Super Ager. Elise Marie Collins

      For a positive mindset as you age, take the reins of the mind and steer them towards the thoughts you want your brain to encode and remember. Your brain is like wet cement when you are a child. Then once you get past adolescence, “change is only permitted for those things that have captured the brain’s attention, and only when the brain itself has judged those things to be beneficial.” What this means is you are in control of what you deem important and savable by your brain. Dr. Michael Merzenich, known as the father of modern neuroplasticity, tells us that we must tell our brains what is important. You have the right to choose, not sit by idly waiting for good to come to you. Murali Nair, PhD, and Professor of Social Work at University of Southern California, studies centenarians around the world and notices a few common personality traits: “They always set goals. They say they are still young.” Sometimes centenarians will have certain plans for the day or they will look ahead to a future goal such as taking their great-great-grandchild to their first day of school. Nair has studied and documented centenarians in China, India, Guatemala, Macau finds that most have a positive attitude and don’t seem to be grumpy or sad.

      Amazing and Inspirational

      Irena Obera has mindset down. A retired teacher, she began her competitive running career a little later than most professionals, making nationals in 1959 when she was twenty-six years old. She ran in the 1960 and 1968 Olympic trials, and she found her stride when she became a pioneering master athlete. By the time she hit the forty-fives age group, wins and records became her norm, setting world records in the 200m in every age group from W45 to W70. IN July of 2014, she broke two records in the W80 for 80m hurdles and 200m hurdles. People who see her speed and agility are shocked to find out that she’s eighty-four years old. “To me, I don’t think of age as being a handicap. It’s just a process. So why not live? Everybody tells me two things, “I’m so amazing and inspirational.” I like the second part.” When she was forty-one, she suffered a life set back when she was bedridden for a year after being diagnosed with sarcoidosis. After hearing about the first world masters championship to be held in 1975, she lay in bed, and made it a goal for her recovery just to make it to the event compete. She didn’t come home with a medal that year, but it motivated her return. By the age of forty-five, she had become a dominant world force in track and field, smashing world records and winning world championships in multiple age brackets, W50, W60 and W75. In 2014, she became the oldest woman to break forty seconds in the 200m sprint.

      Fire Over Air

      Modern culture could be described as out of balance. People are stressed and extremely busy. In the Blue Zone® books, Dan Buettner interviews nanogenerians and centenarians who live well balanced lives. Ayurveda describes age fifty and above as the Vata time of life, a time for inspiration, reflection, creativity, spirituality, and other qualities associated with air. Modern culture values power and dominance over wisdom. In Ayurveda, this could be described as valuing fire over air. One of the cultural issues that arises collectively and within each of us is the tendency to criticize and denigrate aging. It may be helpful to remember and realize that not all cultures put youth on a pedestal. Many cultures treat their grandparents, great-grandparents, and people over eighty as rock stars. A culture that values the fire stage of life of competition, aggression, and winning, instead of valuing the air stage of life, will also value drive and aggression over wisdom and inspiration. The point is that fire is not above air or below it. Fire is fire, and air is air. We need all elements for balance. When you embrace aging and cease to denigrate it, you esteem its qualities including wisdom, inspiration, and humility.

      Logotherapy, developed by Victor Frankl, is a therapy concept based on life purpose. Frankl believed that life purpose helped one choose their attitude. Life purpose and attitude were central to Logotherapy. “Everything can be taken from a man, but one thing, the last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” wrote Victor Frankl in Man’s Search for Meaning.

      Singapore’s Mother Teresa

      One way to boost attitude is to volunteer. Helping others seems to boost mood and mindset like nothing else can. Teresa Hsu Chih was known as Singapore’s “Mother Teresa.” A social worker, yoga teacher, and nurse, she devoted her life to feeding and housing needy people, especially those in dire need, regardless of race or religion. “She’s ninety-five, and she’s looking after those younger than her. She doesn’t care about herself. She only cares about others. This inspires me to follow her,” said a certain Mr. Thanaraja, a volunteer at Teresa’s nonprofit. Although she cared deeply for others, she had a simple, yet structured self-care routine. Born in 1898, she rose daily at 4 a.m. to do yoga, calisthenics, and meditation. She was a vegetarian who took up yoga in her sixty-ninth year. Known for her supremely optimistic spirit, she told people, “I prefer to laugh than to weep.” Teresa Hsu Chih lived to the age of 113 years. Her organization, Heart to Heart (www.hearttoheartservice.org), continues to carry out her legacy of helping feed and house the poor in Singapore and beyond.

      –PRACTICE PLAN–

      Journal

      Journal on resiliency. When and why do you give up? What triggers you to stop trying? Do you push yourself too hard? Will better self-care will help you to get through “the yuck?” Journal on seeing the bigger picture.

      Express Gratitude

      Daily Habits

      Write down five things you are grateful for. Gratitude is one of the simplest and best ways to change your attitude.

      Be Mindful

      Take five minutes every day just to notice what you are thinking, seeing, feeling, smelling, and tasting. When we feel our senses, we step away from the mind. We step away from judgment. We become aware that we have the ability to choose our attitude towards our experiences. This knowledge of choice is a huge step forward.

      Spice Up Your Life

      Weekly Habits

      •Exercise your “trying” muscles.

      •Try something new every week; notice if you judge yourself or just feel good about trying.

      •Develop resilience through trying. A Super Ager must continue to push through fear, worry, excitement, regret, and doubt. Try new activities or try to do something you have never done before every week.

      •Write down your goals. Focus on your goals to sharpen your mindset.

      Weekly/Monthly/Annual Habits

      •Go to events that uplift your energy. If you aren’t inspired, your mindset will suffer. When you are inspired, it changes your