WARNING SINGS OF HEALTHY AGING!

By Dr. Rich Bimler, Lutheran Life Communities –

Check out these simple signs of healthy aging!
But be careful: If you sense that you are doing well on at least half of these items…watch out, you just might be aging well!

1. You catch yourself laughing often, even at yourself! If you are not sure God has a sense of humor, just look in the mirror!
2. Persistent presence of supportive friends. It is NOT true that “A friend in need …is a pest!” A friend in need IS a friend in deed. Be that friend to others – it is healthy!
3. Regular appetite for physical activity. Walk, bend, stretch…and repeat. Never mind if Billy Crystal is correct when he says, “By the time we are old enough to watch our step, we’re too old to go anywhere”. Just keep “stepping!”
4. Repeated episodes of gratitude and generosity. This is definitely a sign that you are aging well!
5. Compulsion to care for other people. (Personal note: I too often catch myself trying to “cure” people rather than simply care for them. Not a good sign of healthy aging!)
6. Increased sensitivity to others. If you find yourself actually listening to a spouse or a friend, be careful, you may actually be aging well!
7. Tendency to identify and communicate feelings. Wow, a sure sign of healthy aging! Remember the story of the older couple? She says to her husband: “We’ve been married for 60 years and the only time you told me that you love me was on our wedding day”. And he says, “That’s right. And if anything changes, you’ll be the first to know!”
8. A tendency to adapt to changing conditions. “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change!” The only two things in life that are constant are 1)change and 2) God’s love for you!
9. Chronic positive expectations –a tendency to frame events in a positive light. No need to be like Mark Twain who once said, “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a mis-print!” We can be positive because we know how it all turns out!
10. A faith-based life centered in the forgiveness of a Lord who loves, forgives and makes us well, as we celebrate God’s gift of aging!

Feel free to share this “quiz” with others and compare your “scores”! Have fun, and in the process, you are encourAGING one another to live healthfully and joyfully, in the Lord!