By Phyl Bean ~
Here are some lessons I’ve learned during my half-century on this planet:

Be kind. The benefits of being kind—or at the very least courteous—far outweigh the effort you put in. Do random acts of kindness. Compliment someone. If a retail or food-service worker makes a mistake, be understanding and patient. Kind people live longer than unkind people.
I know myself better than anyone else. I don’t let anyone else’s opinions control what I do, what I wear, or what I say. Other people’s opinions are suggestions—take them or leave them. Everyone else is as worried and insecure as you are. Some people just hide it better. It doesn’t mean that they are any smarter or better than you.

Laugh it off. If you make a mistake, fall down, or do something dumb, just laugh it off. Other people (and you) will forget it a lot faster if you just let it roll off your back. EVERYONE makes dumb mistakes. Everyone. You aren’t alone, and you aren’t the biggest idiot in the world. Give yourself a break.

“Fitting in” is highly overrated. Be you. Confidence is sexy. Besides, great leaders didn’t get where they are by following the crowd.
Don’t stay in a bad relationship, even if it’s “for the kids.” Oftentimes, kids really thrive outside the bounds of a toxic relationship.

It’s just stuff. Sure, stuff gets broken—oftentimes accidentally by people you love—and that’s annoying. But your stuff can be replaced. You can never erase the hurtful words you say to the person you love because they broke your stuff. Stuff is never, ever as important as those you love.
You’re probably a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for being.

Don’t judge. You don’t know all the facts. That lady speeding down the road with her toddler unbuckled in the back seat may be panicked, heading for the hospital for an emergency that you can’t see. That “big kid” having a “tantrum” in the store may be on the autism spectrum and is having a meltdown, which he/she hates as much as you do. The fat lady in the bikini may have lost 100 lbs so far, and she’s pretty darn proud of what she’s done. Don’t shame people for smoking, drinking, or being fat. We all have our faults and bad habits. As a pretty famous guy is alleged to have said, “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Never lose your inner child. Dance. Sing. Skip. Tell poop jokes (not to strangers, though.) Go down the slide. Bounce at the bouncy house, if the attendant says adults are welcome. This is an advantage to being older. When you’re 20, people often think you’re “too old” to do these things, but when a 50-something does them, it’s charming. And if people think it’s dumb, screw them. See #2 above.

Don’t make major life decisions to please other people. Maybe your parents expect you to go to college, but you just want to go to a trade school and become an auto mechanic, because that’s where your heart is. Or maybe (as in my case) your parents don’t want you to go to college, but you really want to be an attorney. Live life for YOU. The world needs good auto mechanics and good attorneys. It’ll all work out.

Don’t beat yourself up about stuff. Do what you can to fix your mistakes, then move on. Guilt is only good for pushing you toward making things right again. After that, it becomes shame, and shame is a toxic substance that will eat you up inside. Same for worry. Enjoy life. Literally, stop to smell and admire the flowers. Wonder. Smile at strangers and see how many you can get to smile back. Have fun.

Life goes by really, really fast. Live each day so that, in the end, you’re reveling in how amazing your life was, not regretting all the things you did or didn’t do.
Life is better after 50.
This article first appeared at https://www.quora.com/profile/Phyl-Bean.

Peace of mind can mean many different things to many different people.  Peace of mind can also mean different things at different stages of an individual’s life.

How does peace of mind feel as we age or at any age?

The answers depend on two things: (1) our life experiences, and (2) more importantly, on how we process those experiences.

To us, peace of mind means being the best that we can be at any time in our lives – individually and together.  Feeling good about ourselves.  Living a long and healthy life surrounded by those we love and doing what we can to help others do the same.

Healthy minds.  Healthy bodies.  Healthy Spirits.  A healthy balance in our lives.

Good nutrition.  Good exercise.  Good deeds.  Good feelings toward ourselves and others.  Holding one another and others in high esteem. 

Living our individual journey and journeys as a couple as best we can.  

Helping others do the same.

Being on our separate journey individually and together as a couple and not someone else’s journey.

Focusing on the positive.  Thinking positive.  Being positive.  Seeing the big picture of who we are, what and where we are and what we are here for.

Being mindful.  Being aware.  Being always and forever filled with gratitude and love.  Sharing, serving, being kind and considerate.  

These we feel are the recipes for peace of mind – the gift that keeps on giving. 

We are truly blessed.

Carol & Bill Wilson   https://www.facebook.com/carol.wilson.52438

I find myself chuckling whenever I remember that I am 75 and Bill is 76.  I feel like and last remember being in my 40s.  How did 75 show up? Bill and I have always committed to staying strong – physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and financially.  To have balance in our life.  To have a flow.  We’ve always said that Life is a Dance.

We believe that we all are energy.  We believe that the words we speak and thoughts we think create our reality.  For example, instead of saying “I’ve gotta do xxx today” we choose to say “I get to do xxx today.”  We’ve both always been open to personal development.  We’ve done Couple Retreats up at Shalom Mountain Retreat and Study Center in Livingston Manor, NY (https://www.shalommountain.com/), Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY, even as far away as Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA.  We’ve also done The Landmark Education Forum programs (https://www.landmarkworldwide.com/).  We believe that we get to speak and choose our “Possibility” every day: “Who I am is the Possibility of Love, Light and Leadership,” for example.

We are committed to exercise, moving our bodies, getting good sleep, cleansing/ridding our body of toxins and putting good nutrition into our bodies.  Bill is an avid reader and has many interests and passions (Gemini).  Spirituality, consciousness, and quantum physics are three of his loves.  I listen to podcasts and am always in a coaching group.  

The Mind/Body connection is an aspect of reality that we share.  

I never thought of aging when I was younger.  I never thought about how I would be/look/feel as I aged. My parents each passed over in their early 40s, so I never saw them age.  I was only 10 when my mother passed over and 12 when my father passed over, so I did not think of such things.  

When I was in my late 60s, however, I realized I was not aging very well.  Physically, I was getting fluffy and puffy, swollen and bloated, tired and matronly.  Not what I wanted.  I am forever grateful that a close friend introduced me to a simple, wonderful, healthy lifestyle and that made all the difference for me. My sleep improved, my energy and clarity came back.  I became a new woman.  

Staying strong, active and healthy has enabled me to stay mentally alert, awake, aware and alive.  

Being open to personal development has enabled me to stay open, positive and productive.

Being a professional network marketer has enabled me to connect with new people all of the time.  

Being dedicated to service has enabled me to think of sharing with others to help them grow more whole and complete.

I believe in ‘Use It or Lose It.’  

I believe in staying strong and healthy, nourished, rested, loved.  

I believe in learning and growing.

I believe in sharing and creating a sense of belonging, community and “oneness.”

https://www.facebook.com/carol.wilson.52438

I am Carol Wilson, from the Jersey Shore.  I recently had a birthday – my seventy-fifth.  I am having so much fun with it.  My seventy-fifth feels totally wild and completely wonderful.  

Since I began my ‘healthy-living lifestyle’ with Isagenix seven years ago, I started naming each birthday as a new “Chapter” in my Life’s Journey Book.  This chapter is “Savoring Seventy-Five.”  

To “savor” means to enjoy something completely.  Not just one thing about something, but everything.  Tasting and completely enjoying each and every morsel of each and every second, of each and every minute, of each and every hour, and of each and every day with all of my five senses and then some. 

My last six chapters since beginning my ‘healthy-living lifestyle’ were:

2014 – Life Begins at Sixty-Nine

2015 – Strong & Seventh

2016 – Seventy-One & Sassy

2017 – Seventy-Two & Unstoppable

2018 – Seventy-Three A Brand New Me

2019 – Seventy-Four See Me Soar

Each of these six chapters has individually and collectively served as a building block for my next chapter – a point of focus, a new beginning incorporating what went before, to create a greater and broader awareness of what is, and what I am becoming.

Since beginning my ‘healthy-living lifestyle’, I am no longer the abandoned and needy little girl who lost her mother at age 10 and lost her father at age 12, never wanting to be left alone again ever and always looking for love.  Wanting to please everyone and wanting everyone to love me, no matter what the cost to my sense of self and sense of being.

My chapter “beginning at sixty-nine” changed all of that.  I am no longer that lonely, needy and insecure little girl whose comfort zone was small and confined, fearful of being abandoned once again.

The last six “chapters” have given me the foundation to emerge from my confinement and spread my wings and fly and to savor what life has to offer every second, every minute, every hour of every day – inside and out to make my life even greater than it already is.

To immerse myself in ALL THERE IS – to taste, touch, see, smell and BECOME ONE with what I am a part of and to share this savoring with others to help and to enable them to name and write their own chapters.

I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity to assist and support people in adopting a ‘healthy-living lifestyle’ to improve the quality of their health, their aging, their lives and the lives of those around them.    

We are All so very blessed.  Don’t wait for a birthday.  Begin naming and writing your “chapter” right now.  SAVOR each and every second, each and every minute, each and every hour, each and every day.  Give yourself permission to BE the real you that you already are.  Blossom.  Bloom.  Become.  Be grateful.

You are a part of ALL THAT IS.  

SAVOR the miracle of who you are. Every second.  Every minute.  Every hour.  Every day.

Share your gifts.

#keepyourfrequencyhigh #livestronglivewithpassion #nevertoolatetowriteanewstory

https://www.facebook.com/carol.wilson.52438

She knew it wasn’t a good idea and her daughter would disapprove. Nonetheless, Barbara Figge Fox, 79, recently went to four stores in Princeton, New Jersey, to shop for canned goods, paper towels, fresh fruit, yogurt, and other items.

Susannah Fox, Barbara’s daughter, had been warning her exceptionally healthy mother for weeks of the need to stay inside as much as possible and limit contact with other people. Everyone age 60 and older is at high risk of complications from COVID-19 and should adopt these measures, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends.

“At one point, when I was pushing her to limit her activities, my mother said defiantly, ‘Well, I’m going to die of something,’” said Susannah, an adviser to health care and technology companies. “And I said, ‘Well, that’s true, but let’s not rush it.’”

Are precautions of the sort the CDC has endorsed really necessary, even in areas where the new coronavirus doesn’t yet appear to be circulating widely? What about disease-free adults in their 60s and 70s? Do they need to worry about going to a restaurant or a friend’s house for dinner? Are all outside activities ill-advised?

I asked several geriatricians for their advice. All cautioned that what they told me could be upended by unforeseen developments. Indeed, over the past week, the governors of about a dozen states — including California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Washington — have told residents, and not just older adults, to stay inside, in an aggressive effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Here’s what geriatricians think is reasonable, and why, at the moment:

Know the odds. Current warnings were originally based on data from China, which has reported that 80% of deaths from COVID-19 occurred among people age 60 and older.

The latest data from the U.S. was published by the CDC last week. Of 4,226 known COVID-19 cases at the time, people 65 and older were responsible for 80% of deaths, 53% of intensive care unit admissions and 45% of hospital admissions. Those 85 and older suffered the worst outcomes.

What’s not yet known: lots of details about the underlying health status of older adults in China and other countries who’ve died from COVID-19. “We just don’t have this kind of information yet,” said Dr. Carla Perissinotto, associate chief for geriatrics clinical programs at the University of California-San Francisco.

As a result, considerable uncertainty about the true nature of risk remains. What’s clear, however, is that older adults have less robust immune systems and are less able to mount a protective response against the coronavirus.

Exercise more caution. Uncertainty also surrounds the degree to which the coronavirus is circulating in communities across the country because testing has been so limited.

Some people don’t develop symptoms. Others won’t realize they’ve contracted the coronavirus until becoming symptomatic. Both groups may unwittingly transmit the virus, which can live on hard surfaces such as door handles or store shelves for up to 72 hours.

Given how little is known about the extent of the virus’s community spread, most physicians suggest erring on the side of caution.

Dr. Michael Wasserman’s 82-year-old mother, Fern, called him several times recently with questions. Could she go out to dinner with his brother? No, Wasserman said he told her, “restaurants are one of the most dangerous places right now for old people.” Could she go pick up a prescription at the pharmacy? No, he said, “the last place you want to go is a pharmacy or a doctor’s office where there are sick people next to you.” What about the grocery store? No, get deliveries, he urged.

But Wasserman, who’s 60 and a triathlete, isn’t as strict with himself. “Would I go for a walk? Yeah. The way I see it, I’m in a gray zone. I can go out, but I have to be careful.”

Consider your health. Wasserman isn’t alone in making a distinction of this kind. “What a number of physicians are saying is, you should consider whether you’re frail” in assessing your personal risk, said Dr. John Morley, a professor of geriatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

He ticked off the questions that entails. “F: Are you consistently fatigued? R, for resilience: Can you climb a flight of stairs? A, for aerobic: Can you walk a block? I, for illnesses: If you’ve got five or more, that’s bad. L, for loss of weight: That’s not good.”

If you answer yes to three or more of those questions, you should be “really careful and self-isolate,” Morley said.

Even if you score 1, “you should be taking some care,” he continued. “If you want to have a couple over for dinner, make sure they don’t have the sniffles or a fever or a new cough and they haven’t been traveling.”

“I’ve been telling people, this is about how healthy you are, not how old you are,” said Dr. William Dale, director of the Center for Cancer and Aging Research at City of Hope, a cancer center in Duarte, California.

But even healthy people are becoming sick and, “honestly, I think we’re all trying to figure out how worried to be,” Dale said.

Assess risks. Of course, older adults should follow guidance from state and local health departments, as well as the federal government. But the advice varies widely, adding to people’s uncertainty.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as ‘Don’t go out’ for all older adults. Social contact is still really important,” Perissinotto said. “If you’re healthy and over 60, with prudence, hand hygiene and being aware of your surroundings, you should still be able to go about some activities,” such as taking a walk or visiting with a neighbor while maintaining a safe distance.

Leslie Kernisan, a San Francisco geriatrician and the founder of the geriatrics advice website BetterHealthWhileAging.net, offered several concrete suggestions. If you’re going to the store, consider wearing cloth gloves, because viruses don’t survive as well on soft surfaces.

Try not to handle your smartphone when you’re out of the house. “A phone is a hard plastic surface that can easily get contaminated,” she said.

If you’re worried that older parents aren’t following rigorous enough precautions, don’t lecture them, Kernisan advises. Instead, ask how they’re feeling about the coronavirus. What do they know about it? What plans have they made?

Foster well-being. Asked what was safe for older adults, Dr. Paul Tatum, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Texas-Austin’s Dell Medical School, focused on factors that contribute to well-being.

“It is safe to exercise, and, in fact, it’s very important to keep exercising,” but not at the gym or in large groups, he said. “It’s safe to get plenty of sleep” — but avoid sleeping pills, if possible.

“It’s safe to prevent worry and take a break from social media and too much news,” Tatum said.

“It’s safe to take care of your spiritual needs in this time, but doing it at a distance is wise. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your church or synagogue community and say, ‘I’m not able to come in. Can I schedule a few minutes on the phone with someone?’ It’s safe to call your neighbor and say, ‘I need some help.’”

Maintaining good balance is important at any age.  When we’re younger, good balance is mostly a matter of keeping our core muscles strong. But as we age, other factors may have an effect. Weakened muscles, poor vision, or taking certain medications are three examples that can compromise our ability to remain steady on our feet. The natural aging process does not mean that we are constantly on the brink of falling.

Many of us trip or take a tumble occasionally.  As we grow older, however, the risks associated with falling become greater.

When we lose physical strength and bone density, our sense of balance can become progressively worse.  For many of us, we take longer to recover from a fall. Shockingly, this process begins, in some, around the age of 25.   

The human body, has a small base relative to its height, making it inherently unstable. Maintaining an upright position and moving from place to place while staying balanced is a continual challenge for many of us. 

Our ability to maintain an upright position and move from place to place depends on the well-being and integration of many different systems within our bodies.

There are three main systems within our bodies that provide us with the sensory information about our bodies and the surrounding environment that we need in order to maintain balance. 

These three systems and sources of information are the visual (eyes); vestibular (inner ear and semi-circular canals); and somatosensory (sensation feedback from joints in ankles, knees, spine and neck). 

In order to maintain balance, our brains have to integrate and process the sensory information received from these three systems – a process that becomes more difficult as we age, and even more difficult for older people who are prone to falling.

How our motor and muscle systems respond are the result of planned and unplanned challenges to our stability that may be brought on by simple everyday movement patterns like bending over to tie our shoelace, or recovering from a misstep or from a playful push.

Taking a tumble

Falls occur when we exceed our bodies’ capabilities to maintain equilibrium. 

Falls are more likely to occur as we age. As we become less active or inactive, our ability to maintain balance may decline as may our cognitive abilities.  

As a result, maintaining balance and preventing harmful falls may require ever-greater mental focus. Poorer cognition can also limit our ability to multitask – the “stops walking when talking” phenomena, can be observed among many of the elderly.

Another result of aging is that the quality of the information received from our visual, hearing and sensory feedback from our joints in our ankles, knees, spine and neck decline. 

As we age, our eyesight often deteriorates which results in increased susceptibility to glare and poor depth perception. This can lead to misinterpreting the lay of the land, or in misjudging distance, which can result in more frequent incidents of falling.

Diseases in weight-bearing joints, such as arthritis, may cause errors in foot placement, while distorted or painful feet and poorly-fitted shoes can pass misleading information to the brain about the nature of your contact with the ground when you’re walking.

Vertigo or inner ear infections are causes of dizziness, which can also increase the risk of falling. 

Taking certain medications that are commonly prescribed among the older population – such as aspirin, quinine, and some antibiotics and diuretics – can lead to problems in joint function.

All these age-related changes increase the likelihood of falling, as we are faced with more and more planned or unplanned challenges to our balance during our day-to-day lives. 

This downward spiral creates a risk to older people resulting in a vicious spiral of inactivity which, in turn, are themselves accelerated by an increase in sedentary behavior, which in turn leads to a greater reduction in strength and balance, loss of bone and an increased risk of falling.

Never too late

The good news is, that it is possible to break this downward spiral and vicious circle, slow the process of deterioration; improve and/or restore strength and balance in addition to reducing the risk of future falling by becoming more active.

We should all aim to be active every day and build up to 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week in order to build strength and balance. Examples of moderate exercise include lifting weights, yoga, Tai Chi, posture stability classes, and dancing. 

It’s never too late to start

By concentrating on good nutrition, good sleep, fresh air, consistent, moderate forms of exercise, we can increase strength and balance and help maintain our bodies’ complex systems, and avoid having to become dependent on others. https://www.facebook.com/carol.wilson.52438

Retired state employees Vickey Benford, 63, and Joan Caldwell, 61, are Golden Rollers, a group of the over-50 set that gets out on assorted bikes — including trikes for adults they call “three wheels of awesome” — for an hour of trail riding and camaraderie.

“I love to exercise, and I like to stay fit,” said Caldwell, who tried out a recumbent bike, a low-impact option that can be easier on the back. “It keeps me young.”

Benford encouraged Caldwell to join the organized rides, which have attracted more than 225 riders at city rec centers and senior activity centers. The cyclists can choose from a small, donated fleet of recumbent bikes, tandem recumbents and tricycles.

“With seniors, it’s less about transportation and more about access to the outdoors, social engagement and quality of life,” said Christopher Stanton, whose idea for Golden Rollers grew out of the Ghisallo Cycling Initiative, a youth biking nonprofit he founded in 2011.

But that’s not all, according to brain scientists. They point to another important benefit: Exercising both body and brain can help people stay healthier longer.

The new thinking about aging considers not just how long one lives, but how vibrant one stays later in life.

“If you’re living, you want to be living well,” said Tim Peterson, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Most people who were interested in life span and were studying genes — which control life span — switched to ‘healthspan.”

“Healthspan,” a coinage now gaining traction, refers to the years that a person can expect to live in generally good health — free of chronic illnesses and cognitive decline that can emerge near life’s end. Although there’s only so much a person can do to delay the onset of disease, there’s plenty that scientists are learning to improve your chances of a better healthspan.

The work takes on special resonance in light of a new report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that life expectancy in the United States has decreased in recent years. A rise in midlife mortality (ages 25 to 64) has dragged down the overall expectancy.

“The idea is to make people productive, healthier and happier longer and more capable taking care of themselves,” said Andreana Haley, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin who is among this breed of researchers working to understand healthspan. “We now live a long time with a lot of chronic diseases, and it’s not fun. It’s costly — in terms of productivity, caregiving responsibilities, cost of health care.”

Haley, who collaborates with exercise physiologists, nutritionists, behavioral neuroscientists and physicians, said researchers from many other disciplines are also studying healthspan, such as nurses, speech pathologists and pharmacists.

Their work is inspired by an aging U.S. population with changing needs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 10,000 people a day turn 65, the nation’s fastest-growing population segment.

“We have a lot of people who will need to be taken care of in the next 50 years,” she said, “and fewer young people to do the care.” 

Haley, with UT’s Aging and Longevity Center, focuses her work on midlife, which she defines as ages 40 to 60, a time when health choices can have a big impact on older years. She’s especially interested in brain health.

Her team is collaborating with UT’s Human Laser Lab to pilot the use of low-level light therapy to increase brain energy and improve cognitive performance.

Because of this close brain-body connection, any degeneration in the brain affects not only cognitive function but also areas that control weight, appetite, personality, mood and blood pressure.

Online games and brain-training exercises have become popular as another way to keep the brain sharp.

However, research on brain training reflects mixed results, including a study published last year in the journal Neuropsychologia, which “calls into question the benefit of cognitive training beyond practice effects.”

Still, aging experts urge people as they age to work to keep mentally active, as well as physically active, to lengthen their healthspan.

One of the country’s largest continuing-care companies, Acts Retirement Communities, offers residents weekly social-based classes for brain fitness and memory developed by Cynthia Green, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai in New York City. Green said her brain health approach, available since 2015, is offered at 150 retirement communities around the country.

Some of the Acts communities are participating in a two-year study about memory improvement supervised by a researcher at the University of Alabama.

Helen Marner and her husband, Jim, both 76, are study participants at Indian River Estates, an Acts community in Vero Beach, Fla.

“I’m always interested in bettering my health, my brain and my body,” Helen Marner said. “I’m interested in keeping myself as alive and current and bright as I can.”

Marner bikes, swims and attends exercise classes. The former kindergarten teacher also sings in two choirs, designs and sews quilts, and is active around town as well as at Indian River Estates.

https://khn.org/

January 1st marks the beginning of not only a new year but a new decade.

Who do we want to be in 2020?  

Who do we want to be in this decade?

Are we fully expressing ourselves?  

Become who we were meant to be and already are.

Light the world on fire!  

Be a positive influence to everyone we come in contact with.

“DO” and “BE” our best.

It is never too late to make ourselves a priority.

It is “GO Time!”

Create a Vision Board for the new year AND this new decade.  

Vision boards are a collage of pictures, affirmations, photographs to lift up, inspire, and motivate us to achieve a dream/a goal.  

Be aware.

Accept.

Take action.

Become who you already are.

Choose a word for the new year and this new decade.  

Our ‘word’ reminds us of the commitment we make to ourselves for the year AND for the decade. Keeps our inspiration going. 

The ‘word’ will guide us in ways we cannot even begin to imagine.  

Put your ‘word’ in front of you every day. 

If you find yourself losing focus, your ‘word’ will uplift you and move you forward with grace. Choose a ‘word’ that evokes a strong emotional response when you repeat it to yourself. 

Allow the ‘word’ to awaken you to who you want to be – that you already are. 

Find your voice.  

Our voices are powerful.  

Our stories are unique.  

Mine our power. 

Experience the beauty and strength that is you.  

Lift one another up.  

I am not the woman I was a decade ago.  How wonderful is that? I continue to learn, grow and step out of my comfort zone.  I continue to dwell in the possibility of what life has to offer.  

I am rediscovering my lost self.  

I am in a different season of my life.

I am making a difference.  I believe in me now. That feels so good.  

I am a stand for my greatness.

I am a stand for your greatness.

The Universe is holding her breath waiting for us to show up, to claim our space, to take our true place, to become who we already are deep down in the very core of our essence 

I contribute.

I serve.

I make a difference.

New goals sometimes require the creation of a new version of ourselves.  

I am especially drawn to women in their 40’s, 50’s and older.  I learn so much from other women.  

I am excited to grow more complete in my relationships with others. 

There are many women and others who feel constantly stressed, burned out, not sleeping well, lack energy and clarity, and feel that they are not aging well.  

One of my goals is to help take them from ‘that place’ to ‘a better place’ where they are more balanced, where their senses are more aware, to help inspire and improve their health, aging, and well-being, to help them make the REST of their life the BEST of their life.

What is your vision for this year, and for this decade?  

My vision is being healthy, happy, strong – physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, financially.  Playing. Laughing. Being a positive and strong role model.  

Being a Light and a Leader in my life.  Having a flow to my days. Having a flow to my life.  Never quitting. Never giving up. Staying committed to make a difference.  Being grounded. Being balanced. Being open. Being real. Stepping into my essence.  My field of love. My field of power. My field of dreams.

BECOMING THAT WHICH I ALREADY AM.

https://www.facebook.com/carol.wilson.52438

Continuing with my theme of Weight & Wellness Over 40 (and over 50, and over 60, and over 70, and over 80, and over 90…)  I have focused on such topics as metabolism, loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia), sleep, active exercise, the experience of being a late-bloomer and the joy of being young-at-heart.  This month my focus is on how adopting an “Isagenix Lifestyle” has helped me to live consciously and “Age Gracefully.”  

I have been a Wellness & Lifestyle Coach with Isagenix for the past six years. Isagenix was founded by John Anderson and Jim and Kathy Coover in 2002. This simple, sensible, satisfying, healthy lifestyle focuses on releasing toxins (not everyone is overweight, but we all have toxins in our bodies), living consciously and putting good nutrition in our bodies easily and conveniently. It’s a cornerstone of the Isagenix program since much of our food today is lacking in both vitamins and minerals. Chemicals have now taken their place. 

The Isagenix program of conscious living is helping me to achieve many of my goals:

My goal of becoming Stronger and Leaner: IsaLean Shake. ‘Sarcopenia’ – the loss of muscle mass associated with aging, is caused by inadequate dietary protein intake, lack of exercise, increased oxidative stress, and other nutritional imbalances.  People who are physically inactive often lose as much as 3 to 5 percent of their muscle mass each decade after age 30. An IsaLean Shake, with 24 grams of targeted proteins, including ‘whey protein,’ which is rich in ‘branched-chain amino acids,’ supports optimal protein absorption and effective muscle building for aging adults. 

My goal of becoming more Energetic and Healthy: Isagenix Healthy Aging Solution. With age-related muscle loss comes fat gain. Adults can gain as much as 1/2 a pound of fat every year after age 30. It’s not surprising then, that more than one-third of U.S. adults over age 65 are obese. The “Isagenix Healthy Aging Solution” combines protein-rich Shake Days with very low-calorie intake on Cleanse Days in order to build muscle, burn fat, and assist with long-term weight maintenance. Making Cleanse Days part of my conscious aging program to what I call “Aging Gracefully.”

My goal of becoming Happier:  Isagenix Ionix Supreme. One of the greatest contributors to premature aging is stress. While short bursts of the stress hormone, cortisol, can help avoid life-threatening situations (think “fight or flight”), chronically elevated levels of stress create an imbalance of oxidative stress within the body that may lead to serious health consequences over time.  Priming my body with the “Adaptogens” found in “Ionix® Supreme” have strengthened my capacity to resist and reduce the effects of stress. 

My goal of Nourished Wellness: Isagenix Ageless Essentials. Ageless Essentials with Product B® IsaGenesis® is more than a vitamin pack. It contains the right amounts of vitamins, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants in convenient A.M. and P.M. packs to complement my diet and support healthy aging. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2010 shows that nearly the entire U.S. population is at risk of vitamin and mineral insufficiency—and older adults are no exception.

My goal of achieving cellular health and protection:  Product B. An important part of healthy aging is maintaining the integrity of the 100 trillion cells that make up the body, specifically by supporting “telomere” health. These little clusters of DNA at the end of chromosomes provide cellular protection and allow cells to divide and replicate—an essential function for tissue growth. ‘ Product B® IsaGenesis®’ has been scientifically designed to deliver optimal levels of active ingredients targeted to support telomere health – I can tell the difference.

“Aging Gracefully” requires a complex interaction of genetics, chemistry, physiology, and behavior. With this in mind, Isagenix is committed to creating products and systems supported by science to establish a new way to age—one that’s defined by a high quality of life. Everybody ages. It’s inevitable and a fact of life. But not everyone consciously ages “gracefully.” Aging does not have to mean slowing down or settling for less-than-perfect health – been there, done that. 

Say goodbye to the ways people have not consciously aged in the past, or not aged gracefully in the past.  Embracing the findings of an ever-growing body of medical and nutritional research, scientists at Isagenix are creating ways to help keep the body in a more youthful state. As with all aspects of health, no one product is the answer.  Isagenix, however, offers a “Total Health and Longevity System with Product B® IsaGenesis®”. This system is formulated to “target the physiological changes associated with accelerated aging: muscle loss, weight gain, oxidative stress, insufficient micronutrient intake, and threatened cellular integrity,” to help you live more consciously and age more “gracefully.” 

I invite you to join me on this journey.  We do not have to give up on all the things we once enjoyed. Regular exercise, sleep, managing stress, gaining optimal nutrition, and adopting a more conscious lifestyle and routine, may not BE the answer, but it is way ahead of whatever is in second place.  My ‘bucket list’ is a mile long and I am checking off the boxes.  I’m truly grateful to be part of this company and culture and to be able to share some of my journeys, with others. As George Burns once said, “You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.” 

My new focus to live more consciously and gracefully:   Enjoy life.  Live well.  Live adventurously.  Live with gratitude and grace.  Live consciously.  How you choose to live effects not only your life but also affects the lives of others.  We are co-creators of the Universe.

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I am proud to be what is commonly referred to as a late bloomer. May I stand majestic in my mature mystery. Late ‘bloomers’ discover that we can reinvent ourselves, or give birth to our authentic selves as we discover and reclaim that essence from which we are to grow into Wholeness.

My husband shared with me one of his favorite quotations from a book titled “Emmanuel’s Book: A Manual for Living Comfortably in the Cosmos” by Pat Rodegast and Judith Stanton.

The ‘dedication’ sums up for me, the dynamic of “blooming” – this gift of the present that only we can give ourselves:

Dedicated
to the image that each soul holds
within its own human consciousness
and to the memory
of the Light that it follows,
of the Being that it yearns to become
and of the Truth that it already is.

Is there any set age at which one can expect to “bloom?” That answer is “no.” However, the truest answer is that we can only “bloom” in the “present” and the “present is always now.

There are many wildly successful women who have found their ability to “bloom” later in life. They are living proof that success and vibrant living have nothing to do with age.

Others “bloom” earlier in life.

“Blooming” is about hard work, perseverance, and a little bit of magic that leads to our making what it is that we want to become that we already are.

I am still blooming.

Don’t hold back on switching your career or going in a new direction, or teaching yourself something you always wanted to do. Gone are the days of staying in one job or staying in one place or being the “same” person for the rest of your life. Be flexible. Take or make new opportunities.

If your “blooming” involves starting a business, never stop networking. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. You never know who you will meet. That person is out there waiting for you – The Law of Attraction is real.

Believe in yourself, no matter how much you may feel that the odds are stacked against you.

“Bloom we must” is a sign that my husband and I cherish and strive to live by.

Picture having the energy of a woman in her 20s, the confidence of a woman in her 30s, the experience of a woman in her 40s, and the grace of a woman in her 50s.

Trust the process. When you realize your dreams, hold on tight and don’t let go.

The Universe beckons. Be open and embrace change.

May we grow and flourish in abundance, in love, in being there for others, and in all that is good.

I look forward to sharing my experience in aging gracefully. Feeling strong and energized. Having vibrant health. The person we wish to become is already there – waiting. May we embrace her to the fullest.
#latebloomer

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