Wisdom of the Elders
A recent podcast featuring Dr. Karl Pillemer, director of Cornell University's Legacy Project really piqued my interest. He has spent years interviewing and researching the regrets of thousands of people in their 80's, 90's and 100's. I would have loved to be sitting in on the conversations with these wise elders.
With the year coming to a close and a new year just around the corner I thought it was a perfect time to reflect on some of their insights. I was surprised by a few of them while other perceptions validated what I have learned from my own life experience. Here are a few of the takeaways.
1. Happiness is a choice not a condition. Even in the midst of troubling times it is possible to find something that is working. Every person used happiness as their “super power” to overcome negativity in depressing times.
2. Live life intentionally.
3. Live like your life is short because time passes so quickly.
4. Tell people how much you care about them, how much you love them in the now.
5. Practice self- compassion, we all get our hearts broken.
6. Practice self-acceptance, we all make mistakes and fall short of our goals.
7. Acknowledge you are an “elder” with wisdom, life experience and clarity not “elder-ly.”
8. Treat relationships as precious not routine.
9. Travel more.
10. Choose your partner carefully. If friends and family members don't like them...listen.
11. Daily express what you are grateful for no matter how small and be thankful for the mundane things that happened.
12. Do what you love not what necessarily makes a lot of money if your job makes you unhappy. Sometimes those two things coincide but not always.
13. Don't wait to make amends.
Evangel
Thanks for compiling and sharing wisdom from the elders.
Western societies tend to dismiss their elders as unrelatable and out of touch. Though older people grew up in a different time, their acquired life experience and insights are timeless and indispensable, especially for younger people who are floundering. Lacking connections with the keepers of such wisdom may be one reason so many of our youngsters are depressed, toxic, inert, and suicidal.
Slipstream
There's a lot of good advice in this piece and all gained from real-life experience. If you're young-ish, take this information and start to practice these points. You can bet you're life will be richer. If you're older, don't wait, start today.
Thanks so much for compiling this comprehensive list of "magical" to-dos.
Well Street
I especially like number 7. In Western societies, "elderly" is synonymous with being feeble, dependent, and, most unfairly, irrelevant.
Several passages in the Bible teach that respect for elders is a moral responsibility. For example:
Leviticus 19:32
“Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly, and revere your God.”
Job 12:12
“Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?”
Proverbs 16:31
“Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness.”