Awaken to Secrets of Longevity
Words of wisdom for all the world to live by. I can’t help but know how true these words are as I watched the Senior Tennis League prove their worth. Like children, they enjoy each other and realize that taking anything or anybody too seriously can only lead to stress. They laugh at themselves, each other and they hug, kiss and feel the energy of hearts beating with another’s. Transmitting the laugh, while feeling a special bond to one another was at the root of the longevity of my first members. They spent all 30 years with me and most lived to the ripe old age of 89-years-old. Yes, they were rich in spirit, full of love and nurtured, cared and saw the other “through the rain.”
Yesterday was a bit chilly, as September began changing the warm breezes into an invigorating wind. The groundskeeper had failed to open the lavatory, thinking that these older people would not be running around on that day. He was wrong, of course, and I called him on the cell phone to request he help us out by opening the outdoor access door to the lav. Dave is a special kind of person and he knew how important it was that he expedite his travel with key in hand. Urgency just happens and older people need to stay hydrated with relief close by. Oddly enough, his last name is “Greene” and so it is easy to remember. All these years in the sun, we watched as he planted the new flowers in the spring, cut the grass, painted the court lines, replaced the tennis cranks (that is, the ratchet that draws down the nets).
And so in the playground of my mind, I can feel their enthusiasm and vicariously experience their joy while they “high-five” each other for a good shot. The old teacher still swells with pride as I watch them grow in skill and respect for one another. It still amazes me that this sport attracks the best people I have ever known. They are all intelligent and caring, and have traveled the road of life with distinction and honor. As Barry Manilow sang, “I Made It Trough the Rain” and “ended up respected, by the others who got rained on too and made it through.” Interdependence is probably the secret to the “empty nesters” who do exactly as the National Institute on Mental Health has suggested, “When your children are grown, give them space to live the good life, don’t always reach out to prevent them from falling~Get a Life!”
I paraphrased that last statement, but in essense it is so true. My father used to say, “So I see, said the blind man when he hit the post.” It takes so long to develop the wisdom that enriches the life of the group of lovely people who live in my hometown.
What’s the sense of getting older, if you don’t get wiser?”
With the special gifts we are given, we can do so much to make the world a better place to live in. The secret is in the teachings involving psychiatry: “First-know yourself.” Find out what it is in you that makes you happy-makes you chuckle and tickles your funny bone. If you find it, you can live the “Golden Years” without worrying about anything. Doris Day sang,“Que Sera Sera” and those words of wisdom still have me humming and even singing along with her. “Whatever will be -- will be. The future is not ours to see -- so enjoy the “precious moment” that will never again occur. My lovely sweetheart puts it this way, “We’re not here for a long time - just a good time.” You just have to get up, dust yourself off and go on. The “roller coaster of life” is such that going down is the same force that carries you through to the upward climb.
Your brain: Use it or lose it. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, and best selling author, spent the last 40 years probing the mysteries of the brain and chronicling them in case stories. Sacks is best know for his book “Awakenings,” which was made into a 1990 film staring Robin Williams. His theory was that the mind is like a muscle that needs to be used to get stronger, more nimble and creative. I, too believe in that. His 10th book, “Musicophilia,” published in 2007, details the importance music plays in keeping the brain nimble. Sacks is now 75 and teaches at Columbia University, where he is a professor of neurology and psychiatry. He also suffers from arthritis and lost vision in one eye because of melanoma. Like the pens I use, Sacks uses oversize pens to make writing easier. Having played the accordion~I find typing very easy and continue to enjoy the peace, love, wisdom and sounds of music the for life.
Professor Oliver Sacks gives a great deal of thought to “good aging” as I do and has shared some of his views with Consumer Reports:
★ Develop a new skill or an old one
★ East less meat and more fish.
★ Stay productive -- some of the finest work is accomplished after 70-years of age.
★ Travel with friends (how about that train ride to Toronto?)
★ Stay physically active -- even if you are limited in your movements. (I use the shopping cart as a walker and go to the “farmer’s market” with small bills.
★ Cherish your wisdom. The great cultures of the Far East (with the greatest longevity) do just that. Read “Desiderata.” I have it where I can never lose it-right above and in front of the seat we use every morning to pass on yesterday’s waste to make way for a new day (“Cats”).
★ Pick your parents carefully. Well now, that is something none of us could do with our biological parents. However, the new epicigenetics teaches us the value of living a healthy, happy and productive life that allows us to go around the bad genes and pass on the new you to your offspring.
Music is magic. I was lucky to have been brought up by a father who insisted we choose an instrument to play at the age of 7-years-old. That has passed on to my children and grandchildren. My 44-year-old son sits at the grand piano without a sheet of music in front of him and plays the most beautiful music. He tells me he thinks of me as he looks up and finds the fingers of both hands making magic - so soothing to the president of his own corporation. Unlike my father, I placed a small accordion in his crib before he was out of diapers and let he make whatever sounds he found as he pressed the keys and buttons of that first accordion. One day, at the age of three, we were at the kitchen table as he began playing each song I had played with him. No lessons, no grilling practice sessions, no criticism or sternness - just a loving, hugging, kissing father. He must have been in third grade when I skipped out at lunch time -from the high school I taught at to go to the auditorium of the elementary school I had graduated from P.S.77. He played one of my favorites, “Those Were the Days.” He received a standing ovation after his solo performance and I returned quickly to my teaching duties four blocks away. Sometimes you get lucky. My son did very well, but he did follow the performance of a “Tuba” player.
I wonder if two old codgers could get together, before we pass, and discuss the phenomenon of tennis and the studies of the Cleveland Clinic , Johns Hopkins and the USTA - on the impact of this sport on the longevity of our members. The pictures are there all the way back to 1979 with players who were the heroes of WWII and lived happily with the philosophy of an old country singer by the name of Kenny Rogers, “Something to do, Something to look forward to and Someone to LOVE!
Yesterday was a bit chilly, as September began changing the warm breezes into an invigorating wind. The groundskeeper had failed to open the lavatory, thinking that these older people would not be running around on that day. He was wrong, of course, and I called him on the cell phone to request he help us out by opening the outdoor access door to the lav. Dave is a special kind of person and he knew how important it was that he expedite his travel with key in hand. Urgency just happens and older people need to stay hydrated with relief close by. Oddly enough, his last name is “Greene” and so it is easy to remember. All these years in the sun, we watched as he planted the new flowers in the spring, cut the grass, painted the court lines, replaced the tennis cranks (that is, the ratchet that draws down the nets).
And so in the playground of my mind, I can feel their enthusiasm and vicariously experience their joy while they “high-five” each other for a good shot. The old teacher still swells with pride as I watch them grow in skill and respect for one another. It still amazes me that this sport attracks the best people I have ever known. They are all intelligent and caring, and have traveled the road of life with distinction and honor. As Barry Manilow sang, “I Made It Trough the Rain” and “ended up respected, by the others who got rained on too and made it through.” Interdependence is probably the secret to the “empty nesters” who do exactly as the National Institute on Mental Health has suggested, “When your children are grown, give them space to live the good life, don’t always reach out to prevent them from falling~Get a Life!”
I paraphrased that last statement, but in essense it is so true. My father used to say, “So I see, said the blind man when he hit the post.” It takes so long to develop the wisdom that enriches the life of the group of lovely people who live in my hometown.
What’s the sense of getting older, if you don’t get wiser?”
With the special gifts we are given, we can do so much to make the world a better place to live in. The secret is in the teachings involving psychiatry: “First-know yourself.” Find out what it is in you that makes you happy-makes you chuckle and tickles your funny bone. If you find it, you can live the “Golden Years” without worrying about anything. Doris Day sang,“Que Sera Sera” and those words of wisdom still have me humming and even singing along with her. “Whatever will be -- will be. The future is not ours to see -- so enjoy the “precious moment” that will never again occur. My lovely sweetheart puts it this way, “We’re not here for a long time - just a good time.” You just have to get up, dust yourself off and go on. The “roller coaster of life” is such that going down is the same force that carries you through to the upward climb.
Your brain: Use it or lose it. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, and best selling author, spent the last 40 years probing the mysteries of the brain and chronicling them in case stories. Sacks is best know for his book “Awakenings,” which was made into a 1990 film staring Robin Williams. His theory was that the mind is like a muscle that needs to be used to get stronger, more nimble and creative. I, too believe in that. His 10th book, “Musicophilia,” published in 2007, details the importance music plays in keeping the brain nimble. Sacks is now 75 and teaches at Columbia University, where he is a professor of neurology and psychiatry. He also suffers from arthritis and lost vision in one eye because of melanoma. Like the pens I use, Sacks uses oversize pens to make writing easier. Having played the accordion~I find typing very easy and continue to enjoy the peace, love, wisdom and sounds of music the for life.
Professor Oliver Sacks gives a great deal of thought to “good aging” as I do and has shared some of his views with Consumer Reports:
★ Develop a new skill or an old one
★ East less meat and more fish.
★ Stay productive -- some of the finest work is accomplished after 70-years of age.
★ Travel with friends (how about that train ride to Toronto?)
★ Stay physically active -- even if you are limited in your movements. (I use the shopping cart as a walker and go to the “farmer’s market” with small bills.
★ Cherish your wisdom. The great cultures of the Far East (with the greatest longevity) do just that. Read “Desiderata.” I have it where I can never lose it-right above and in front of the seat we use every morning to pass on yesterday’s waste to make way for a new day (“Cats”).
★ Pick your parents carefully. Well now, that is something none of us could do with our biological parents. However, the new epicigenetics teaches us the value of living a healthy, happy and productive life that allows us to go around the bad genes and pass on the new you to your offspring.
Music is magic. I was lucky to have been brought up by a father who insisted we choose an instrument to play at the age of 7-years-old. That has passed on to my children and grandchildren. My 44-year-old son sits at the grand piano without a sheet of music in front of him and plays the most beautiful music. He tells me he thinks of me as he looks up and finds the fingers of both hands making magic - so soothing to the president of his own corporation. Unlike my father, I placed a small accordion in his crib before he was out of diapers and let he make whatever sounds he found as he pressed the keys and buttons of that first accordion. One day, at the age of three, we were at the kitchen table as he began playing each song I had played with him. No lessons, no grilling practice sessions, no criticism or sternness - just a loving, hugging, kissing father. He must have been in third grade when I skipped out at lunch time -from the high school I taught at to go to the auditorium of the elementary school I had graduated from P.S.77. He played one of my favorites, “Those Were the Days.” He received a standing ovation after his solo performance and I returned quickly to my teaching duties four blocks away. Sometimes you get lucky. My son did very well, but he did follow the performance of a “Tuba” player.
I wonder if two old codgers could get together, before we pass, and discuss the phenomenon of tennis and the studies of the Cleveland Clinic , Johns Hopkins and the USTA - on the impact of this sport on the longevity of our members. The pictures are there all the way back to 1979 with players who were the heroes of WWII and lived happily with the philosophy of an old country singer by the name of Kenny Rogers, “Something to do, Something to look forward to and Someone to LOVE!
posted by Stan Kent at
1:12 PM
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