How old do you think you are?

How we see ourselves in the mirror is often misleading.  If you are having a bad day, you think you look older than you really are.  If you are having a good day, you think you look younger. Makes sense, doesn't it. We have a friend who has created a formula that he uses when he looks in the mirror.  Here is how he describes it: "Up until I was 45, every time I looked in the mirror, I saw myself as 28.  But once I hit 45, I saw myself as 35.  When I hit 50, it jumped to 40.  At 60, it went to 45. I just turned 70, so now I see myself as 50.  I guess when I reach 100, I will see myself as 75. It makes perfect sense to me."  In reality he doesn't care what anyone else thinks how he looks, and he readily acknowledges self-delusion. But his formula simply makes him feel better. A new study shows how people of different ages define older age. It confirms what we hear most often about the perceptions of aging.

Our faces often reflect are lives. Each wrinkle a decade of experience.  Some decades are harder than others.  It also shows how much time we spent in the sun without sunscreen.  Remember the home brew of baby oil and iodine many of us used in our teens and twenties? The sure way to tan. But it was even better if you used a reflector.  What were we thinking?  Skin cancer was hardly on the screen then.  The other factor is our DNA.  Did our ancestors win the tight skin lottery or did they have to run around in skin looking older than their age.

Whether you look young or old, the key is feeling good about yourself.  Take care of that skin.  Lotions, vitamins, exercises, sunscreen, hats, etc. all help.  It only takes a little effort to make a big difference.  After all, don't you want to look 75 when you hit 100?

Rewiring also means taking care of yourself as you age so you can look your best.  Projecting energy and vitality can lead to opportunities that can make a big difference, especially if you are looking for a new job, part time work, being selected for a great volunteer assignment, or if you are out in the dating market again.

If you Hate to exercise, Read this

No matter where we go in the world and talk about Rewiring Your Future, exercise seems to be top of mind.  Sometimes it is scary to hear people say they are going to run a marathon, but haven't done any exercise in years.  Yes, we have actually heard this.  We always tell people to STOP and GO SLOWLY.  The only people who benefit from strenuous exercise like running a marathon without significant preparation are doctors and undertakers. 

No matter what age you are, creating an exercise plan for yourself should be a thoughtful process and include input from professionals including your doctor.  The goal should be to improve your health, your life expectancy and the enjoyment of doing something positive for yourself.     Improper exercise results in pains, strains, torn ligaments, and other more serious injuries.  No pain, No gain may work for some, but we don't recommend it..

We tell people if you have an exercise routine that works for you, keep it up.  If you are bored with your routine, add some new exercises that make it more interesting.  Trying new things makes it a lot less boring and new challenges can be very rewarding once you master them. Not addressing exercise boredom  leads to no exercise at all.

Now for the good news: there is a great article out this week in the New York Times by Gretchen Reynolds.  We love the title: The Right Dose of Exercise for a Longer Life.  The article talks about several new studies that gathered information on over 600,000 middle-aged adults They analyzed 14 years of death records for this group and came up with very interesting findings about exercise and fitness.

For those who hate rigorous exercise, there is hope.  You don't have to run a marathon, swim the English Channel, or climb the stairs of the Empire State building to get and stay in shape.  All you have to do is have a modest plan and stick to it.  According to the studies cited, "The Sweet spot for exercise benefits, however, came among those who tripled the recommended level of exercise, working out moderately, mostly by walking, for 450 minutes per week, or little more than an hour per day.  Those people were 39 percent less likely to die prematurely than people who never exercised."
That sounds good to us.

There is no time like the present to get rewired.  Now that winter is behind us, there is no excuse that it is too cold to go for a walk.  Even if it is cold and raining, there is always the indoor mall or the gym.  Put on your headset, listen to the music that motivates you, and strut your stuff.  You will be glad you did and so will those who love you!!

What you can learn from the artist, Claude Monet

If you haven’t been to the New York Botanical Garden, this would be a good time to go. There is a wonderful celebration exhibit of the artist, Claude Monet’s Garden. Monet’s original flower garden still exists at this home turned museum in Giverny, France. The New York version is a fantastic recreation true to Monet’s vision. His garden was a love and vocation that lasted most of his adult life. His famous Water Lilies paintings came from seeing the garden almost every day, every season and every year for over 50 years.

Monet kept painting them until he died at age 86, because each time he saw them, they looked different. He loved to wake up in the morning and looked forward to each day. Some would say he never rewired. Other’s would say that he rewired every time he did a new painting. We think it’s the latter. Ask any gardener and they will tell you that everyday a garden changes. Something grows. Something dies. Animals and birds cycle in and out. It is never stagnant, but always dynamic and changing. Just like us humans.

He never bored of it. In fact he marveled at his good fortune that he was able to paint so many canvases. France commissioned him to create a series of extremely large paintings of the Water Lilies now housed in Paris at the L’Orangerie, a national treasure. It is an artistic memorial to those who died serving France during the First World War. If you can’t get to Paris go on line an see them or go to one of the museums in the U.S. that has one of his paintings.

The New York Botanical Garden held its annual Patrons Lecture earlier this summer, under written by the Carnegie Foundation at Sotheby’s in New York City. Professor Paul Hayes Tucker, the foremost authority in the world on Monet and a consultant on the exhibit delighted the audience, us included, with insights on Monet, Art, and life. Monet had the good fortune of never retiring. He painted until the end. He used his creative gifts and frequently asked the question, “Why would I ever stop painting? It is what I love most.” Fortunately for the world he was never forced to retire by an age limit or a corporate policy or even a limiting disability…he had cataracts.

So for all of our readers who love what they do, keep doing it. And for those who dislike what they do, retire if you can, and Get REWIRED. Dive into new activities and interests and find one that will nourish and sustain you for the rest of your life. Once you find that special something you can evolve into someone who thrills to wake up in the morning. Just like Monet did!

"OLDER" PEOPLE,HOWEVER DEFINED, ARE NOT "LUMPABLE!

I hate it when people make assumptions that everyone around them is just like them, or worse, thinks just like them. I'm not talking about politics, gay rights or healthcare issues. I'm talking about aging! Recently I eavesdropped on a group of late 50 year old guys where two of them were going on and on about their aches and pains. One went so far as to say..."We're all in the same boat, getting old and gray by the day!"

I couldn't believe that none of the other guys took him on and said, Hey! I'm not hurtin! In fact I'm feeling pretty good. A little earlier one of the guys had told me he was looking into doing the Iron Man. When I asked him later, why didn't you say something about it, he shrugged it off, but I couldn't.

The truth is I get really ticked when I hear an "older" person (and how we define that today is another great challenge!)making an assumption about a peer, regardless of what the subject. People have a tendency to lump people together especially as they age. They shouldn't. PEOPLE ARE NOT LUMPABLE! It bothers me when I hear people say they have an ache or pain and assume you do also, when not only do you not, but in reality you have just completed a mini marathon in record time! Why do people do that? To make themselves feel better---or do they want everyone in the same boat? Theirs!

When I hear friends or strangers say, older people are all alike, I want to slap them on the side of the head and say, no they aren't, and to continue by asking, why would you assume everyone else your age is like you? And I want to go further and ask, actually how old are these old people you refer to? As a simple test, ask yourself right now---how do you define older people? And even more importantly, how do you see yourself?

In my work I help people of all ages rewire, and I am always struck when an older individual, and older in this instance is referring to anyone over 50, as defined by AARP (not me),tells me they feel old. My natural response to them is keep it to yourself.If you see yourself as old, so will others, I guarantee it. And then you doom all of us Boomers,so don't do it! There are many people, 50,60, 70, even 80 year olds who are doing just fine and feeling great! In fact the man in the picture is Buster Martin who ran marathons until he was 102 years old. Is Buster unique? Yes and no. One thing for sure is that he isn't LUMPABLE!

Open your eyes and see how many people around you are rewiring into next great acts! They're excited about life and its possibilities; they are focusing on their functional age, not their chronological age! Make sure you are also.

EXERCISE AND ADD MORE LIFE TO YOUR LIFE!

There are only 24 hours in the day and it's up to each of us to decide how and where our time is used. Work, plus family and daily responsibilities take up a large portion of that time, and of course we know that eight hours of sleep is the ideal. I may be nervey to say this, but today I am putting in a big plug for finding "some" time, even a little time, to exercise. I know some of you are groaning already; others are smiling because you have made time for fitness and are feeling smug, and still others are sheepishly admitting that exercise has been on their to do list for too long to remember, which is a good seque to why I hope you will make some time for exercise.

Over the past several weeks there have been many articles in both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal on exercise. Take a look at these headlines (in fact two are VERY similar!) and take a look at the benefits.

On March 2 Jane Brody wrote her Personal Health column: "Even More Reasons to Get A Move On" and in the March 9 Wall Street Journal Health & Wellness section journalist, Ron Winslow wrote: "To Double the Odds of Seeing 85: Get A Move On." They are great articles, covering different angles, but work together to deliver a one two punch message that it's not just about good abs or a tight butt but rather about the long term health benefits for the body and the brain!

Then on March 9 Jane Brody wrote: "To Keep Moving, Look Beyond the Physical" where she indicated that she had heard from many readers who said it's easy to get started exercising but hard to stay motivated. So Jane's March 9 article talks about how exercise improves life, includes a list of motivators and concludes with a quote from Dr.Michelle Segar, a motivational psychologist at the University of Michigan that " we need to rebrand exercise as something we can enjoy, something that really feels good to do."

My sentiments exactly-- now that I have finally rewired my time and added exercise to my life!

So are you ready to rewire your thinking about exercise and fitness and wellness? Maybe it's time to turn exercise on its head! If you hate running, try biking, if not biking, then swimming...the point is there are choices all around us...pick one and try it. If it isn't the "right one" for you, DISCARD IT and CHOOSE ANOTHER! Do it for your good health! It is a patriotic act these days.