The Come Alive Project

Blog

  • Energy Bite 354 – Can Good Health be the New Normal

    Can Good Health Be the New Normal? For so many recent years, particularly since World War II, people in the US have become less healthy and less fit overall. This is partly because of the plethora of office and clerical jobs rather than physical jobs, as well as an abundance of leisure time.

    It is also because of the food industry and the packaging of foods for transport and storage. There are a lot of added fats and sugars as well as preservatives that were not around before WW2. Some of these are good and useful. Others are detrimental to our health. The amount of excess sugars in foods has become its own epidemic and has been determined to be the cause of a lot of the chronic health problems that we face.

    In addition, the fast food industry has been convenient but unhealthy for a lot of people. Cheap, greasy burgers and french fries are the norm and they are particularly unhealthy. Additives have been included to make the food taste better.

    Pre-packaged and processed foods have multiplied in the stores, also with additives to permit long term storage. These are not necessarily healthy.

    We have become what people in Europe call us: The Balloon People, because of our size and shape – large, round and roly-poly.

    Some of that is changing. Many people are becoming more health conscious about what they eat. They have started to read and even understand food labels and to be more aware of what they are eating. Sugar has become a demon and many of us are on the watch for it.

    Even the Government’s “My Plate” nutrition chart has become more sensible.

    Books like The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner are being read by regular people who have slowly become aware of food and nutrition. In fact, Dan Buettner and his Blue Zones team, have instituted a program to help make large and small municipal jurisdictions more aware of health and fitness. Many of the municipalities are doing something to make public fitness facilities available for their constituents. These are starting to proliferate throughout the country.

    The fact is that people are becoming more aware of the health benefits of exercise and good eating habits, and are actually doing something about it. Exercise apps for watches and phones have become prevalent, even in gyms. People are paying more attention to what they eat and how they move.

    That’s a positive trend, of course. The trend is beyond its infancy but still in its adolescence. Let’s hope it matures. People are becoming more aware of their own health and their own personal responsibility to maintain their health and fitness.

    With better health comes more energy and enthusiasm for life. With more energy and enthusiasm comes a more pleasurable lifestyle and usually, a longer and more productive life. That’s what most of us really want, particularly as Seniors. We want to be happy, healthy, useful and productive.

    So, if you’re not already doing it, start following the trend toward good health and fitness. It’s there for the taking. Good health and fitness can easily become the new normal if we do our part. It’s easy enough do. Just start. If you’re already doing it, keep up the good work.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 353 – Senior “Reset” and a Request

    What’s Next? Whether COVID is starting up again or if this is a final burst of energy for the virus, we will be starting our life again in the not too distant future. This article is not a solution, but is perhaps a delineation of the problem that many of us, as seniors, will be facing as we emerge from this worldwide pandemic. What next?

    Perhaps we can help each other with our own solutions.

    In talking to a lot of seniors, I understand that many of us are experiencing the same events as we move through the pandemic. With Covid, a quick look around at other seniors, tells us that many of us find ourselves:

    • Isolated and not having access to, or having limited access to our community of friends and acquaintances.
    • Becoming emotionally unraveled
    • Becoming apathetic and losing our sense of purpose
    • Becoming bored and depressed
    • Living in a degree of mostly/often unwarranted fear
    • Not taking care of ourselves, eating too much, not exercising and not keeping up with personal grooming
    • A loss of focus and giving in to distractions.
    • And a whole lot more.

    So we have to ask ourselves as we move through the recovery process, “how do I reset myself to become more active and productive when this is over?” “What will I do when we are all ‘released’ from the captivity of our limited quarantine.

    And that’s the purpose of this post. I am doing a short video project for the UDEMY video educational platform about “seniors resetting ourselves”. As part of the project, I am looking for what others will be doing to reset themselves when we are “released” from our COVID based quarantine.

    All too often, when we ask “what next”, we have no clue what that “next” is.  Some have goals and plans and will do something with them. they see it all as a new opportunity and will take advantage of it. For others, it will back to normal, whatever that normal may be.

    I would appreciate your help. I am asking for those of you who would be willing, to email your thoughts on “resetting yourself” and “what next?” to me at bob@thecomealiveproject.com and put the term “Senior Reset” in the subject line. I will use the information but will not include any names.

    Perhaps those who see it will be encouraged by what you will be doing to reset yourself after close to a year of far different and restricted circumstances than most of us have encountered in our lifetimes. Yes, our parents went through the great depression. I went through Pearl Harbor, Korea, 9-11, gas lines, and other circumstances where we were restricted, rationed, and quarantined. But most of us have not faced anything quite like this in our remembered past. It will be interesting to hear about your take on this most recent event, and your plan to do a “reset” when it is over.

    Thanking you in advance for your thoughts on this.

    And, thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 352 – Communicating Positive Energy

    What kind of energy do you communicate to yourself and to the people around you?

    Are we old curmudgeons with an old person’s attitude toward life, or are we healthy, vibrant seniors with a vitality and zest for living our lives? Do you look forward to getting up in the morning, or do you roll over and mentally project how miserable your day is going to be? Do you drain energy from others, or do you communicate positive energy to them.

    By “Energy”, I am referring to that “life force” within us that makes us feel good, propels us forward, and makes us “come alive”.

    All too often, we let our age define who we are. Do you? Do you look in the mirror and tell yourself that you are looking older? When you think of yourself as getting old, do you project that energy to others through your voice, your posture, your bearing, your movement, and your attitude about life. How do you come across to others?

    Charles Fillmore, a spiritual leader of the early 20th century woke up one morning at the age of 93 and said out loud, “I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and I spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me.” Now that’s Positive Energy and a Come Alive Attitude.

    Do you think yourself old, or do you have a “Come Alive Attitude” toward your life as it is? Do want to stay like you are, or do you want to try new things and experiment with life? Are you looking forward to your future or are you dreading it? Are you buried in the past or are you willing to accept inevitable change in the real world as time marches on?

    Is your physical body up to the task of living a long and active life, or is it weak and filled with aches and pains? Is your mind dreary and filled with dread for your future?

    In his book of inspirational essays, Celebrate Life, Rev. Eric Butterworth said, “The effects of the years upon the physical body depend not upon the physiology but the psychology involved.” 

    Butterworth goes on to say: “Living longer, of itself, is not the answer. We must know ‘what for’. What are we living for?” And he says that more important than living long is living “deeply”. He quotes an old Scotsman’s prayer: “Oh Lord, keep me alive as long as I live.”  Well said, Rev. Butterworth.

    It’s mostly a matter of self-awareness and self-care — taking responsibility for your own mind and body and doing something to build and maintain your own health, vitality, and personal energy. Yes, that includes exercise and eating right, and every bit as important — the mental attitude that goes with it.

    So, does your age define you, or do you define your age? In the former, you let life dictate the terms. In the latter, you dictate the terms of both your present and your future. Can you completely control your future? Of course not. You could get hit by a truck tomorrow. But you have the responsibility to take control of your own health and fitness, along with the mindset that encourages you do it.

    It’s up to us to define who we are and how we project our energy to the world. We are able dictate the terms. We know what to do. Will we do it?

    “Fitness and health is within reach of anyone who wants it. The question is, who will reach?”

            — Jim Rohn

    Thank you for reading.