A Prescription To Fill and Refill

I am in shock and horror over the sight of the Syrian refugees fleeing for their lives: thousands of starving, desperate people having trudged for hundreds of miles bearing children on their backs, staring woefully at the fencing topped with curled razor wire which now defines the Hungarian border. My heart breaks for the terrified and homeless people seeking freedom and instead, finding tear gas, batons that strike and rejection. The sharp contrast of how very comfortable my own life is, is painful and disturbing.

And yet, what is Hungary to do with all these refuges? Is Hungary at fault here? And Croatia? What is the EU doing to coordinate assistance to the poorer Balkan countries? Even Germany, once welcoming, is beginning to close doors. We will take 85,000 this year. That's something. The tsunami of homeless, frightened people is more than any one country can handle.

My second horror in the news is over the hundreds of thousands of acres of land and houses burning all over the west, particularly in the state of Washington and California. I am awed by the heroic and courageous persistence of firefighters who fight fires the height and breadth of the Rocky Mountains, and who often have to make a desperate choice between what town they can save and what town they must allow to burn to the ground.

Except for these stunning evening news moments of sadness, anger, frustration and helplessness, there is in my life that which, of late, consumes me with another kind of fire altogether: the fire of creativity: that is my Healing Into Aging group at the Southport Congregational Church.

I love the work! I love the prep: the reading: so many terrific books: one leading into another. The group is wonderful. Aging is all the rage. Everyone is doing it!

After much discussion of material from Aging Well, by George E. Vaillant, MD, together, the group created a list of behaviors and attitudes they believe constitutes a recipe for successful aging.

Reading it over, I thought that it was not only a recipe for healthy and vital aging, but also a good list for living life fully at any age. Not only a recipe then, but, if you will, a prescription to fill and refill in order to attain an “certain” age with most, if not all, of our batteries sparking.

This is the list. You might want to add thoughts of your own. I would be happy to receive them.

WHAT PROMOTES AND SUSTAINS SUCCESSFUL AGING

·      Looking forward to each day

·      Enjoying today

·      Being engaged with your community and the world

·      Being grateful

·      Having friends/ caring for people when needed

·      Having/creating new experiences

·      Taking risks

·      Sharing talents, using your gifts

·      Continuing to learn

·      Being active

·      Feeling useful

·      Mentoring

·      Keeping healthy/ exercising

·      Finding humor in each day

·      Not taking ourselves too seriously

·      A positive attitude

·      Faith, however you choose to express it.

  We are so fortunate! It is only when a solid level of survival is assured—and we have that--that human beings have the luxury of contemplating the quality of their lives. So much of the world is in tragic upheaval. We are extraordinarily blessed.