Ten Commandments of the Elderly, Part I
Today’s post is not really a tribute to actor Charlton Heston who passed away this week at age 83 reportedly from the end stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. Defined by his masterful performance as Moses in the classic, The Ten Commandments, Heston’s death reminds us that aging is a fact of life.
The remainder of this post was written by a young woman named Portia who must be contemplating her own aging process even though she is much younger than Heston when he starred in The Ten Commandments. She believes aging is inevitable, but aging gracefully is an option we can choose. How wise she is and how sage her comments.
1. Thou shalt preserve the body in the best possible condition—a brisk 30-minute walk every day is a wonderful tonic. Oh well, I always do this before, I mean before this blogging thing. (lol) I better think over my time schedule and so I can brisk walk again!2. Thou shalt continue to increase thy knowledge, to anticipate retaining thy memory and to realize that temporary misplacement of stored facts occurs at any age. This is very true…I believe I am still young but I am forgetful already! Gotta exercise my mind,too and be attentive to detail! This I hope I can do by reading a lot and probably surfing online a lot. (lol)
3. Thou shalt regularly eat nutritious meals of natural, unprocessed foods — eating slightly smaller portions and selecting foods with more care. Aim for a low-fat, low-salt, high-fiber, and chemical-alcohol-and-caffeine-free diet. This I cannot gaurantee to eat small portions because if I like a certain food I will devour a large portion of it! Uhmm, I am thinking how to change this bad habit of mine! Probably not!
4. Thou shalt remember that characteristics developed during early years are simply magnified with age. Therefore, become now the kind of person thou art desirous of being. Meaning desiring to live a positive attitude because negativity really has a bad impact on our character. I will also strive on this one because sometimes I am negative also and I get angry so easily!
5. Thou shalt preserve a good self-image and a healthy level of self-esteem, realizing that there is no substitute for the wisdom of experience. Sharing the gift of accumulated knowledge is a priceless legacy to succeeding generations. In other words, knowledge is power and education is a never-ending process. Knowledge is wealth that cannot be taken away but when shared, it is multiplied and is like more than double your money in the bank!
These are the first five and the second installment will come tomorrow. Thanks Portia. In 20 years as an administrator of nursing homes and now facing my own “senior moments,” my observation is that what you are in your youth, you become more of as you age. Happy, healthy young adults seem to turn into cheerful, encouraging seniors. Angry, abusive young folk tend to have few friends and fewer visitors as they age. You can read more from Portia at http://portiaspeaking.blogspot.com/.
