Diet and exercise are good, but hey, you’ve got to live a little. Centenarians seem to have found a balance between taking care of their health and learning when to indulge a bit. Whether it’s a glass of wine, a bowl of your favorite ice cream, a strong cup of coffee or Dr. Pepper, it’s all about striking a balance between giving yourself all that you need and a taste of what you want. Just don’t go overboard.
Source
Broccoli is a good source of vitamins, minerals and carotenoids that are important for skin health. It also contains sulforaphane, which may help prevent skin cancer and protect your skin from sunburn.
Source
“The only thing worth writing about is people. People. Human beings. Men and women whose individuality must be created, line by line, insight by insight. If you do not do it, the story is a failure. ~ Harlan Ellison
The Three Hermits
William Butler Yeats
Three old hermits took the air
By a cold and desolate sea,
First was muttering a prayer,
Second rummaged for a flea;
On a windy stone, the third,
Giddy with his hundredth year,
Sang unnoticed like a bird.
'Though the Door of Death is near
And what waits behind the door,
Three times in a single day
I, though upright on the shore,
Fall asleep when I should pray.'
So the first but now the second,
'We're but given what we have earned
When all thoughts and deeds are reckoned,
So it's plain to be discerned
That the shades of holy men,
Who have failed being weak of will,
Pass the Door of Birth again,
And are plagued by crowds, until
They've the passion to escape.'
Moaned the other, 'They are thrown
Into some most fearful shape.'
But the second mocked his moan:
'They are not changed to anything,
Having loved God once, but maybe,
To a poet or a king
Or a witty lovely lady.'
While he'd rummaged rags and hair,
Caught and cracked his flea, the third,
Giddy with his hundredth year
Sang unnoticed like a bird.
You may not control life’s circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them. ~ Atul Gawande
Living 100 years means lots of time on your hands, which means one must learn to fill up the hours in the day with meaningful, engaging or at least productive activities. One retirement community in Rhode Island is home to a whopping six centenarians. Several of them have one thing in common — they keep themselves busy. They’re exercising daily, whether it’s going for brisk walks in the fresh air or diligently hitting the indoor gym. Others swear by hobbies like reading — all things which keep their bodies and minds in motion. And they all stay social.
Source
Bell peppers contain plenty of beta-carotene and vitamin C — both of which are important antioxidants for your skin. Vitamin C is also necessary to create collagen, the structural protein that keeps your skin strong.
Source
Read everything you write out loud for rhythm and sound: “Good writers of prose must be part poet, always listening to what they write.” ~ William Zinsser
The Quitter
Robert W. Service
When you're lost in the Wild, and you're scared as a child,
And Death looks you bang in the eye,
And you're sore as a boil, it's according to Hoyle
To cock your revolver and . . . die.
But the Code of a Man says: "Fight all you can,"
And self-dissolution is barred.
In hunger and woe, oh, it's easy to blow . . .
It's the hell-served-for-breakfast that's hard.
"You're sick of the game!" Well, now, that's a shame.
You're young and you're brave and you're bright.
"You've had a raw deal!" I know — but don't squeal,
Buck up, do your damnedest, and fight.
It's the plugging away that will win you the day,
So don't be a piker, old pard!
Just draw on your grit; it's so easy to quit:
It's the keeping-your-chin-up that's hard.
It's easy to cry that you're beaten — and die;
It's easy to crawfish and crawl;
But to fight and to fight when hope's out of sight —
Why, that's the best game of them all!
And though you come out of each grueling bout,
All broken and beaten and scarred,
Just have one more try — it's dead easy to die,
It's the keeping-on-living that's hard.
Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find. ~ Ann Patchett
