Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions  By John C. Norcross, Ph.D.  Contributors: Kristin Loberg and Jonathon Norcross.  Simon and Schuster, 2012.  272 pages.  ISBN: 978-1451657616.  VSCL. 

Change Your Age: Using Your Body and Brain to Feel Younger, Stronger, and More Fit.  By Frank Wildman, CFT, PhD.  Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2010.  240 pages.  ISBN: 9780738213637. Bases on the Feldenkrais Method.  VSCL. 

Chasing Life.   New Discoveries in the Search for Immortality to Help You Age Less Today.  By Sanjay Gupta, MD.  New York, Warner Wellness, 2007.  Index, 260 pages.  VSCL. 

Chico State University: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Chico State, Chico, California

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

Chi Kung (Qigong)  Chinese yoga for seniors. 

Foundation for Health in Aging (American Geriatrics Society)

Free Class: Balance Exercises, Fall Prevention, Senior Fitness: Class by Michael P. Garofalo

G

Gardening and Healthy Living

Michael P. Garofalo: Balance Exercises, Fall Prevention, Senior Fitness Class

Michael P. Garofalo: Instructor Qualification for Free Balance and Fall Prevention Class

The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully By Joan Chittister. Blue Bridge, 2010. 222 pages. ISBN: 978-1933346335. Ms. Chittister is a Catholic Benedictine nun.

The Grace in Aging: Awaken as You Grow Older. By Kathleen Dowling Singh. Boston, Wisdom Publications, 2014. Index, 290 pages. ISBN; 9781614291268. Excellent overview of Buddhist philosophy. VSCL.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

Green Way Research Subject Index.  The hypertext notebooks and websites of Mike Garofalo.

                                          

Growing Old is Not for Sissies II: Portraits of Senior Athletes.  By Etta Clark.  Pomegranate Communications, 1995.  113 pages.  ISBN: 0876544782.

Growing Old: The Ultimate Freedom  By Maxwell Jones, M.D..  New York, Insight Books, Human Sciences Press, 1988.  Index, references, 116 pages.  ISBN: 0898854059.  Dr. Jones, a British psychiatrist, and a leader in developing open-ended, democratic, and progressive therapeutic and working groups, wrote this book in his early 80's.  In his later years, he admits to being increasingly influenced by holistic, synergistic, Eastern, mystical, intuitive, and open models of life and social relations.  He stresses the need for older persons to be engaged with others in groups, discussion circles, therapeutic communities, continuing education, ashram types of residential retreats, and spiritual quests.

Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps to Reverse Aging By Deepak Chopra, M.D., and David Simon, M.D. New York, Harmony Books, 2001.  References, index, 289 pages.  ISBN:  0609600796. Practical suggestions for improving your health and enhancing chances for longevity by changing your perceptions and beliefs, getting deep rest, nurturing your body with healthy food, using nutritional supplements wisely, using mind/body integration techniques, exercising, eliminating toxins, becoming more creative, living with loving-kindness, and maintaining a youthful mind. "The mind/body techniques of tai chi and qigong are centuries old. Their graceful slow movements improve balance, flexibility and strength, enhancing both physical and mental well-being. We encourage you to find a local tai chi or qigong class and use these beautiful movements to awaken mind/body integration." p. 123. VSCL.

H

The Healing Promise of Qi: Creating Extraordinary Wellness Through Qigong and Tai Chi  By Roger Jahnke, O.M.D..  Chicago, Contemporary Books, 2002.   Index, notes, extensive recommended reading list, 316 pages.  ISBN: 0809295288.  VSCL. 

Health and Fitness: Taijiquan and Qigong   Links, bibliography, quotes, notes.

Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being  By Andrew Weil, M.D..  Anchor, 2007.  368 pages.  ISBN: 978-0307277541.

How to Feel Good As You Age: A Voice of Experience.   By John Barnett.  Acton, Massachusetts, Vander Wyk and Burnham, 2000.  Index, bibliography, 346 pages. ISBN: 1889242071.  Practical advice by a very active senior citizen from Seattle.  Good tips on planning, positive attitude, assertiveness, lifestyle changes, communicating your needs, direct action to improve you life, social relations, spirituality, and managing the details or life.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons

Cloud Hands Blog 

I

I'm Too Young To Be Seventy  By Judith Viorst.  Illustrated by Laura Gibson.

Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening  By Ken Wilbur, Terry Patten, Adam Leonard, and Marco Morelli.  Integral Books, 2008.  Index, 416 pages.  ISBN: 1590304675.  VSCL.

L

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

The Longevity Diet: The Only Proven Way to Slow the Aging Process and Maintain Peak Vitality Through Caloric Restriction  By Brian M. Delaney and Lisa Walford.  De Capo Lifelong Books, 3rd Edition, 2010.  352 pages.  ISBN: 978-1600940385.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

M

The Making of An Elder Culture. Reflections on the Future of America's Most Audacious Generation. By Theodore Roszak. New Society, 2009, index, 307 pages. VSCL.

The Making of a Counter Culture. Theodore Roszak. 1969.

O

One Old Druid's Final Journey.  Notebooks of the Librarian of Gushen Grove, Mike Garofalo.

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Chico State, Chico, California

Qigong (Chi Kung, Tao Yin, Chinese Yoga): Lessons, History, Bibliography, Links, Quotes, Research  Chinese yoga for seniors.

On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy.  By Carl R. Rogers.  Introduction by Pete D. Kramer.  Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1961, 1995.  Index, bibliography, 420 pages.  ISBN: 039575531X.  VSCL.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

R

Religion, Theology and Spirituality:  My Own Opinions and Ideas I am an Epicurean and atheist. I think organized religions are mostly a negative influence.

Rules for Aging: Resist Normal Impulses, Live Longer, Attain Perfection By Roger Rosenblatt. Harcourt, 2000. 160 pages. ISBN: 978-0151006595. Witty, wry, humorous, and realistic maxims for aging with a wise smile.

S

SeniorNet   SeniorNet's mission is to provide older adults education for and access to computer technologies to enhance their lives and enable them to share their knowledge and wisdom.

Seven Strategies for Positive Aging. By Robert D. Hill, Ph.D.. New York, W.W. Norton and Co., 2008. Index, references, 63 pages. ISBN: 978-0393705232. VSCL.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

70 Things to Do When You Turn 70 By Mark Evan Chimsky. Sellers Publishing Co., 2013. 304 pages. ISBN: 978-1416209157.

Social Security Administration, United State of America

Stoicism

Strength Training for Persons Over 60 Years of Age

The Sustainable You: Somatics and the Myth of Aging. The Smart Way to Achieve and Maintain Your Best Body. By John Loupos, H.S.E., M. S. Langdon Street Press, bibliography, index, 277 pages. VSCL.

T

Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan)  Chinese exercise for seniors.

Taoism, Daoism

Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity. A Modern Practical Guide to the Ancient Way. By Daniel P. Reid. Simon and Schuster, 1989, index. 404 pages. VSCL.

Tao Te Ching, Daodejing by Lao Tzu

Tehama County Commission on Aging: From 2005 until 2009, I, Michael P. Garofalo served on the Tehama County Commission on Aging (TCCA), Tehama County, Red Bluff, California. I served on the TCCA as a representative at large, the webmaster, secretary, and for two years as the TCCA chairperson. I also served on the general board and executive board of the the Area 3 Agency on Aging (PASSAGES) in Chico, CA. I developed the first TCCA website to distribute agendas, minutes, and information to our community regarding the concerns of our senior citizens.

The Ten Golden Rules: Ancient Wisdom from the Greek Philosophers on Living the Good Life.  By M.S. Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas.  Charlottsville, Virginia, Hampton Roads Pub., 2009.  128 pages.  Both authors are professors at Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus.  ISBN: 9781571746054.  VSCL.

The Thinker's Way: 8 Steps to a Richer Life (Think Critically, Live Creatively, Choose Freely).  By John Chaffee, Ph.D..  Boston, Little, Brown and Co, c1998.  Index, recommended reading, 420 pages.  ISBN: 0965681076.  VSCL.

They're Getting Older: Help Your Aging Parents Live Independently. By Susan Forester. 2022, 169 pages.

Thinking Critically.  By John Chaffee, Ph.D..  Boston, Wadsworth Pub., 2012.  10th Edition.  Index, glossary, 575 pages.  ISBN: 9780495908814.  John Chaffee, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at The City University of New York, where he has developed a Philosophy and Critical Thinking program.  VSCL.

Time and the Art of Living   By Robert Grudin.  New York, Ticknor and Fields, 1982.  189 pages.  ISBN: 0899197892.  VSCL.

ToDo Institute, Middlebury, Vermont.  Morita Therapy represents the action element of Japanese psychology; Naikan represents the element of self-reflection. Together, they offer an alternative approach based on values such as mindfulness, purposeful living, gratitude and responsible action.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

Touching, Touch, Hands, Fingers 

Toward a Psychology of Being.  By Abraham Maslow.  Reprint of 1962 First Edition.  Martino Fine Books, 2011.  228 pages.  ISBN: 978-1614270676.  VSCL. 

Trail Guide to the Body: How to Locate Muscles, Bones and More.  By Andrew Biel, LMP.  By Andrew Biel.  Illustrations by Robin Dorn, LMP.  Boulder, Colorado, Books of Discovery, 1997, 2005, 3rd Edition.  Index, glossary, 422 pages.  ISBN: 9780965853453.  A very good resource and reference tool written by an experienced massage therapist.  A good book for learning palpatory and anatomy skills.  VSCL.  

Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life  By Daniel Klein.  New York, Penguin Books, 2012.  164 pages.  ISBN: 9780143126621.  at the age of 73, Daniel Kein, takes a suitcase of books with him, and goes to live on the Greek island of Hydra in the village of Kamini.  He uses his clear and keen mind to contemplate a philosophy of old age.  His cogent observations and humor provide the reader with a wonderful reflection on living a meaningful, authentic, and realistic old age.  He draws on a variety of philosophers and psychologists to support his conclusions.  The cool and warm breezes of the Agean Sea bring a fresh perspective to his useful meditations on living well in old age.  VSCL. 

Triumphs of Experience: The Men of the Harvard Grant Study. By George E. Vaillant, M.D.. Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, 2015. 480 pages.

U

United States Senate Special Committee on Aging

V

Vancouver, Clark County, Washington State, USA
Resources, Information, Classes for and About Senior Citizens

Commission on Aging, Clark County, Washington State, USA

Virtue Ethics

VSCL = Valley Spirit Center Library, Red Bluff, California

Well Being: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Quotations, Fitness

Who Will Take Care of Me When I'm Old. Plan Now to Safeguard Your Health and Happiness in Old Age. By Joy Loverde. Da Caoo Life Long, 2017, index, notes, appendics, 313 pages. VSCL, Paperback.

Willpower, Behavioral Change: Quotes, Sayings, Notes

Yoga: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Fitness

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy: Until You're 80 and Beyond.  By Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge.  Workman Pub., 2007, 330 pages. 

Fitness, Exercise Science

Lifestyle Advice from Wise Persons

The Good Life

Index to A Philosopher's Notebooks

Cloud Hands Blog

Green Way Research

Willpower, Behavorial Change

The Good Life and Virtues

Quotations, Sayings, Quips, Maxims

Aging Well, Senior Living, Growing Older, Maturity, Aging Gracefully

Tips for a successful exercise program for the elderly:

1.  Make a realistic assessment of your current physical fitness condition.
2.  Start off slow and be patient.
3.  Include exercises for improving your aerobic capacity, your strength, 
     and your flexibility and range of movement.
4.  Establish and maintain your exercise program.  Develop a positive habit for exercise.
5.  Find exercise activities that your enjoy.  Vary your exercise rountines.
6.  Enjoy exercise activities with others, but don't depend upon others to exercise.
7.  Be realistic about your exercise goals in the long run.  

“It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone.”
-  Andy Rooney 

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?"
-  Satchel Paige

“It is best as one grows older to strip oneself of possessions, to shed oneself downward like a tree, to be almost wholly earth before one dies.” 
-  Sylvia Townsend Warner

"But who you are is not a concept in the sky, and it's not a record of you accomplishments either.  The most original and creative side of you can re-emerge only when you get time of your own, free time, wide-open time, uncommitted time, time in which to go after dreams or do absolutely nothing if you choose.  Without it you can't have a self."
-  Barbara Sher, It's Only Too Late If You Don't Start Now, 1998, p 228

“Age has no reality except in the physical world. The essence of a human being is resistant to the passage of time. Our inner lives are eternal, which is to say that our spirits remain as youthful and vigorous as when we were in full bloom. Think of love as a state of grace, not the means to anything, but the alpha and omega. An end in itself.”
-  Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

"America is growing older at an unprecedented rate. The number of people 65 and older is larger than ever before, and those 85 and older constitute the fastest growing segment of the population. When the baby boom generation enters its senior years, between 2010 and 2030, it is projected that one in five Americans will be over 65."
-  American Geriatric Society,  What is Geriatrics?

“The older I get, the more I see there are these crevices in life where things fall in and you just can't reach them to pull them back out. So you can sit next to them and weep or you can get up and move forward. You have to stop worrying about who's not here and start worrying about who is.”
-  Alex Witchel

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

Aging Quotations: Compilations, Links, Resources

"Ten Ways to Inspire People to Keep Fit:  Be a role model; make fitness fun; be both active and productive; make workouts short and sweet; extol the benefits; train for a charity event together; set short-term goals; offer to be a workout partner; use inspirational music; don't preach, lecture or nag. "
-  American Council on Exercise  

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”
-  Sophia Loren  

"So far as motivational status is concerned, healthy people have sufficiently gratified their basic needs for safety, belongingness, love, respect and self-esteem so that they are motivated primarily by trends to self-actualization (defined as ongoing actualization of potentials, capacitates and talents, as fulfillment of mission (or call, fate, destiny, or vocation), as a fuller knowledge of, and acceptance of, the person's own intrinsic nature, as an unceasing trend toward unity, integration or synergy within the person. .. These healthy people are there defined by describing their clinically observed characteristics.  These are:
1.  Superior perception of reality.
2.  Increased acceptance of self, of others and of nature.
3.  Increased spontaneity.
4.  Increase in problem-centering.
5.  Increased detachment and desire for privacy.
6.  Increased autonomy, and resistance to enculturation.
7.  Greater freshness of appreciation, and richness of emotional reaction.
8.  Higher frequency of peak experiences.
9.  Increased identification with the human species.
10.  Changed and improved interpersonal relations.
11.  More democratic character structure.
12.  Greatly increased creativeness.
13.  Certain changes in the value system."
-  Toward a Psychology of Being.   Abraham Maslow.  New Jersey, Van Nostrand, 1962.  3rd Edition, Wiley, 1998.  320 pages.  ISBN: 0471293091. pp.23-24

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally.
3. Don't make assumptions.
4. Always do your best. 
-  Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

“And meanwhile time goes about its immemorial work of making everyone look and feel like shit.”
-  Martin Amis

"The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years.  Your body changes, but you don't change at all.  And that, of course, causes great confusion."
-  Doris Lessing

“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.” 
- Robert Frost

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

"With 3.3 million residents age 65 and older, California is home to the largest elderly population in the United States. This age group is expected to have an overall 112 percent increase between 1990 and 2020."
-  CSU Sacramento Gerontology Program

"Seriously, however, I learn a lot about my physical life in the aging and changing of my body."
-  Malcolm Boyd

“Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty. But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.”
-  Phyllis Diller

"Preparation for old age should begin not later than one's teens.  A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement."
-  Dwight L. Moody

“The wisest are the most annoyed at the loss of time.” 
- Dante Alighieri

"The wiser mind mourns less for what age takes away than what it leaves behind."
-  William Wordsworth

"Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength."
-  Betty Friedan

"An estimated 13.4 million Americans practice yoga or other mind-body exercises such as tai chi, according to a 2003 survey by the Sporting
Goods Manufacturers Association.  Of those, an estimated 1.6 million were 55 or older."
-   Red Bluff Daily News, 8 Feb 2005, 6A.

"Exuberance" derived from the Latin exuberance― ex, "out of," + uberare, "to be fruitful, to be abundant"― is as its core a concept of fertility.  Exuberance in nature is defined by lush, profuse, riotous growth; it is an overflowing, opulent, and copious abundance.  ... In our time, "exuberance" usually denotes a mood or temperament of joyfulness, ebullience, and high spirits, a state of overflowing energy and delight.  It is more energetic than joy and enthusiasm but less intense, although of longer duration, than ecstasy.  The origins of the concept of exuberance in the cyclic fertility of nature, now largely forgotten, remain critical to understanding it as a primitive life force vital to survival."
-  Kay Redfield Jamison, M.D.  Exuberance: The Passion for Life

"I think you have to relax about aging.  What else can you do?"
-  Felicity Kendal

                                           

"The Greeks understood the mysterious power of the hidden side of things.  The bequeathed to us one of most beautiful words in our language― the word 'enthusiasm'― en theos― a god within.  The grandeur of human actions is measured by the inspiration from which they spring.  Happy is he who bears a god within, and who obeys it."
-  Louis Pasteur

"Any fear of aging, I think, is simply vanity.
-  Leighton Meester

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo. 

“Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more. Therefore, both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom, the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come. So we must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed towards attaining it.”
- Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus

"Through processes embedded in valued subjective experience we have learned that disciplining how we think and feel about ourselves and our health is as important to well-being as any physiological markers of disease.  Positive Aging describes a process whereby we take control of our own late life experiences by discovering meaning in growing old that transcends the deteriorative processes of aging.  Positive Agers posses four characteristics: (a) mobilizing resources to meet the challenges of aging, (b) making life choices that preserve well-being, (c) cultivating flexibility to deal with age-related decline, and (d) focusing on the positives (verses the negatives) in old age."
-  Robert T. Hill 

“Wisdom comes with winters.”
-  Oscar Wilde

"I will never be an old man.  To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am."
-  Bernard M. Baruch

"There is no old age.  There is, as there always was, just you."
-  Carol Matthau

"Aging is not 'lost youth' but a new stage of opportunity and strength."
-  Betty Friedan

"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.  Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."
-  Samuel Ullman

"Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age.  Nothing does - except wrinkles.  It's true, some wines improve with age.  But only if the grapes were good in the first place."
-  Abigail Van Buren

"The problems of aging present an opportunity to rethink our social and personal lives in order to ensure the dignity and welfare of each individual."
-  Daisaku Ikeda

"Old men ought to be explorers
Here and there does not matter
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion"
- T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets

"We are not victims of aging, sickness and death.  These are part of the scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change.  The seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being."
-  Deepak Chopra

"Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."
-  Mark Twain

“Now is the time to become a myth.”
- Diane Von Furstenberg

“Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.”
-  Yoko Ono   

“The wisest are the most annoyed at the loss of time.”
-  Dante Alighieri 

"No one can avoid aging, but aging productively is something else."
-  Katharine Graham

"At age 20, we worry about what others think of us.  At age 40, we don't care what they think of us.  At age 60, we discover that they haven't been thinking of us at all."
-  Ann Landers 

"Age appears to be best in four things: old wood is best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read."
-  Francis Bacon

"Being a woman, French, a writer, sixty-four years old in 1972: What does that mean? ... At present I am concerned with recovering my life --- reviving forgotten mories, re-reading, re-seeing, rounding off incomplete pieces of knowledge, filling gaps, clarifying obscurities, gathering scattered elements together."
- Simone de Beauvoir, All Said and Done, p. 39

“The curse of mortality. You spend the first portion of your life learning, growing stronger, more capable. And then, through no fault of your own, your body begins to fail. You regress. Strong limbs become feeble, keen senses grow dull, hardy constitutions deteriorate. Beauty withers. Organs quit. You remember yourself in your prime, and wonder where that person went. As your wisdom and experience are peaking, your traitorous body becomes a prison.”
-  Brandon Mull

“In terms of days and moments lived, you’ll never again be as young as you are right now, so spend this day, the youth of your future, in a way that deflects regret. Invest in yourself. Have some fun. Do something important. Love somebody extra. In one sense, you’re just a kid, but a kid with enough years on her to know that every day is priceless.”
-  Victoria Moran

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.  Anyone who keeps learning stays young.  The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."
-  Henry Ford

"He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition, youth and age are equally a burden."
-  Plato

"The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy."
-  Alfred North Whitehead

“Age has no reality except in the physical world. The essence of a human being is resistant to the passage of time. Our inner lives are eternal, which is to say that our spirits remain as youthful and vigorous as when we were in full bloom. Think of love as a state of grace, not the means to anything, but the alpha and omega. An end in itself.” 
- Gabriel García Márquez

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

"Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art."
-  Stanislaw Jerzy

"Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form."
-  Andre Maurois

Seven Strategies for Positive Aging

1.  You can find meaning in old age.
2.  You're never to old to learn.
3.  You can use the past to cultivate wisdom.
4.  You can strengthen life-span relationships.
5.  You can promote growth through giving and receiving help.
6.  You can forgive yourself and others.
7.  You can possess a grateful attitude. 
-  Robert T. Hill, Ph.D., Seven Strategies for Positive Aging, 2008

"You can free yourself from aging by reinterpreting your body and grasping the link between belief and biology.
-  Deepak Chopra

"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

"Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order."
-  John Adams

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” 
- Sophia Loren

A New Weekly Workout Plan

Monday      
Beat around the bush
Lift myself up by the bootsraps
Make mountains out of mole hills
Get all fired up
Jump to conclusions
Climb the walls

Tuesday
Drag my heels
Make my point
Push my luck
Pull my own load
Hit the nail on the head

Wednesday      
Bend over backwards
Jump on the Band Wagon
Grab all I can get
Run around in circles
Shoulder my share of responsibility

Thursday    
Shop till I drop
Hang loose
Grind to a halt
Rest and recuperate

Friday      
Push it to the limit
Pull out all the stops
Add fuel to the fire
Pave the roadway to hell
Throw it all away

Saturday
Open a can of worms
Put my foot in my mouth
Start the ball rolling
Go over the edge

Sunday
Pick up the pieces.
Wade through the morning paper
Lift my spirits
Toot my own horn

-  Mike Garofalo, 2005, Aging Well

Twenty Rules for Optimal Living in the 21st Century

1.  Face Reality
2.  Take Action
3.  Create Yourself
4.  Accept Responsibility
5.  Do It Now
6.  You Can't Change the Past
7.  Act Like a Scientist
8.  Work, Work, Work and Practice, Practice, Practice
9.  Push Yourself
10.  Do and Feel
11.  There's No Gain Without Pain
12.  Accept and Forgive Yourself Unconditionally
13.  Live for Now and for the Future
14.  Commit Yourself
15.  Take Risks
16.  Be Interested in Yourself and in Others
17.  Remain Flexible
18.  Use It Or Lose It
19.  Accept Uncertainty
20.  Don't Expect Heaven on Earth

Albert Ellis, Ph.D., and Emmett Verlten, Ph.D. Optimal Aging: Get Over Getting Older Chicago, Illinois, Open Court, 1998. Index, Recommended Reading List, 288 pages. ISBN: 978-0812693833. VSCL.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

Lifestyle Advice from Wise Persons

The Good Life

Gardening

Index to A Philosopher's Notebooks

I have benefitted from reading and adopting the ideas and suggestions of Andrew Weil, M.D..  His books are informative and provide persuasive facts and arguments for using “integrative medicine” to achieve improved health and well-being.  Persons of all ages can benefit from his advice, and his book “Healthy Aging” is especially relevant to seniors like myself.  Those who practice Taijiquan, Qigong, and Yoga will find support for their practices in Dr. Weil’s writing. 

Eight Weeks to Optimum Health: A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body’s Natural Healing Power.  By Andrew Weil, M.D..  Ballantine Books, 2007.  320 pages.  ISBN: 978-0345498021.  VSCL. 

Spontaneous Happiness: A New Path the Emotional Well-Being.  By Andrew Weil, M.D..  Little Brown and Co., 2013.  288 pages.  ISBN: 978-0316129428.  VSCL. 

Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being.  By Andrew Weil, M.D..  Anchor Books, 2007.  368 pages.  ISBN: 978-0307277541.  VSCL. 

“Andrew Weil, M.D., is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, a healing oriented approach to health care which encompasses body, mind, and spirit.  Combining a Harvard education and a lifetime of practicing natural and preventive medicine, Dr. Weil is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, where he is also a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health and the Lovell-Jones Professor of Integrative Rheumatology. Dr. Weil received both his medical degree and his undergraduate AB degree in biology (botany) from Harvard University.  Dr. Weil is an internationally-recognized expert for his views on leading a healthy lifestyle, his philosophy of healthy aging, and his critique of the future of medicine and health care. Online, he is the editorial director of www.drweil.com, the leading web resource for healthy living based on the philosophy of integrative medicine; and, can be found on Facebook (facebook.com/drweil), Approximately 10 million copies of Dr. Weil's books have been sold, including "Spontaneous Healing," "8 Weeks to Optimum Health," "Eating Well for Optimum Health," "The Healthy Kitchen," "Healthy Aging," and "Why Our Health Matters."”
-  Quotation from Amazon Books

"If I can create a relationship characterized on my part:
by a genuineness and transparency, in which I am my real feelings;
by a warm acceptance of and prizing of the other person as a separate individual;
by a sensitive ability to see his world and himself as he sees them;
Then the other individual in the relationship:
will experience and understand aspects of himself which previously he as repressed;
will find himself becoming better integrated, more able to function effectively;
will become more similar to the person he would like to be;
will be more self-directing and self-confident;
will become more of a person, more unique and more self-expressive;
will be more understanding, more acceptant of others;
will be able to cope with the problems of life more adequately and more comfortably."
On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy, p. 37.  By Carl R. Rogers.  Written around 1955. 

"Japanese Advice for the Elderly
Aging Hints from Hinohara Shigeaki, 1911-
(translated and adapted from Tanoyaku, Vol 38, June, 2007)

Emphasize love, not hate
Recognize your imperfection but aim to improve
Try something new
Focus your attention; don't waste time thoughtlessly
Find a model person to imitate
Seek to empathize
Value encounters with others
Maintain small eating habits
But don't be neurotic about diet; enjoy food
Walk; use stairs as much as possible
Participate in group sport activities
Enjoy leisure; avoid a life with only work
Handle stress by exercising; walk, play
Take responsibility for your own behavior
Change habits when necessary; don't be obsessed with maintaining habits"
-  Advice for Aging Well from David K. Reynolds, Ph.D.

"Although the average life expectancy of U.S. males has risen over the past century, life expectancy has declined since 2019, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2021, the average age of death in men is 73 years old, with the most common causes of death being heart disease, cancer, unintentional deaths, COVID-19 infection, and stroke.
Healthy lifestyle habits, such as a nutritious diet and regular exercise, are essential for men to reduce the risk of heart disease, infection, cancer, and stroke. Due to their increased risk of accidental deaths, men should only drink in moderation and avoid risk-taking behaviors that could lead to accidental drownings, falls, or vehicular crashes."
- Barbara Basaraba, Average Life Expectancy of Males in the USA

Research by
Michael P. Garofalo

Michael P. Garofalo, A Brief Biography

Green Way Research: Bed Bluff, Tehama County, California, 1998-2017; Vancouver, Clark County, Washington State, 2017-

This webpage was last modified, revised, improved, edited, expanded, or updated on November 1, 2023.          

This webpage was first distributed online on October 16, 2013.

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