well as today.

In order to offer unconditional love to our grandchildren, we must love ourselves unconditionally.  This indicates that we love ourselves at the age we are and celebrate ourselves as well as our grandchildren.   Children feel this sincerity and what we get in return are

• lopsided hugs and sticky kisses,
• pet names that only a child could chose,
• questions and statements that melt our hearts,
• a chance to rediscover life through new eyes, and
• the privilege of knowing we are important in very unique and important ways to our grandchildren.

Age esteem is the perfect gift for every occasion.

Why is it that when someone says “sex” our ears perk up, and when someone says “age” we tend to tune out?

Actually sex and age have a lot in common.

• Both are three letter words.
• How you relate to each of them is dependent on your attitude.
• Your attitude toward each depends in great part on the attitude of your environment, what you were raised to believe.
• What you get out of sex and out of age is influenced by what you put into each.
• You control how you live with both your age and with sex.

Having an intimate relationship can improve your health and longevity.  – Just be sure to practice safe sex.

Having fun and meeting with people of different generations keeps us up to date on what is happening in the world as seen from other age groups.  It also gives us opportunities to share from our own point of view.

A delightful way to meet with others is through traditions that we share.  The tradition of having an annual family picnic to celebrate the national holiday creates memories for each member of the family.

If you don’t have a family, borrow neighbors and friends to create an intergenerational tradition.  Here are some ideas.

• Organize a treasure hunt mixing ages on each team.  It is a great way to learn to value the qualities of others as you follow clues that demand creativity, logic, technical skills, physical agility…  Different members get to shine at different moments.  You can be certain that it will become a tradition as participants beg to have another.
• Produce a play and perform it for friends and neighbors each summer.  All ages can work together as actors, prompters, ticket sellers…  You can perform outdoors or in a garage.
• Orchestrate a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.  Each person can arrive with a homemade hat or you can encourage them to bring material, ribbon, paper, flowers and food like string beans with them for everyone to share while they make their hats on the spot.  You can also break them into teams to make one hat among them which is then modeled and judged.  Be sure to have a judge from each age group on the jury.

Ideas are endless.  Fly kites.  Line dance.  Have a day at the beach.  Organize a spelling contest.  You will be surprised how much fun it can be to begin an intergenerational tradition.

Traditions can also be solo.  Sometimes it is fun to begin a meaningful tradition just for yourself.  It can provide a wonderful  means to pamper yourself by repeating something that you especially enjoy.   This will increase your happiness which also enhances your AgeEsteem.

A tradition can be related to a hobby or sport.

• Fishing on the first day of the season no matter what the weather.
• Getting up to watch the sunrise on the first day of summer.
• Making a collage of photos at the end of each year.
• Giving something you own to someone who needs it on your birthday.
• Treating yourself to a special brunch each Sunday.

Of course these solo traditions may become contagious and  include other people as well.

In the middle of all these penguins, there is one who jumps up and sings, “I gotta be me, I just gotta be me”.

It is a humorous image since all penguins seem to look and act alike.  And yet it is also an image that rings a bell in each of us.  We all want to “be me”.  We want to shine in our unique talents and to be recognized for our personal characters.  We want to count for who we are rather than as just another number.  We want to be loved for who we are.

This is true at every age.  It is especially apparent when we are older and feel packaged as part of a group of empty nesters, pre-retirees, retirees, seniors,…  We can easily feel like the penguin who is sick of just being seen as one of  the pack.  We too want to “be me”.

• Take stock of your unique talents, skills and qualities.  What are you good at?
• Define your key values, the values that you live by and are not willing to give up.
• Look at what you love to do, what motivates you.
• Think about the contributions you have made, how you have shared your talents and values.
• Celebrate the person you are!

Do you sometimes look into the mirror and feel unloved?

Try this.  Look through and beyond.

It is very easy for us to forget as we look into the mirror that if the glass we look into had no silver in it, then we would be looking not into a mirror at ourselves but  through a window at others. – And we just might realize how well off we are and how desperately the rest of the world needs our love.

A fear of committing ourselves, of taking a step beyond our own comfort zone, often holds us back from offering to others the kind of uncompromising love exemplified by a newborn.  And it is in offering our love that we receive love.

A happy way to experience age-esteem is to

• look beyond yourself to the needs of others,
• stretch out of your comfort zone and
• find a way to share your talents and love with those less fortunate.