Bonnie Fatio, founder of AgeEsteem, will speak at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland on Does Age Matter? on September 7.

Age is important to the work of the WHO.  In 2007 WHO created the Department of Ageing and Life Course (ACL).  ACL focuses on helping people to realize their potential for physical, social, and mental well-being throughout the life course and to participate in society, while providing them with adequate protection, security and care when they need it.

AgeEsteem is aligned with the WHO in its focus to help people to realize their potential.  Age esteem is an essential element to remaining healthy and reaching your potential as you age no matter where on our globe you live.

Friends at the 50th reunion reinforced studies I have read.  Those who were aging well were not necessarily the most physically fit and healthy.  Instead they were the ones with healthy attitudes.  Cancer, strokes, pain, paralysis and bankruptcy did not hold these healthy attitudes back.  Rather they were the ones we sought out first.  They exuded age esteem.

• We were drawn by their contagious laughter.
• They were genuinely interested in listening to the stories of others.
• They embraced the opportunity to play, to release their inner child.
• Their health was a minor event in their life story which was filled with family, friends,  accomplishments and contributions.
• They dwell on the positives of life.

Bonnie Fatio

“It’s cruel” Maggie said.  “No one has a name tag.”  But we soon discovered that name tags weren’t necessary.  Old friendships are too strong.  People we didn’t recognize rapidly were gracious in sharing their names and we were off into discussions about what life has brought them in the past 50 years.  There was too much to learn to be concerned about a forgotten name.

Old friends remain old friends.  Heaven knows that our paths have branched off into numerous avenues, but the journey that we began together has united us in some small way for life.  It is still easy to laugh and tease each other.  Only the topics of that laughter and ribbing have changed.  It is comforting to know that our common journey continues to bond us.

Renew and keep old friendships alive at every age.  Old friends are precious.

Bonnie Fatio

How we feel inside is what is really important.  So why do we give so much weight to outside appearance?

This morning Maggie and I had breakfast at the Grove City Main Street Diner.   As we looked around us we wondered if any of the people eating at nearby tables were here for our class reunion.  The guy behind us looked rather familiar, though seemed too old to be from our class.  Eventually Maggie asked him if he was here for the reunion.  “Nope”, he said.  When Maggie added that we wondered if he was from our class of 1960, he all but jumped out of his chair insisting, “Certainly not.  I graduated in 1969!”

Oops!  Will the classmates we meet for drinks this evening seem even older?.

Of course when Maggie and I look in the mirror, we see ourselves as dynamic, fun loving, relatively healthy and even sensuous.  Is that why we see others as older?  The older people we saw this morning probably think of themselves as dynamic and active too.

And that’s really all that matters! – How we feel on the inside.

Bonnie Fatio

My best friend Maggie Dull

As we age, best friends continue to hold their special place in our lives.  As children our best friend may have changed daily, but best friends from our teen years remain solid.  Even though we may have little else in common today, our “best friend” relationship continues to unite us.  Maggie, my best friend from High School, and I plan to spend the reunion time together.

Maggie was the Chief of Police’s daughter and I was the Methodist minister’s daughter – so together we could do no wrong.  Heaven knows we tried!  We wanted to be bad, but when we did do something stupid like knock the head off a snowman our guilt drove us to rebuild it almost before the head hit the ground.  Now, 50 years later we still laugh just at the joy of being together.

Contact your old “best friends” today and renew your relationship if you haven’t already done so.  Friends are precious at every age!

Bonnie Fatio

In preparation for the reunion the organizers asked us to send any photos or memorabilia that we might have.  To my surprise, I uncovered an old scrap book waiting to be revisited.  So I have already taken a short trip back to these old friendships and events.  –  And I have found it to be an interesting experience to look back on those high school years as one of the building blocks in my life as I realize how far my journey has taken me since then.

High school memories are wonderful to revisit.  They are important in our lives.  But what is more important is all that we have done following those years to build on them and create the lives that we have today and the dreams we have for tomorrow.

Take a look at your own life.  What lessons did you learn as a teenager and what experiences did you have that have influenced the life you live today?

Bonnie Fatio

Look out, here I come!  This next weekend my 50th High School Class Reunion will take place in Grove City, PA (population 8027) and I will return to my teenage roots in small town USA.

Have 50 years really passed since we walked down the aisle to receive our diplomas?  So much has happened since then.  Will I recognize ‘old’ classmates?  Will they remember me?  I guess the only way to find out is to attend, so I’m on my way.  Chances are that I will even win the prize for coming the furthest, since most have remained closer to the town where we learned together.  Geneva, Switzerland will seem very far away to most.

I am convinced that it will be a wonderful experience to reconnect with old friends and to renew precious friendships.  And an opportunity to say “Thank you” to those who have left lasting imprints.

Bonnie Fatio

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

Hardy Korver, 54, Netherlands

When I hear the term Age Esteem I think of you, Bonnie Fatio! (laughter)  What made me think about it even before my wife put your book AgeEsteem in front of me was the economic crisis.  I thought, “We’re throwing away a lot of experienced good people because of age.”  You see that the other generations that are now a bit more elderly didn’t screw up as much as mine.  It’s a good mix.  We should use the mix.  Mix high and low in both ages and experience.  Use them both.  We need both.  We need those people yet we’ve let them go way too soon and we haven’t really given them the respect and responsibility that they should still have.

I’m becoming a dinosaur myself.  In fact Age Esteem is written about me.  It effects my life too.  I am a dinosaur in my firm.  There are only three guys older than I am and I’m only 54, and feel like 45.  As juniors we ran to the older guys, but there aren’t any older guys left. Your wings are clipped when you’re older.  I don’t think I can do as much.  Or I can, but I’m not supposed to.  That is the problem where Age Esteem comes in.  You may live alone, but surely you are surrounded by others saying, “You can’t do that anymore.”

Hardy’s tips: Know the relativity of everything. Don’t dig yourself in too much to what you are doing at present because there is much more around you.

Get balance in your life.  Work is very important.  You get a lot out of it but grave yards are full of those people who couldn’t be missed.  I keep that in mind. Work hard and play hard.  At least if you play hard you enjoy other things.   I still have people around me who take four weeks holiday and the rest of the year they’re 100 km and hour, always.  I can’t believe that that’s good.  No one ever died from working hard.  They die because they don’t take a rest.  Relax some of the time.

It is more than just reloading the battery. I think that’s a poor description of just survival.  It’s getting inspiration, not only charging the battery but getting new ideas.  You don’t have the same energy as when you started out, so you have to grow.  It’s inspiration and that can only happen if you look around you in a different way.   I have gotten the nicest inspirations from very unexpected things that I see.  Like in Africa or my home, too.