Recently I glanced upon an article in Forbes.com on "15 Way to Live Longer". I enjoyed the article because it was not simply focused on the typical reasons, but more on the statistical and philosophical ways to live longer and fuller lives.
"Be Optimistic" was #2 on the list, and did that ever resonate with me! It's nice to know that optimism can make one live longer, but to me, it causes me to live clearer right now in the present. Optimism focuses on the hidden potential in life that exists at every moment waiting to be unleashed by your will. Pessimism does just the opposite, it blocks so many aspects of your being and sticks to the finite measurable facts (albeit the bad ones). Optimism represents the best in every strong historical figure (or person behind that historical figure), a belief in something unseen, hoped for, cherished, or simply the human spirit.
Another one you hear alot, is the where married people live longer, well I enjoyed Forbes way of putting it "Marry Well". That's exactly how I feel. I tend to have the strong belief that I indeed did marry well, and feel proud of my decision marry Naoko every single day. I have to say with her in my life, each day is filled with light, full of happiness and a deep sense of calmness I have never experienced before in the past. To me, the right partner has caused me to grow and mature in so many good ways. Now that we are having a baby together, we are creating this beautiful new life together, growing each day. Marriage is deepening the well from which I draw life's experiences, and without it, I would have missed so much.
The highlight of the article was when I saw that laughter can make one live longer. Not only is it scientifically proven to be true, but each of us most likely know this inately anyways. If it makes you feel better, then it must indeed be good for you, in this case I feel it positively true. Laughter is directly tied to your view on life; and laughing at your life or things most people take so seriously causes optimism to flourish. When I laugh at my own mistakes, I let them go and cease to dwell on them. When I laugh like I did as a kid, I feel like a kid again, youth constantly flows through me and around me. This ways my family feels youthful and energetic. After a long tiring day at work, if I laugh others feel lighter and a warm sense of release. A secret elixer; the vitality of youth, laughter springs eternal. There are two sides to life, the lighter and the darker, focusing on one more causes aging, the other side causes eternal youth.
I was reading a book on Taoism recently on the concept of immortality, as in the "chinese immortals". Essentially they said the same thing. Focus on heavy things, serious stuff, difficult issues, insurmountable life obstacles, and you die and age quickly. In one sense you are already dead when you focus on the dark side of life (that is all is doom and gloom and boy what the hell are we going to do now). Waking up to the creative flow of eternal youth and one discovers a present moment that constantly expanding in time. It settles after expanding giving you a bubble around your spirit that tends not to constantly get bombarded, degraded and tarnished. Since you open that well-spring of vitality, you release self-concerns and "your issues", realizing you are now simply so intimately connecting with that source of vitality, that perhaps you are that and nothing more. Identifying yourself with something deeper than this lives associations tend to drop of the minor facts that weigh people down day in and day out.
The last part of the article pertained to meditating. At first I thought it wise to include the concept of praying in this definition of meditating, but it needs to be defined as mindless. Clearing the mind of all thoughts and taking a walk engaging your entire presence on the world you are immersed in shuts off all the clutter that pulls down the mind. Meditation frees the mind from its daily burden. It can be done sitting down, back straight, lotus style. It can be done walking, biking, driving, sitting on a chair, playing piano, doing legos, gardening... Gosh it can be done anywhere! Anytime you are so immersed in something that you stop thinking and simply "be" opens up a different energetic flow inside of you that leads to a deep sense of health and well-being. Like the article said, 15 minutes of meditation (sitting kind), eyes closed, has been shown to produce a significantly more relaxed mind state than one hour of the deepest sleep. How is that possible? It is simple, when the mind is freed of thoughts, and you have consciousness, body is relaxed, breath is deep, then your brain actually changes states and deepens. This deeper state relaxes the entire body, expands your mental clarity and creates a vast pervasive sense of well-being and focus. Having done meditation going on 15 years, and believe me, I have tried all kinds of meditation, it is a critical part of mental and physical health for everyone. Don't sleep well at night? Simple, sit in a dark quiet room at night, close your eyes, focus on breathe in, breathe out, focus on your body and your breath changes, and let your thoughts disappear with each breath. Keep doing this each night, and you will start sleeping better, deeper and wake up clearer.
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