All the world's a stage

.... and all the men and women merely players.   - William Shakespeare 

Do you 

• expect people to behave a certain way and at a certain time?
• To react a certain way?
• To say a certain thing?
• To send the correct emoji response to my last text?

If you do, then you have probably been disappointed, life is not a scripted event, it is an improv. Every day we create stories for our lives. Sometimes are stories are happy, sometimes they are sad, but most of the time, they are a surprise. 

If you were the director of your play of life, you could expect the players to respond as you want them to, say what you want them to say, when you need them to say the lines. But we have no director and so we stumble through each day and hope that we remain the hero/heroine of our day. Sometimes we surprise ourselves and get to be the hero, other times we play supporting cast to others who we interact with every day. 

Each day is a surprise and the opportunity for a new story or a new chapter in or ongoing story. When we look back at our lives, we will not "sweat the small stuff", but we will remember relationships and the feelings we received from these relationships, 

Are you the hero of your story that you hoped you would be when you were ten? If not perhaps it is time to change the channel or open a new chapter of your story. Remember it is never too late

Walking 10 minutes a day is healthy

Not sure what is happening, but for some reason this post is appearing in ALL CAPS, which is not what I see on my editing screen. Sorry for those who think I am yelling about this, I am not.

I love to walk and have talked about walking many times in this blog. The good folks at grandparents.com  have added some information about how important walking.

How to Get Started

Resolve to walk for just 10 minutes each day. Dress appropriately for the weather, and start with a stroll in your neighbourhood or near your workplace. Don’t put on your headphones. If you invite someone along, be sure to tell them that the walk is about being quiet and noticing your surroundings, not about chatting.  

As you walk:

Allow your mind to wander. “Your mind will wander, “Koerbel says. “That’s OK. Recognise that it’s a thought and only a thought. Then say, ‘Now I’m going to notice the breeze on my face.’” In other words, keep coming back to your observations about where you are now.

Be willing to be surprised by what’s around you. You will notice birds. You will observe people. You might see nothing! All of it can be a source of wonder if you allow yourself to see it that way. And wonder brings joy to those who observe it. And joy points out, Dr Chopra, brings better health.

Pledge to take care of yourself. This walk is for you and part of your effort at self-care, Koerbel says. Be comfortable. Be grateful for your ability to venture out, and be faithful to your commitment to it.

What You’ll Get Out of It

A Settled Mind: By staying open to what’s around you, you will begin to feel more peaceful. It may be as simple as recognising what is around you, but walking mindfully may also allow your mind to open and see things more clearly.

An Appreciation of Nature: Many studies have linked being in nature with a sense of well-being. In your mindfulness walk, you can notice the things that nature provides us and appreciate them in a more complete way.

A Chance to Breathe Deeply: Unlike yoga or guided meditation, mindfulness walking does not urge you to breathe deeply. But it’s likely that as you begin to walk, you’ll naturally take deeper breaths, which has several benefits: You can slow your heart rate, lower your blood pressure, reduce tension, boost energy, and improve your mood.

Problem-Solving Moments: Sometimes, insights do occur when you’re walking mindfully. And sometimes they show up afterwards. “Offering yourself time to come back to your center often frees us to think outside the box,” Koerbel says. “Mindfulness walking can be a process of self-discovery and self-care. Mindfulness supports us in many ways to go toward wholeness and healing.

A Sense of Gratitude: Many studies have shown that feeling gratitude is a great antidote to stress. Mindfulness walking can stoke your feelings of gratefulness. “Those feelings often do arise when we are willing to be with ourselves and just experience everything around us,” Koerbel says. It might be as simple as feeling grateful for the first breath of air or a feeling of vitality. It might be a sense of thankfulness for a beautiful day or for the scenery. Even if it is feeling grateful for something small like the sight of a bright red cardinal winging past you, it’s a feeling you probably won’t have if you’re sitting in your home or office.  

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America's Favorite Age? It's 50

An Internet poll asked If you could skip time and live forever in good health at a particular age, what age would you like to live at? The answer aAccording to a Harris interactive, the magic number is 50.

The online poll surveyed a total of 2,252 American adults which included men and women of all ages, all geographical regions, and all political bents. Some had children; some did not. All were picked from a pool of folks who’d agreed to participate in a Harris Interactive survey.

Not surprisingly, younger people chose younger ages. Echo boomers, ages 18 to 36, thought a perfect age was 38. Gen Xers, ages 37 to 48, wanted to stay put at 49. Baby boomers, ages 49 to 67, thought 55 was pretty awesome. While mature adults, ages 68 and older, were happy to hold steady at 67.

On average, men wanted to be younger than women, choosing 47 over the average perfect age for females of 53. Those with kids in the household thought to stay 45 forever would rock; those without children around opted for 53.

It's an Internet poll, not an academic peer-reviewed study. Still, there are plenty of reasons people might call 50 the perfect age, psychologists say.

You have almost every opportunity. You’re young enough to be famous or start an organic farm and still have the muscle tone to work eight hours a day. You’re old enough to have wisdom but young enough that your parents are still alive so you have a generational experience. If you’re tired, you can ask the young man on the bus to get out of his seat for you. Or you can date the young man. 

All of the recent medical – and cosmetic -- developments have also helped to give 50 a facelift.  For a woman, you can stay stylish and fit and maybe get your hair dyed or just do a little [cosmetic] tune-up and feel, ‘Wow, this is great.’ In terms of childbearing, you can basically say forget it or if you want a baby at 50 or 53, you can get your hormones juiced up and go for it.

Research shows that as we age, we tend to be less depressed, less anxious and more optimistic than our juniors. And we also become more comfortable with ourselves and our bodies.

Fifty is also sort of a sweet spot when it comes to grandchildren.

Lots of people don’t have grandchildren by 50 so you’re not necessarily tied down babysitting. Of course, given how slowly young people mature now, you may still be dealing with someone in their 20s who loves living at home.

While a similar survey conducted 10 years ago found 41 to be a perfect age. We can act and feel at 50 now the way people used to at 35, It’s influencing. If you’re lucky enough to have good health and money to take care of yourself, why not incorporate the wisdom and maturity that goes with age?

Are Priorities Shifting Among Retirees?

A recent survey from the National Council on Aging (NCOA), UnitedHealthcare and USA TODAY shows seniors' perspectives on ageing and what concerns them has involved to include the importance of seniors connections with community and family to maintain a strong quality of life. 

The survey findings are interesting:
For the second year in a row, the survey found that, overall, seniors are optimistic about ageing and about their future. That’s great news because we know that positivity and happiness are related to better health.

Seniors also say that connections with their community and their family are most important to their quality of life. The most optimistic seniors are more likely to be taking steps to actively manage their health. For instance, 64% of optimistic seniors set one or more specific goals to manage their health in the past 12 months, compared with 47%of the overall senior population.

At the same time, we see that the majority of senior’s report at least two chronic conditions, yet feel their health is "normal." For boomers, these findings point to the importance of being proactive about your health and planning for health challenges down the road.

While the majority of seniors agree that the community, they live in is responsive to their needs, many – particularly low-income seniors and those with three or more chronic health conditions – lack confidence that their community is doing enough to prepare for the needs of the growing senior population.

For instance, we found that seniors nationally believe their city or town should invest more in transportation, followed by affordable health care services and senior housing. Furthermore, we found that today’s seniors rate the quality of community services such as health care and public safety higher than transportation and job opportunities for seniors.

We found that while most seniors report they are able to pay their current monthly expenses, many expressed concern about the financial impact of living longer. Two-thirds of seniors believe it to be “very easy” or “somewhat easy” to pay their monthly living expenses – consistent with the results of our 2012 survey more than half are “somewhat” to “very concerned” about whether their savings and income will be sufficient to last them for the rest of their life.

The survey also highlights just how retirement economics are changing. Nearly half of retired seniors report having access to pensions, and among seniors that are not yet retired, nearly two-thirds say they will have access to savings and investments and more than 40% plan to rely on Social Security as their primary source of retirement income.

As seniors age, they may require assistance from a caregiver. While on average seniors report, they could afford 22 months of part-time home care from a licensed aide, low-income seniors indicate they could only afford five months, and seniors with three or more chronic health conditions say they could sustain the expense for one year

Overwhelmingly, seniors feel confident about their golden years when asked about the quality of life in the future, nearly 90% of seniors state they are confident in their ability to maintain a high quality of life throughout their senior years, compared to a tad more than 80% of adults ages 18-59.

The results of the survey tell us is that seniors cite connections with community and family as most important to achieving a high quality of life. One-fifth say spending time with friends and family will be the best part of their bonus years, and more than 4 in 10 seniors say seeing their children and grandchildren grow up is the most exciting prospect of living a longer life.

Eighty-seven percent of seniors indicate that technology is important in their ability to stay in touch with family and friends. We also see this connection in terms of their expectations for housing – more than half of seniors we surveyed indicated that living close to friends and family was most important.

Most seniors expect their health to stay the same in the next five to 10 years. This contrasts with published data illustrating that seniors are living longer but sicker, with higher rates of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

Many seniors are not investing in activities that are important to help manage their health for the long term, including maintaining a healthy diet, getting regular exercise and seeing their Primary Care Physician a minimum of once a year

Although both seniors and adults ages 18-59 share the belief that "there’s no such thing as getting old" because "age is a state of mind," nearly one-fifth of adults ages 18-59 believe "being old" means becoming wiser and only less than one-tenth of those ages 60 and older agree.

When asked what their primary source of retirement income will be, nearly half of adults ages 18-59 expect to rely most heavily on savings and investments and just 23 percent said they plan to rely on Social Security. On the other side of the coin, forty-one percent of seniors that had not yet retired planned to rely on Social Security, and only 30 percent indicated they would rely on savings and investment