(Madisyn Taylor interview with Margit Henderson)
Expectations tend to create self-fulfilling prophecies because they shape our thinking and behaviour. When we live intentionally, we use expectations mindfully to claim the life we want. So, it's concerning that we are inundated by misinformation about aging and learn to conceptualize aging as an inevitable, slow decline in health and functioning. By debunking aging myths and cultivating an optimistic mindset, you can move through your fears, and find the confidence and motivation to make life-enhancing choices.
Aging well requires us to take health-promoting actions. Fortunately, the choices that we make for long-term physical, cognitive, and emotional health also improve our lives now. But sometimes it's hard to stay motivated for goals that seem so far away. If the donut is right there in front of me, how do I make a healthy choice for the future when my taste buds are calling me off-track now? By developing a vivid visualization of your healthy older self and an internal connection between your currently tempted self and your grateful future self, you can more easily dodge the donut and go for a walk instead.
Overcoming fear of any kind takes time and tending. Rather than trying to talk yourself out of your fearful view, build a hopeful perspective beside it. The goal is to shift your attention over and over again to the new optimistic aging outlook.
Click HERE to view the course : Overcoming Fear of Aging (Margit Henderson)
https://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/courses/courseoverview.cgi?cid=959&img=12&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
My Thoughts:
This concept seems rather poignant today as I have so many friends with loved ones that are battling life threatening diseases, with some not expected to make it to the end of the year.
This sums up my fears for the older I get. It’s not the aging process itself (to which each birthday, as far as I have always been concerned simply adds another number to life and in no way reflects what you do, how you do it or about it having any connection to the myth that is ‘growing-up’) but my fear, is getting hit by some ailment that cannot be avoided.
Although cancer is no longer the death sentence it once was, it is still by no means all curable, not even if found in good time, then there is all the stuff that gradually incapacitates, like multiple sclerosis, kidney failure, arthritis, to mention just a few and the one I think most people dread the most … dementia.
It is the thought of being alive in a very lose sense of the word, but not really being able to function on an independent level that is my biggest fear.