Chapter 79 life's second peak

If some people can shake off the troubles of age and mature and not just pass the years, then so can we.If we can rid our minds of useless fears and focus our minds on attitudes that foster spiritual growth and spiritual maturity, we can keep our minds young even as our bodies age. "What I'm afraid of is not the fact that one gets old," a friend of mine said to me not long ago, "but the unpleasant behaviors that one exhibits when one gets old: self-pity, complaints, weakness, I'd rather die than become an 'old kid' and like to reminisce about the past!" Who doesn't have the same mentality as him?But we don't have to be like that!Unless we have Alzheimer's, there's no reason why we shouldn't be 80-year-olds with the grace, fun, and worth of 20, 30, or 40.Let's get to know some of the world's luminaries who are real examples of the desire to mature rather than grow old.

Bertrand Russell, a small, bold English philosopher, in his 90s, complained that he could no longer walk more than 5 miles at a stretch without getting tired!He said: "I have found that most people who retire die of boredom not long after retirement. A person who is naturally active, even if he believes that he can live his life with ease will be happy, he will still find that It is intolerable to live without the activities in which he can develop his expertise. I also admit that those who enjoy life are more likely to live, but an old person who is vigorous enough in life may not be happy unless he remains active. .”

Another example is Vittorio Emmanuel Orlando, who is no longer alive, the Italian Prime Minister who concluded the "Versailles Peace Treaty".At the age of 94, he can also work 10 hours a day.He is member of the Italian Parliament, director of a successful legal consultancy firm, president of the Bar Association and professor at the University of Rome. At the age of 90, the great surgeon, Dr. Rafael Basianlili, insisted on carrying out a work plan every day that even young people would daunt.He operates on patients three times a week in his private hospital, arranges regular working hours for research work, drives his own car and even flies a private jet.His plan has been he insisted until the Second World War.Dr. Bass Anrilli has successfully demonstrated the power of the mind over the body, and you see, he has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, stomach problems, and insomnia since he was 30 years old.

Philosopher Benedict Koros is also able to work 10-hour days at the age of 89, despite suffering a stroke a few years earlier. Another Prime Minister of Italy, Francis Nitti, is also a person who can work 10 hours a day. Nitti is 100 years old. Earl Heard, the doctor of the late King George of England, even worked 12 hours a day at the age of 80, and he could still tend his garden and write poems after work. Some elderly women also show vitality not inferior to men.Dr. Alice Helen Bauer of the United Kingdom, as the first female head of the clinical psychology department of the British Academy of Sciences, lived in a bungalow without water, electricity and gas.When Dr. Bauer was 84 years old, she still insisted on working every day and had no free time. She took an hour nap every afternoon, and then worked until 2 o'clock in the morning before taking a break.

The famous translator Olivia Rossetti, at the age of 80, was able to work 16 hours a day and sleep only 6 hours! In the United States, tireless elders include the great conductor Arturo Toscanini, who conducted the NBC Symphony until 1954 at the age of 87. Poet Carl Sandburg is still producing great work at 80.And Grandmother Moses, who didn't start painting until she was 78, became a popular painter, and still has a paintbrush in her hand at 96. Dr. Anton Julius Carlson, professor emeritus of physiology at the University of Chicago and director of the Center for Research at the Hospital of the National Academy of Sciences, is 80 years old and still spends 9 or 10 a.m. studying aging.This is not an act of taking care of himself because of his advanced age. It turns out that his working hours are 15 hours a day!

I don't want to continue to list the characters here, because there are too many such people. We can say that the evidence of these outstanding people is nothing, they are only exceptions, or exceptions - because they are geniuses.But what about the non-genius or the terribly average—the ones who just don't want to be old enough to be worthless? For example, someone like Father J. W. Johnston of Los Angeles, who at the age of 100 was still working as a carpenter every day.Grandpa Johnston thought it was no big deal to move 100 pounds of roofing material up a 20-foot ladder.He said he had never experienced what it was like to be sick.

Another example is Mrs. Leon Watts, who lives in Truxville, Pennsylvania. She is 70 years old and weighs only 96 pounds. She suffers from neuritis and varicose veins and suffers from unbearable pain all the year round. She has undergone 13 surgeries.Even so, her son told me, Mrs. Watts was not only happy every day, but busy.She insisted that she kept a nine-room bungalow in good order and spotless, tended to the beautiful shrubs and flowering trees in the large garden, and also cooked the kitchen herself, baking her famous exquisite snacks. There was a W. A. ​​Graham in my hometown of Pwal, Oklahoma, who lived to be 100 years old.Mr. Graham was very rich, and a great benefactor of his community.He remained physically and mentally active until his deathbed, walking 10 miles a day to prove his unwavering adage: "A standing man is worth two sitting men."

William Hall of New Hampshire, over 100 years old, can still help his son run the farm together.The son takes care of the cows, while the father cooks and does housework. Mrs. Eunice H. Balma, 103, of Maciasport, Maine, has some tips for enjoying her later years: "Keeping yourself busy keeps you from thinking about your worries. and sickness." These people lived longer than most people, but none of them showed any signs of old age, "old children" or other unpleasant characteristics and signs of most elderly people. Instead, they experienced Martin Gambert. What the doctor calls "the second peak of life"-a kind of vitality that reappears after the age of 70.

"Old age has its own creativity and impulses," said Dr. Gumpert. "We didn't discover until recently... I think if we can tap into this untapped treasure of old age, everyone's life will be changed. Be richer and happier." If some people can shake off the troubles of age and mature and not just pass the years, then so can we.If we can rid our minds of useless fears and focus our minds on attitudes that foster spiritual growth and spiritual maturity, we can keep our minds young even as our bodies age. Sociologist David Raisman has a very helpful saying: "A man like Bertrand Russell or Toscanini, by virtue of his mental viability, And the physical body is always active...Floyd had oral cancer and had difficulty eating, but he was still able to face life with vigor, live an active and independent life."

Yes, scholars and experts are finding evidence that reverses our preconceived notions of old age as a time of decline.Old age does not diminish our abilities, but rather regains the creativity and mature personality we dreamed of when we were young.If we make it our goal to achieve maturity, we can truly appreciate that our later years will be like Rob Browning said: "The first half of life is the preparation for the second half."