1. Positive propaganda quotes:
- Select the quotes you like from this collection.
- Add in others you like.
- Memorize the key message in each quote.
- Recall the quotes each day and practice the ones you forgot.
- Look for opportunities to apply the positive messages in your quotes.
The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes. ~Frank Lloyd Wright
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. ~Henry Ford
Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. ~Eleanor Roosevelt
Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are. ~Muhammad Ali
When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old. ~Bill Clinton
You don’t stop doing things because you get old. You get old because you stop doing things. ~Rosamunde Pilcher
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. ~C.S. Lewis
And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. ~Abraham Lincoln
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ~Chili Davis
Age does not depend upon years, but upon temperament and health. Some men are born old, and some never grow up. ~Tyron Edwards
It’s sad to grow old but nice to ripen. ~Brigette Bardot
No one can avoid aging, but aging productively is something else. ~Katherine Graham
To resist the frigidity of old age, one must combine the body, the mind, and the heart. And to keep these in parallel vigor, one must exercise, study, and love. ~Alan Bleasdale
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm. ~Henry David Thoreau
I’m not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You’re as old as you feel. ~Henri Frederic Amiel
I’m happy to report that my inner child is still ageless. ~James Broughton
You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old. ~George Burns
A man is not old as long as he is seeking something. ~Jean Rostand
For the unlearned, old age is winter; for the learned, it is the season of the harvest. ~Hasidic saying
If I’d known how old I was going to be, I’d have taken better care of myself. ~Adolph Zukor
Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be. ~Robert Browning
We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing. ~George Bernard Shaw
Aging is an inevitable process. I surely wouldn’t want to grow younger. The older you become, the more you know; your bank account of knowledge is much richer.” ~William Holden
Age is a matter of feeling, not of years. ~George William Curtis
2. Read books and watch videos on the art of positive aging.
Click here to watch the 5-min trailer of Old on Purpose, “a documentary about a growing positive aging revolution that could change the paradigm of being ‘old.'”
And click here to watch three more short excerpts from the “Old on Purpose” documentary.
Click here to read an informative review of George Vaillant’s 2002 book Aging Well: Surprising Guidelines to a Happier Life. And click here to read the opening pages of Aging Well. Snippets from the review:
“We all need models for how to live from retirement to past 80–with joy,” writes George Vaillant, M.D., director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development. This groundbreaking book pulls together data from three separate longevity studies that, beginning in their teens, followed 824 individuals for more than 50 years. The subjects were male Harvard graduates; inner-city, disadvantaged males; and intellectually gifted women. . .
In Aging Well, he presents personal narratives about people from these studies whom he interviewed personally in their 70s and 80s. He describes their history, relationships, hardships, philosophies, and sources of joy. We learn their perspectives and what makes them want to get up in the morning. . .
We also learn what makes old age vital and interesting. Vaillant discusses the important adult developmental tasks, such as identity, intimacy, and generativity (giving to the next generation), and provides important clues to a healthy, meaningful, satisfying old age.
Friendships with younger persons enhance the enjoyment of old age; these successful friendships are not so-called relationships in which the elderly are coddled by the young. Instead, the elderly give more than they take. A few observations add to the already overwhelming evidence that certain factors are associated with a healthy lifestyle. Cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse are more than bad habits; they destroy us. Exercise improves our ability to enjoy life.
3. Immerse yourself in inspiring role models for positive aging:
95-year-old Ida Keeling is America’s oldest sprinter
75-year-0ld workout inspiration –Ernestine Shepherd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhUMACwB-a4
Positive Aging Award – Faye McCoy
Bel Kaufman–100 year-old who teaches younger generations about life and humor.
Sarah Paddy dances Salsa at 77 years old
92 Year Old Grandma Lucy keeps young by dancing.
102 Year Old Dancing the Electric Slide
Virginia Harvey 100 Years Old Ballroom Competitior Galaxy Dance Festival 2010 (dances the quickstep!)
100-year’s old with a killer forehand (table tennis)
A Lady And Her Ride: Two Classics, One Car – Video Library – The New York Times
This 101 year-old lady still changes her own oil. WOW!
A Lady And Her Ride: Two Classics, One Car – Video Library – The New York Times
4.More stuff
- Look out for movies and novels and biographies about people who have aged well.
- Look out for examples of people who are aging positively in your life
- Search out scientific research on positive aging.
- Identify and embrace the positive aspects of aging.
- Look for ways to engineer out the handicaps caused by aging.
- Identify ways to stay current with new technology so you don’t feel left behind.
- Stay mindful all the time–i.e. be alert to new and different things
- Strengthen aspects of yourself likely to weaken with age, e.g. muscles, recall, etc.
- Care for your body–feed it well and exercise it–so you can feel confident it will look after you in your “old age”.
- Take extra care to make yourself look attractive.
- Spend some of your time with people who are younger than you are.
- Get good medical care.
- Mix with vibrant, inspiring friends.
- Have goals that give you a strong will to live a long, active life.
- Keep learning new things and new skills; keep challenging yourself.
- Be aware of so you can inoculate yourself against the negative aging primes.
- Especially guard against mindlessly stopping yourself from doing things because “you’re too old to do that stuff” e.g. wearing certain clothes or doing certain sporting activities, etc.
- Guard against too readily asking for help and feeling helpless about certain things because they are a bit hard to do.
- Beware of being too ready to blame pain or difficulties on “old age”, e.g. if you feel stiff and sore after gardening or a long bike ride, don’t automatically blame it on your age.
- Take special care to safeguard your posture–think “tall and straight” all the time.
- Come up with other ways to measure your age, other than just the conventional chronological way. Instead, try to measure your physiological age and your cognitive age, and the age you feel “inside”.
- Stay “future-oriented”. Make sure you keep living in the present and the future and not in the past.
- Free up your thinking so you’ll be OK about spending money to liberate yourself from limiting age-related handicaps. Put money aside now to protect your financial security when you’re older.
- Learn how to generate your positive emotions of joy and love and forgiveness and gratitude and optimism and sense of humor, etc.
- Build up your social networks–join vibrant communities.
- Develop your “otherliness” side more — learn to spend less time thinking about yourself and more time thinking about others; spend more time doing good works for others.
- Beware of spending too much time in the company of people who are aging badly.
- Make sure you maintain control over as many decisions as you can for as long as you can.
