Dr. Shigeaki Hinora’s (See blog Nov. 23, 2013)

Advice for a Long, Healthy Life = Tips for Age Esteem.

Each of the following bits of advice for living a long and healthy life are tips and techniques for promoting your age esteem.

* Energy comes from feeling good, not from eating well or sleeping a lot. We all remember how as children, when we were having fun, we often forgot to eat or sleep. I believe that we can keep that attitude as adults, too. It’s best not to tire the body with too many rules such as lunchtime and bedtime.

* All people who live long regardless of nationality, race or gender share one thing in common: None are overweight. For breakfast I drink coffee, a glass of milk and some orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Olive oil is great for the arteries and keeps my skin healthy. Lunch is milk and a few cookies, or nothing when I am too busy to eat. I never get hungry because I focus on my work. Dinner is veggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week, 100 grams of lean meat.

* Always plan ahead. My schedule book is already full until 2014, with lectures and my usual hospital work. In 2016 I’ll have some fun, though: I plan to attend the Tokyo Olympics!

* There is no need to ever retire, but if one must, it should be a lot later than 65. The current retirement age was set at 65 half a century ago, when the average life-expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125 Japanese were over 100 years old. Today, Japanese women live to be around 86 and men 80, and we have 36,000 centenarians in our country. In 20 years we will have about 50,000 people over the age of 100…

* Share what you know. I give 150 lectures a year, some for 100 elementary-school children, others for 4,500 business people. I usually speak for 60 to 90 minutes, standing, to stay strong.

* When a doctor recommends you take a test or have some surgery, ask whether the doctor would suggest that his or her spouse or children go through such a procedure. Contrary to popular belief, doctors can’t cure everyone. So why cause unnecessary pain with surgery I think music and animal therapy can help more than most doctors imagine.

These were sent to me in an e-mail and are on numerous sites on the internet. There will be the second, and last, installment of his advice tomorrow.

Bonnie Fatio

Lessons of Autumn

Do you remember rolling in the Autumn leaves?  Most of us who grew up in areas of the globe where Fall is synonymous with Autumn leaves spent happy moments of our childhood jumping into piles of leaves and scattering them with zest.

The other day as I was walking through the park I noticed several people watching me with looks of amusement.  When I began to wonder why, I realized that I was gleefully kicking leaves as I shuffled through them enjoying the swishy sound that they made and the crisp feel around my ankles.  Is there supposed to be an age limit for such pleasures?  Surely not, I decided as I alternated with kicking a chestnut ahead of me on the path.

We need to let our inner child loose more often.  There is no age for feeling happy and connecting with your inner child.  Play and laughter are among the healthy keys to age esteem, to feeling good about yourself at the age you are today, every day.  Play and laugh in the autumn leaves.

• Borrow a child and rake a pile of leaves in your yard, a park or the countryside and delight in jumping and lying in the leaves.  Scatter them.  Throw them at each other.  Enjoy.
• Walk along a lane lined with leaves.  Shuffle through them.  Kick them at you walk, marching like a soldier.
• Use a chestnut as a baby ball and kick it ahead of you on the path.  You may take turns with the child or each have your own and race with them.

Note:  If anyone stops you in the midst of your play and laughter, tell them that you are practicing an Age Esteem inner child technique.

Bonnie Fatio

Is It Ever Too Early?

When our first grandchild was born I wondered how I could teach her to become confident and to feel good about herself at each age, beginning the moment I first held her.

Is it ever too early to teach AgeEsteem?  I know it’s never too late.  We can gain AgeEsteem until the day we leave this earth.   So I’d like to believe that we can transmit the ideas of confidence and feeling good about yourself at every age even to a newborn baby.

I’m convinced we can begin growing personal age-esteem from birth.  What do you think?

Cultivate a positive attitude. People with age-esteem are happy, optimistic and share a positive attitude. The glass is always half full.

• Catch people doing good. Make a game of finding the qualities in people around you. Once you focus on the positives you’ll find even more.
• Keep a positive talk diary. Become conscious of what you say to yourself in thoughts and words spoken out loud. Each time you catch yourself saying something negative like « I can never remember names », change it into a positive, « I can remember every name I set my mind to ». Repeat the positive statement out loud. Do this regularly so it becomes second nature.

As it becomes second nature for you to seek positives, you’ll be amazed at the positive impact it has on all aspects of your life. Your AgeEsteem life force will draw more positive people and events to you!

The closest synonym for the word soul as it relates to AgeEsteem is « life force »: impulse of life, vital spirit, life essence. AgeEsteem is what keeps that inner force alive. It’s a way of life.

Simply put, AgeEsteem is feeling good about yourself at the age you are today, every day. It’s opening your life force to opportunities to develop your potential at every age. AgeEsteem is tuning into your life force for a positive approach to living.

Begin to develop your AgeEsteem life force.