Here is a fantastic reason to exercise and another reason to look forward to seeing your grandparents!
Faithful readers already know that exercise can help you look more youthful and keep you feeling younger while living a longer, spirited life. Now we learn that apparently you are not only wiser with age but also happier!
David Brooks wrote a wonderful piece in the NYT about why you tend to be happier late in life. Much of it has to do with figuring things out, or as we call it-"life experiences."
Here are four snippets from his article "Why Elders Smile"
1. Only with experience can a person learn to see a fraught situation both close up, with emotional intensity, and far away, with detached perspective. It's a honed skill to see a situation from multiple perspectives. Start honing!
2. Approach life with a sense of lightness. Anxiety is the biggest waste in life. If you know that you’ll recover, you can save time and get on with it sooner.
"The ability to grow lighter as we go is a form of wisdom that entails learning how not to sweat the small stuff,” Start minimizing anxiety and take action.
3. Balance tensions. For example a teacher has to instruct but also inspire. You can’t find the right balance in each context by memorizing a rule book. This form of wisdom can only be earned by acquiring a repertoire of similar experiences. Incorporate trying to better in your social roles, being a good parent or teacher or friend.
Finally work on your intuitive awareness, which will give you a better feel for what other people are thinking and feeling, an instinct for how events will flow. Turn up your sensitivity towards others.
You can spend more time around seniors to learn this or you can just start applying the happy findings into your everyday life to be young and wise!!
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