Age Esteemers speak to themselves and others with words to encourage.  They grow confidence, skills and knowledge in others as part of their legacy.  They recognize their role as mentors and support and encourage others of all ages.  They share their own expertise and experience of living with openness and love.  They are eager to encourage as they help others to develop their qualities.

• Catch someone doing something new, challenging or difficult and support and encourage them.
• Revise and devise your vocabulary to give others a boost in confidence and to help them recognize what they do well.
• Look on encouragement as an opportunity to reach out to others as a mentor and guide.  You, too, will learn in the process.

Bonnie Fatio

Age Esteemers take responsibility for their own happiness.  They know that no one else can make you happy.  Riches cannot make you happy.  You are responsible for your happiness.

There is a lovely saying, « If you want to be happy, just be happy! »  It is as easy as that.  Happiness depends on you.  If you want to be happy, decide to be happy.  Curl up the corners of your mouth.  Put a smile on your face and look up.  It will change your whole perspective.

• Practice smiling.  Smile at yourself in the mirror.  Smile at people you meet.  Smile just for the pleasure of smiling, and see what happens.
• Smile when you wake up in the morning, even before you open your eyes; and make it the last thing you do at night before you drift off to sleep.
• Look for the happiness around you; look for the humor in the day.

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People with age esteem recognize that they have choices, that they are masters of their own life.  They may not be able to control what happens to them all of the time or even most of the time, but they take control over how they act or react to what happens.

Age esteemers know they can choose to see what happens as an opportunity or as a catastrophe.  They can choose to be a victim, or they can choose to take action to move beyond the problem, to learn from it and benefit from it.

• Decide that you will become a can do, will do person who takes control.
• Look for the opportunity inside a difficulty.
• Remind yourself that you are in control.

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Do you have an attitude of gratitude?

People with Age Esteem express gratitude.  Age Esteemers know the importance of not only feeling thankful, but also expressing appreciation and gratitude for what they have and what others do for them.  They choose to recognize the blessings of each day, no matter how great or small.

• Keep a gratitude diary where you record the highlights of each day for which you are grateful.
• Count your blessings when things seem difficult.  Remind yourself of all the good that surrounds you while you deal with a problem.
• Express openly to others your gratitude for what they mean to you.

Bonnie Fatio

People with age esteem have a positive attitude.  Studies show that people who enjoy life with a positive attitude live longer and happier lives.  This is not to say that they don’t have aches and pains like anyone else.  They simple choose to take a different view of life.  Rather than focus on their pains, they chose to concentrate on what goes well and to develop their interests.  They are engaged in living.

Age Esteemers know that when we focus on the brighter side of life, we draw other positive people and opportunities to us.

• Become aware of your thoughts and words.  Are they positive or negative.?
• Turn negatives into positives.  When you catch yourself complaining or discouraging yourself, change your phrase to make it positive and encouraging.
• Surround yourself with positive people.  Drop those who hold you back or put you down.  They don’t deserve your time.

Bonnie Fatio

Acknowledge your age.  Age is positive and natural.  We have been aging since the moment of birth. If we are breathing we are aging.   To age is to be alive.  Age is a gift, a gift that not everyone receives.  Rejoice and be glad that you are alive and aging.

Why should you acknowledge your age?  Why not just ignore it?  After all, today is just another day.

Is it?  You’ve experienced and learned every instant on your journey to reach the age you are now.  To look on today as just another day is ignore all you’ve gained by living.  It is to miss out on living this moment.  Today you are the youngest you will ever be.  To waste it is to miss out on the present.

Age esteemers acknowledge their age and focus on the advantages it brings.

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Age Esteem begins when we are children.  Research at Yale University and the American Institute on Aging indicate that the attitude that we have towards age and older people as children influences how we ourselves age.  Children who are raised with a positive attitude and relationship towards older people age better and more healthfully and tend to live longer.

The relationships we have with older people, the language we hear others use to describe older people, and the images that we see illustrating older people will impact our whole life and even contribute to our longevity.

Age esteemers have a positive attitude toward aging.  They embrace it with age esteem.  Age esteemers value, admire and respect age and tend to live longer, happier lives.

Bonnie Fatio

It always puts a smile on my face to see fields of sunflowers in bloom.  They have such a generous attitude.  The sunflower not only shares its beauty as it lifts its face to the sun as though laughing with joy.  – It also provides a landing field for all kinds of airborne insects from bumble bee to butter fly who in turn spread the flower’s pollen.

This is easily understood by people with age esteem.  Age-esteemers also have an attitude of generosity.

• They focus their thoughts on the sunshine, the positive.
• They shine with inner beauty.
• They share their joy of living, and
• They spread their pollen of wisdom.

Bonnie Fatio

The sunflower is beautiful! – Not because it is perfect, but because it shines with a natural beauty both in the sunshine and the shade.  In fact, the sunflower brightens any setting.  It raises its head with confidence and brings a happy glow to the world.

Age-esteemers bring their happy glow to the world as well, as they find ways to brighten the days of others.

Bonnie Fatio

Many parts of the world are experiencing an important heat wave which promises to last.  Such intense heat can seriously affect your health and it is important to take precautions.

The 2003 heat wave provoked thousands of deaths in France, especially among older people who lived alone.  A heat wave has hit Europe again this year and governments are taking precautions to inform people of measures to take for their health.

As Age Esteemers is important for each of us to respect the negative effects that prolonged heat has on our bodies and to take our own precautions.  We are in control.

• Keep physical activity to a minimum between 11am and 9pm.
• Drink at least 1 1/2 liters (1.59 quarts) of liquid daily, especially water but also teas and diluted fruit juices.
• Avoid alcohol, caffeinated and sweetened drinks since they increase dehydration.
• Stay in an area that is cool or air conditioned at least 2 hours during the day and take cool showers.