grow older better

Category: human interest

  • Tis The Last Day Of April

    Tis The Last Day Of April

    OK, it is the last day of April but you know what? I still have to say that old rhyme to remember whether April has 30 or 31 days.

    How many of you still have to say: 30 days hath September, April, June, and November?

    But getting back to April. I am always reminded of the T.S. Eliot poem, the wasteland and the first paragraph of it.

    “April is the cruelest month, breedinglilacs out of the dead land, mixingmemory and desire, stirringdull roots with spring rain.”

     T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

    As one with a PhD in psychology, I know that suicide starts spiking in April. They go on rising through the rest of spring and into summer. Spring is a more suicide prone time of year than winter. One would think that the bleakness of winter would lead to more suicides, but it is spring that is the time of year when people commit suicide. I’m not going into all of that here. I’ve spent many years talking and giving workshops on suicide and suicide prevention. But it does peak now, and it’s something to be aware of. That could possibly be what Elliot is referring to as the cruelest month  – but it doesn’t have to be cruel.

    Spring is a beautiful time of year in the northern hemisphere. It’s when things start to bloom, colors start to appear. Birds are welcomed back – singing their joyful songs and building their nests.

    Above is one kind of allium I planted last fall; there are several around my garden. The second kind has not fully opened. It is also purple – why, you might ask? Those are the two varieties that Costco had when I was there last Fall.

    Above is an enlargement of a cardinal that I had been hearing and it finally sat still long enough for me to take a photograph. It was further away, so I enlarged just the portion of the picture where you can see the cardinal. They are very easy bird to spot because the male is bright red.

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    But given it is the last day of April, I thought I would reflect back on this month. It started with my being engaged in a blog challenge to post every day, full well knowing I would not meet that challenge. [I do know my own history.]

    But in getting prompts every day, I did start re-working on some projects that had already been half completed. It’s a very good thing for me.

    Anything that gets me back to stuff that I haven’t finished in the past is good. 

    I also learned that I have to get better at writing faster. I was there at one point but because I got away from it, it was those use it or lose things, and I need to get back to writing and finishing blog posts more quickly. Which means that I have to reset my templates and get my head back into the blog post writing, or article writing, or short form writing. That again is a good thing and it will happen in May.

    The biggest and best takeaway from April came as a major thought yesterday while attending some very relevant online business sessions. That  I even sat through all the sessions that I sat through was remarkable because I have been so not into the business aspect of life these days.

    A few of the concepts hit me smack in the head – and sometimes it takes a real smack in the head to make me realize what I should be doing, so I’m going to do it.

    And I decided to give myself an award for my April inspirations – because why not?

  • The Wind and I

    The Wind and I

    I love windy days – and poems about wind.

    Right now it’s really good kite weather, but I live in an area with a lot of trees, so I know what would happen immediately if I launched a kite – instead, I watch the trees and last Fall’s leaves blow around. 

    And listen to the wind while it blows my hair around my face.

    woman spread hand

    When I was a kid, I loved poetry. I read it and even wrote poems – as well as books, plays, etc. Yea – I’ve always been into words.

    A book I had as a child was poetry by Robert Lewis Stevenson, one of which was about the wind.  I had forgotten about it until one of Paul’s prompts and had to go look it up – once I started reading it, I remembered most of the words. 

    I saw you toss the kites on high And blow the birds about the sky; And all around I heard you pass, Like ladies’ skirts across the grass– O wind, a-blowing all day long, O wind, that sings so loud a song! I saw the different things you did, But always you yourself you hid. I felt you push, I heard you call, I could not see yourself at all– O wind, a-blowing all day long, O wind, that sings so loud a song! O you that are so strong and cold, O blower, are you young or old? Are you a beast of field and tree, Or just a stronger child than me? O wind, a-blowing all day long, O wind, that sings so loud a song!

    Robert Lewis Stevenson 

    I do admit, though, as I have gotten older, days of bitter cold winter winds have gotten to be a bit too much. Maybe if I had stayed in some of the colder regions I lived in, I would’ve gotten used to it, but I’ve moved around and gotten away from the cold climes. And for the past almost 30 years, I have lived in very windy areas – and do sort of get tired of the wind, as does my dog. We often prefer to stay inside and listen to it. But if it’s warm and sunny as opposed to cloudy, damp, and cool, we’ll go out and play in the wind. For her, it makes ball and frisbee catching more exciting. 

  • My Business Resources

    Recommended Resources

    Below are several of the resources I use. I’ve used my affiliate links and may make some money if you choose to buy with my link.

    WPX – for hosting

    They have excellent customer service – but I rarely need that!! I’ve been with them for many years now and can say “I love WPX” WPX.net

    Images

    I’ve used Presentermedia for images and keynote/pptx templates for so long I forget when I started. If you use this code: raf-tozexobi – I get a free month but it’s ok if you don’t as I have two years left on my subscription.  

    Thrivethemes [WP Themes]

    A great suite of tools for your website. 

    click in link in image for info – another tool I have used for about 10 years 

  • Growing Older Better

    My Take On Aging

    There is no golden ticket

    There is no ticket, activity, pill, etc. that “magically” works to improve your aging process. There are many things that you can do and very often it takes all or many of them. It’s often trial and error to see what works for you. Buying into the hype of  “this is what you need to be healthy if over 50” is usually not true.

    It requires work

    Movement is your friend. You don’t have to run like in the image but walking around is perfectly acceptable as is weightlifting,  yoga, core work, Pilates, or anything that makes your body work, but the work is necessary. If you’re in a wheelchair or bedridden, be sure to check what kind of exercise you can and are able to do.

    And a bit of a caveat here it helps if you start moving when you’re younger, but it’s never the wrong time to start moving.

    macro shot of vegetable lot

    It requires good nutrition

    Good nutrition does not mean expensive food. In fact, one of the most nutritious and least expensive foods is beans. If you have dietary restrictions, you have to think about that –  if you have a garden, you can grow a lot of nutritious food. You don’t even actually need a garden – you can grow in pots. I did container gardening for years. There’s a lot of good food out there, but be a label reader – that is important. That’s too long a conversation to have for now. I’ll come back to this at another time.

    It requires using your brain 

    Keeping your cognitive activity working is something that also helps with aging. So keep [or start] doing things like crossword puzzles, or most any kind of puzzle, learning new things, going to classes, or doing classes via apps or online.

  • This Makes Me Happy

    red cardinal perched on brown tree branch during daytime

    The above photo is a northern cardinal – Photo by Patrice Bouchard – from unsplash

    I’ve been thinking of late – since spring weather has arrived – that I really like hearing birds chirping, and watching flowers come into bloom. Being in nature has always been my happy place and that’s a good place for me right now – and it might be a good place for many of us!!

    This morning when I was out with my dog, I heard a lot of birds. I did not see them even though the trees don’t have leaves yet but with the dog around, they stay pretty far away like on the neighbor’s property. But I hear them – and I’m beginning to recognize the sounds of the different birds. Many are new to me!

    Here is a recording from this morning.

    I use the Merlin app [https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org]  which identifies by sound or photo and it told me those sounds today came from:

    Northern cardinal, Carolina wren, European starling, Dark-eyed Junco, Tufted titmouse, Red-winged blackbird, Blue jay, White-breasted nuthatch, Red-bellied woodpecker, and Cedar waxwing/// WOW!! 

    On my phone, when I replay the sound recording, it shows a picture and gives the name of the bird making the sound. It does that also while it’s recording, but this way I can listen afterwards and match sounds with pictures because occasionally I do see the birds – when I don’t have my dog out there with me. 

    And a few hours after hearing the birds, my tulips started blooming.

    Go find your happy place….