This year instead of making New Year’s resolutions, why not make a promise to yourself?
A promise is so much more powerful than a resolution. Resolutions are usually statements about what we will not do. We look back and try to correct our behaviors. A promise is focused on realizing something that we want to do. It is proactive and positive.
I challenge you to set a date with yourself with the goal of focusing on your dreams and passions. What would you like to do in 2011?
- Is there a dream that you have tucked away and tried to forget? Allow it to surface in your thinking and promise yourself to realize it in 2011.
- Do you have a passion that you have been smothering? Release that passion and promise yourself to act on it in 2011.
- Are you wondering what your passion or dream is? Ask yourself this question. “If I knew I could not fail, if I could only succeed, what would I be doing now?” Listen closely to your answer and promise yourself to bravely embrace that passion or dream and make it real.
2011 will become the year that you make it become. Promise yourself to live your passion and realize your dream. It is never too late, but only you can make it happen. Start today and shine with Age Esteem in 2011!
Bonnie Fatio
Home alone for Christmas? This blessed Christmas season can be a lonely one for many of us. This becomes especially true as we mature and our children leave home, marry and have their own families and traditions. Not everyone can travel long distances to be together.
If you are going to be alone, why not create some new traditions of your own? Age Esteemers know that when you are reaching out to others, you no longer feel lonely. Why not plan some activities like these?
- Find out if help is needed at the local soup kitchen for the hungry, reading the Christmas Story to people in the hospital, or distributing gifts to the poor. Most churches and communities have programs like these.
- Search out others of all ages who might be alone and organize Carol singing on Christmas eve followed by hot chocolate and conversation, a homemade or white elephant gift exchange, or party to play board games.
- Bake cookies or candy or make candles or decorations that you can wrap and deliver to people who you know will not be able to leave their homes. Your visit when you deliver your gift will be precious. It may prove to be the greatest gift.
- Plan to phone three people each day to wish them Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas or simply to let them know you are thinking of them. Include people who will also be alone as well as family and friends.
Share your vitality and joy for living, your age esteem. Even if you have to pretend to feel happy when you begin to reach out to others, before you know it your happiness will be genuine!
Bonnie Fatio
SAGE
It might be difficult to believe should one walk by a sage bush that it is such a valuable and versatile gift from Mother Nature. In some parts of the world as in the south of France it may be found growing wild, so it is free as well as assuming one might pick a branch or two.
Probably the first thing one would think about sage is the Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey as it is an important ingredient in the stuffing. It has healing powers too. A hot sage gargle for sore throats and tonsillitis is recommended for curing these conditions Add one or two teaspoons of dried sage to boiling water. Then gargle! The herb is not recommended for children due to the great amount of tannins found in it.
Actually there are two types of sage – Clary sage and Spanish sage, each with a different ability to treat symptoms. Clary sage is efficient in combating stress or anxiety while Spanish sage is a more stimulating herb used in treating bronchitis, muscular aches and pains and poor circulation. Both treat conditions by baths, compresses, gargling and massage.
Used either in cuisine or for medicinal remedies, sage will bring comfort and joy to all.
Grandma Nature
Galerie Chausse-Coq
presents an exposition of watercolors by
Helen Drew
with the participation of
Madame Zita Burgy
7 december – 23 december 2010
Vernissage the 9 december from 6pm.
Galerie Chausse-Coq
Arcade rue Chausse-Coq 16
1204 Geneva, Switzerland
www.helendrew.com
Helen Drew is a friend and model of Age Esteem. I hope many of you will be able to view her work.
Bonnie Fatio
My heart overflows with love and gratitude. Life is truly a blessing. I am ever thankful for the loved ones in my life: a loving husband, daughter, son-in-law, two precious granddaughters, sisters and spouses, cousins, and numerous friends whom I treasure. There is no time for wallowing in complaints or disappointments. We are too busy living, loving and learning with a positive attitude.
Oh yes, lesser experiences and relationships are put in our paths, but that is also part of living, loving and learning. Hurdles are put there to teach us vital lessons and to show us new dimensions of life. They push us to become a better person.
People with Age Esteem know the value of living, loving and learning with a positive attitude. Thank you for sharing your Age Esteem in the way you live, love and learn.
Bonnie Fatio
HAPPY THANKSGIVING !
This Thanksgiving Day I am thankful for YOU.
You may be a treasured friend, a precious member of our family, a casual acquaintance, a first time or long time visitor to the AgeEsteem site, or a complete stranger. – Know that I am thankful for YOU.
You are a blessing and a gift to this world as you share your special talents and personality each day. You may think that your contribution is small within the bigger picture, but what would that bigger picture be without all of our little efforts added together?
Thank you for being YOU, just the way you are. This Thanksgiving Day and every day I am truly thankful for YOU.
I pray that I, too, might be a blessing in your life in some small way.
May your Thanksgiving be filled with happiness, fond memories, and age esteem.
Bonnie Fatio
Letting go
The ropes that keep us
Tied to life-long habitudes
Live as though
you’re free and fearless
To face each day’s vicissitudes.
Written for Age Esteem by Alexandra Taylor after the chapter “Letting Go”
in AgeEsteem: Growing A Positive Attitude Toward Aging
by Bonnie Lou Fatio
Apparently being kind to others is not only good manners. A recent Japanese study emphasizes it is also good for your health.
Holding the door for someone, saying a kind word of thank you, or showing your gratitude bring two positive outcomes. According to this Japanese study you will feel happier and be healthier. It is an easy and inexpensive way to reduce stress and avoid depression.
Being kind stimulates the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that has a positive effect on our humor, and reduces the secretion of cortisol which is a stress hormone.
So, to be healthier share your kindness and gratitude. This is good news for people with age esteem, because they naturally show gratitude.
Bonnie Fatio
Maggie Dull, 67 ½, Pennsylvania, USA
Age Esteem is to grow old gracefully. To be thankful for what I have, what I still have left of my faculties and body at my age.
Maggie’s Tips: I try to exercise. I try to keep my hair looking well and my makeup. I wear appropriate clothing for my age. What is appropriate clothing? I cover up my flaws such as flabby arms, dimply legs, dimpled butt so I have a formal tan up to my knees, up to my elbows and down to my chest. I try to keep smiling. I try to smile at people so they feel good about themselves too. Sometimes they need a smile or recognition that they’re alive. So I do that and it also makes me feel good. They smile back.
Keep your mind alert. Watch the news. Know what’s happening in the world. Do some puzzles. Try to stay interested in your fellow man. Go to church. Become a saved person. I think you’re happier when you’re saved. Happier than when you aren’t. Believing in Jesus Christ. That’s sage.
Death is a normal part of life. We’re all going to do it and I’m ready. It’s not something that I fear. I’ve seen too many people who are dying and it’s easier than I thought. My greatest fear is probably a terrorist coming over here and slitting my throat.
Bubbles and Kisses!
The ones float away
The others might miss us,
But each in its way
Is Life’s miraculousness
making special each day.
Written for Age Esteem by Alexandra Taylor after the story “Bubbles and Kisses”
in AgeEsteem: Growing A Positive Attitude Toward Aging, book and CD
by Bonnie Lou Fatio
