A recent study . . . discovered having a sense of purpose, direction and goals may add years to our lives. It doesn’t matter when you discover your purpose (i.e., young, middle-aged, or older) but the sooner the better. The study looked at 6,100 Americans aged 20 through 75 over a 14 year period. During that time, about 9% of the subjects died. All the participants who died scored lower than those who survived on measures of “purposefulness.” Even when other variables, such as a having a positive outlook, were controlled for, the data stood up.
Source
Month: April 2019
Wellness Tip
Each time you wipe off the machine or weights you’re using at the gym, it’s an act of love, paying it forward, toward the next user. Good for you.
Writer’s Wisdom: Saul Below on Inspiration
You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” ~ Saul Bellow
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Michael Lewis on Why He Writes
There’s no simple explanation for why I write. It changes over time. There’s no hole inside me to fill or anything like that, but once I started doing it, I couldn’t imagine wanting to do anything else for a living. I noticed very quickly that writing was the only way for me to lose track of the time. ~ Michael Lewis
Today’s Reflection ~ Awareness
Look, look with all your eyes, look. ~ Jules Verne
Longevity Tip
Don’t Smoke
Smoking is strongly linked to disease and early death.
Overall, men and women who smoke may lose up to 10 years of their lives and be three times more likely to die prematurely than those who never pick up a cigarette.
Fortunately, it’s never too late to quit.
One study reports that individuals who quit smoking by 35 years of age may prolong their lives by up to 8.5 years.
Furthermore, quitting smoking in your ’60s may add up to 3.7 years to your life. In fact, quitting in your ’80s may still even provide benefits.
Wellness Tip
Have Breakfast
Breakfast jump-starts your metabolism and stops you for overeating later. Studies show adults who have a healthy breakfast do better at work, and kids who eat a morning meal score higher on tests.
Source
Writer’s Wisdom ~ Colette on Writing
To write, to be able to write, what does it mean? It means spending long hours dreaming before a white page, scribbling unconsciously, letting your pen play around a blot of ink and nibble at a half-formed word, scratching it, making it bristle with darts, and adorning it with antennae and paws until it loses all resemblance to a legible word and turns into a fantastic insect or a fluttering creature half butterfly, half fairy. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
Hope ~ Percy Shelley
You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,
You are soft as the nesting dove.
Come to my heart and bring it to rest
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.
Come when my heart is full of grief
Or when my heart is merry;
Come with the falling of the leaf
Or with the redd’ning cherry.
Come when the year’s first blossom blows,
Come when the summer gleams and glows,
Come with the winter’s drifting snows,
And you are welcome, welcome.
Today’s Reflection ~ Understanding
If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
