The Defy Aging Newsletter

Anti-aging psychology, holistic health, and wellness

a biweekly e-mail newsletter for helping you think, feel, look, and be more youthful and live with purpose.

Number 124

This issue:

Being Hopeful

ACTION TO TAKE

Periodically take your mental health temperature by asking yourself if you feeling hopeful about aging well and hopeful about your future.

WHY

I was at a seminar for professional speakers and was marveling at the speaker's skill. Afterwards I asked him if he consciously crafted his speaking persona or if it just evolved. The more I thought about the more I thought about the relationships speakers have with their audiences.

Dull ones lecture or teach or inform. More interesting speakers entertain, play, have fun, inspire, or motivate their audiences. Then I asked myself what do I do? What came to me is that whether I am speaking, coaching, or doing therapy, I am helping people feel hopeful.

I see in my mind what people can be, what they can do, what they can achieve. I use whatever pproaches connect for them to move them that direction. In the case of aging, it is believing that your life can get better as you age and that a big part of making it better is easy--little mind shifts in how you think about yourself and aging.

For example, you can choose to think of yourself as really younger than your chronological age. It is an easy belief to adopt and doesn't cost anything. Having that self-image prompts you, consciously and unconsciously, to seek ways to make it happen. After all you don't want to make a liar out of yourself (psychologists call this avoiding cognitive dissonance).

Overture says that in July 2005, 56,693 people searched for "hope" on the Internet. Also in July, 654,592 searched for "love" and 8,334,440 searched for "sex." We often overlook hope but it is vital to our well being--and even to wanting to get out of bed in the morning. Asking yourself if you feel hopeful is a good way of taking your mental health temperature.

QUOTES

To be seventy years young is sometimes far more hopeful than to be forty years old.

~Oliver Wendell Holmes

At first we hope too much; later on, not enough.

~Joseph Roux

A person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world. Someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.

~Tom Bodett

HUMOR

I did an Internet search for "hope springs eternal." There sure are a lot of sports fans out there.

~Mike Brickey

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Anti-Aging Psychology

Holistic Health and Wellness

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"Dr. Michael Brickey, The Anti-Aging Psychologist, teaches people to think, feel, look and be more youthful. He is an inspiring keynote speaker and Oprah-featured author. His works include:  Defy Aging, 52 baby steps to Grow Young, and Reverse Aging (anti-aging hypnosis CDs). Visit www.NotAging.com for a free report on anti-aging secrets and a free newsletter with practical anti-aging tips."