In the Know - September 1

Baby you can drive my car!  Despite jokes to the contrary, senior drivers are historically safer drivers than young people. For this reason, the for-hire car service, Uber, is interested in partnering with AARP to enlist older drivers for its service. http://on.today.com/1MFmjUL 

Financial aid for older adults going back to school:  Thinking of taking some classes or going back to school? There are lots of options for baby boomers and retirees to receive financial help. http://huff.to/1h2mAoB

You are what you eat: Longevity expert Dan Buettner talks about the value of different foods to the health of seniors here in the U.S. and how those values compare to residents of other countries around the world. http://nyti.ms/1LaFdRb

Elder playgrounds:  Sounds like fun! Serving as a community gathering spot as well as a place to improve fitness, elder playgrounds exist all over Europe and are beginning to make an appearance in the U.S. http://huff.to/1Kc6JhX

Marrying your soulmate after 50:  The author shares her experience about it never being too late to find love. http://huff.to/1J4Kh5I

An awwwww moment that's NOT a picture of a cat: The author shares what it was like to have her 89-year-old grandma serve as one of her bridesmaids at her recent wedding. There are pictures too! It's a truly awe-inspiring story.  http://huff.to/1M6wcvs

August and September Birthdays:
Martha Stewart, 74 on Aug 3
Barack Obama, 54 on Aug 4
Dustin Hoffman, 78 on Aug 8
Fidel Castro, 89 on Aug 13
Lily Tomlin, 76 on Sept. 1
Bill Clinton, 69 on Sept. 19
Michael Douglas, 71 on Sept. 25


Contact Antonia at antoniasseniormoments@hotmail.com or
  Antonia's Senior Moments at Facebook

Could You Benefit From a Mini-Correction?

          In his press conference before Christmas, President Obama said he was looking to 2014 as a breakthrough year after a rocky 2013.  While the assessment of his 2013 year may have been an understatement, what with his troubled health care rollout and plummeting approval ratings, it has been a less than jubilant year for many folks. But that’s not what I want to focus on in this short post. I’m shining a light on the possibilities of the New Year.

          Like spring, the New Year signals new beginnings. Because I am bored with meaningless resolutions (see How to Escape the New Year's Resolution Rut), I whole heartedly celebrate a repositioning of my attention. I’m waking up, tossing back the blanket of “it’s a lot of bad out there” and jumping into a life of uplifting and meaningful possibilities.  I’m making a mini-correction of my approach to life.

          What are the best ways to make that mini-correction? For me, it’s to get quiet, be open and make a spiritual connection that supports and uplifts. I get quiet by meditating and open myself by listening rather than talking. I maintain a strong spiritual connection with a supportive community of like-minded people. In these ways I move back into the most nurturing and joyous space. From this place I can tackle anything that plummets.

          The negative things will always be there. The doom and gloom of hardships and bad behaving weather are a part of life. If we focus on them and talk about them incessantly they will be a significant part of our lives. Where is your focus in 2014? Do you need a mini-correction? If so, what does it look like?


Contact Antonia at:
     antoniasseniormoments@hotmail.com
     Antonia's Senior Moments on Facebook

When Bad Things Happen: 5 Ways I Cope

          Ok, let’s just say it:  school killings in Newtown (and elsewhere), horrific fires such as the fertilizer plant in Texas, acts that terrorize, including Boston on Monday and, of course, 9-11. It can be a scary and dangerous world out there. And, if we over-embrace the idea of bad things happening, our lives will be fearful and not very fulfilling or joyous.

          When the bombs exploded in Boston at the marathon on Monday, I was surprised by my own feelings. For the first time that I can remember I didn’t immediately turn on the TV to soak up all that I could about what had happened. I felt even at peace a little bit. Now, don’t get excited, I’m not that crass that I didn’t feel profoundly sad and concerned about the loss of lives and other injuries. But, what I didn’t do was drop everything and plug in. I didn’t start talking to my friends and conjecturing about who and what. And I didn’t start that familiar tape in my head that says, “You should be scared. Bad things happen all the time, so you should be vigilant about what might happen in your town.”  Then there’s also the other tape that says, “Don’t get too happy because something bad can take away your joy.”

          I'm a sponge instead of a filter. When I hear bad news, it doesn't just register and then pass on through me. It stops in my body, my mind ... my soul. And I can't shake it off. But I've worked hard over the years to get the information I need without getting so much that I couldn't function in the rest of my life.

          I got the main points of what happened in Boston via the headlines on MSN when I logged onto my computer. Then I didn’t pay attention to the news or anything else about the event on TV or in the newspapers until this morning when Obama gave his speech at the interfaith prayer service. When that was over, I turned the TV off again. I know I’ll check back in at some point when the perpetrators have been captured and a motive is presented. Then I checked in with a friend who lives in Boston and I made a donation to One Fund Boston, but that’s it. Life goes on for me. It does no good for me to stay stuck in sorrow and angst and fear.

          I remember that the world is a good place, a safe place, an abundant place. Sure, bad things happen, but I’m not willing to let those things – either events in the past or the possibility of events in the future – mar my knowing of the goodness that exists nor interfere with the quality of my current actions. My staying sad and curtailing my activities because of sorrow in no way assists the victims or anyone else. Am I sad about what has happened? Yes, I am, and I’m not tossing that wet blanket of sorrow out into the universe to dampen the spirits of others.

          So how did my new-found calmness develop? Something has shifted and I believe it started while I was focusing on forgiveness. A lot of forgiveness for me is about letting go. There’s that popular saying, “Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.” To me, letting go melds right into a calmer reaction to things that go wrong. I realize I have no control over these scary events but I can control how I respond to them.

          I have identified five things that worked for me in dealing with all the recent tragedy in our world:

New Year: Fresh Starts

          It’s not so much about making resolutions, resolutions which I’ve historically only been able to keep for about a week at the most. It’s not about sincere yet vaporous agreements with myself to eat better and exercise more. Okay, it used to be, but, now that I’m officially a senior citizen, I’ve cut way back on being naïve about such promises.

          It’s about new beginnings. Today is the first day of a new year and the first day of the rest of my life (gag). In spite of the saccharine nature of the latter part of that statement, I take a moment and wonder what the New Year will bring. During the last month, many of my friends have repeatedly said something like, “The new year has got be better. It can’t be any worse than this last one.” Doesn't it seem we’ve been saying that for several New Years?

         While that’s a fairly negative stance on 2012, the sentiment is borne out of many years of publicized and/or personally experienced economic turmoil, joblessness, foreclosures, rollercoaster gas prices and general uncertainty.

          And we have a new president. Not a new, new president, but a new term for President Obama. Hope springs eternal, in spite of the fiscal cliff fiasco! I promised myself, however, I’d never talk politics per se in this blog, so I divert away from any of that prickliness right now.

          January 1 is similar to the first day of spring:  it’s a fresh start. To me, having a fresh start, be it big or small, is always a good thing. It’s that moment when I take stock, about a single issue or about life in general. (If I had a dollar for every Monday morning fresh start I attempted!) In this way, fresh starts are a gift. They are always there giving us hope and not slapping us in the face if we’re not entirely successful in incorporating new and better things into our lives.

          New beginnings are age blind and economically resistant, and there are an unlimited number available to each and every one of us. What we do with them is our choice.