JUMPING THE GUN
One of the most pervasive themes I found while researching
my book, Aging
Gracefully with Dignity, Integrity & Spunk Intact, was that we, as a nation, are obsessed
with forgetting and confuse forgetfulness with Alzheimer's or Senile Dementia, which
are two completely different things. There’s
a huge distinction between short and long term memory loss. Alzheimer’s and Dementia are diseases. Forgetfulness is not a disease and can be
triggered by something as simple as stress.
There’s so much paranoia about “losing-it” that conclusions
about people’s health and welfare are often at the mercy of erroneous
conclusions as opposed to scientific testing.
And once “helpful” family and friends get into your personal business
and deem you, “unfit,” your information gets into the “system” and then getting
out it, can be difficult if not down-right impossible.
My advice for Baby Boomers and Beyond is to rethink your
obsessions about forgetfulness and look back over your lives, recounting the
many times you’ve forgotten things. As
one Boomer friend of mine told me, “When I followed your advice about my own
pattern of forgetfulness… well… it goes all the way back to childhood! My mother used to call me, The absent minded professor.”
What I tell everyone over 50 is this: Hogwash! That’s right: Hogwash! Hogwash to the anxiety you feel from the
social pressures dumped on you about aging.
Most concerns about memory recall are out of proportion and should be
put into proper perspective.
Our society’s compulsive/addictive thinking over memory loss
usually begins seemingly innocently. It
can start as small as joking around about forgetting something and before you
know it, you start needlessly worrying about something that’s been fabricated
in your mind and molded by society. People are afraid to have to face their own
mortality. Corporations want to
capitalize on that fear – and they do.
Big time. Memory and brain
fitness are such important topics and so misunderstood, that I devote an entire
chapter in my book, Aging Gracefully…,
to this national paranoia. What I have
found, is that there are easy solutions to help you maneuver through many of
the issues facing you as you age. Here are a few suggestions:
• Lavishly utilize your Personal Retrieval System, (your store house of
long-term memory cells).
• If you can’t recall something right away – so what? Just stay with the thought and eventually,
it’ll come to you.
• Change the way you talk to yourself. Use supportive, loving and compassionate self
talk.
• Stay open and relaxed and let your mind work in its own, natural way.
Get educated about
your brain. Read my books, (I have more
than one), read other people’s books, read articles and make changes in your
lifestyle where they are needed. Grab
life by its tail and give it a couple of whirls - because as an acquaintance of
mine says, Tomorrow is promised to no one.
with my poetry books,
Grab-Life-by-the-Tail Resources:
