Life Begins at 50

Imagine a man, 75 years old, with dementia, unable to speak or show emotions, a shadow of his former self. Would you like to be in his shoes, dear Reader? Certainly not! A lot can be done to prepare the way for a better life! Of course, there’s work involved, but fun too! Are you in?

Here are a few tips on how to grow old s-l-o-w-l-y.

50 Plus is No Big Fuss

Maybe you’ve heard that the older you get, the faster time flies.  When we were teenagers, we thought 50 – year-olds were ancient. Unbelievable how fast we got to the big 5-0!

Best Agers

The elderly have become an increasingly important target group for many businesses. The world of finance calls them Best Agers or Golden Agers. It has been recognized that doing business with people over 50 is good business. A study by Mercer Oliver Wyman shows how the European Market could increase its gains with us old folks by about $15 billion. 

In many banks and insurance companies today, every second client is over 50. This makes us very interesting customers for many branches of business. We older models can now be seen in advertising.

Many Best Agers are buying houses or building condos. They care for their appearance by eating a balanced diet, dressing in style and doing sports. They also travel extensively and are always increasing in knowledge.

Time and Money

Retirees and clients over 50 have two valuable assets: They often have time and money. In addition, this age group is growing!

Exhibitions and other services are becoming more and more popular on the subjects of health and personal care, free time and relaxation, travel and wellness, house and home, medical achievements and specific investment opportunities for your capital, work and study.

The Famous Midlife Crisis

When we think of a midlife crisis, the first images that come to mind are sports cars and blondes. A classical midlife crisis curve generally follows on the heels of a more or less straight and narrow life. It is the visible expression of a desperate escape to freedom. Most people over 50 have already overcome that phase. 

Life Begins at 50

Life lasts much longer than most people think.
Between 20 and 50 there are 30 years.
The time between 50 and 80 is exactly the same - 30 years.
The difference is that at 50 we have a much better starting position than we did at 20.

At 50, you know things about which a 30-year-old has no idea.
At 60, you can say things a 30-year-old would be better off not saying.
At 70, you can do things a 30-year-old would be better off not doing.

...

Instead of moping around, we could actually celebrate life! Why not let the joy of having a mature heart inspire you to rise to new heights and new experiences?

Some people begin to reduce their activities when they hit fifty. When the first pains come, they slow down, thinking they “deserve it”. The problem with that is, the more you slow down, the weaker you get. The less you move, the less you are able to move. On the intellectual level, the less you think, the weaker your brain gets. What we really need to do is fight the urge to slow down and reduce our activities, both physically and mentally. How can we fight back?

Do Something New! Remember Old Dreams

There are many fun and interesting things you can do to add joy and excitement to your life. You can read or listen to interesting books, join a club, learn to cook, take part in seminars to gain wisdom, go walking or do something for your health, make music, learn a language or travel. We will now have a brief look at the two last examples.  

Learn a Language After 50 – Possible?

There is no learning without motivation, and learning a language is no exception. 

The great advantage of learning a language after 50 is that our motivation is different. When we used to learn something, it was to satisfy our parents and strict teachers or to get good grades, but now we are internally motivated. Because we want to learn, the necessary discipline and stick-to-itiveness are naturally on board. Today many recognize the advantage of learning a foreign language for better job opportunities or for purely private purposes.

In addition, the many and varied life experiences of older individuals help them understand and sort the many rules and correlations involved in learning a foreign language. Many expressions in other languages are similar in English because they come from the same common language. If a person has already learned a bit of a foreign language in earlier years, they will be surprised at how much has stuck over the years and comes back with renewed use. The human brain is a wonder of creation, and learning a language after 50 might be easier than you fear!

Travel: When you travel to a new country, learn a few phrases of the language and experience the joy you produce in others when they see you are trying to speak their language!

Music Makes Us Happy

Here in my little town in Switzerland there’s a group called “Music for 60 Plus”. Individuals with various instruments get together and enjoy playing their favorite kinds of music together. Some actually come with the desire to fulfill a lifelong dream and learn a specific instrument. Doing this makes a positive impact on their quality of life.

Challenges – Notice Given – Notice Taken

Because many businesses are in a constant state of change, they often let their older, more experienced employees go. Generally speaking, it seems more difficult for people over 50 to find jobs. Employers often choose younger, less experienced people in order to save money.

But we older individuals can fight back! We need to hold on to our trump card: Experience. If we keep our minds flexible and fit by continuing to learn as we get older, we can become indispensable resources for our employers.

Retirement

Having so much free time on their hands is sometimes a shock for retirees.

Their “hard-earned retirement” can develop into a veritable nightmare. For this reason it is important to prepare in advance, and not just financially, for this phase of life.

Finally I have time and freedom! I can go where I want whenever I want! That’s the way many view retirement, BEFORE it happens! What that actually translates to in real life is often a completely different story.

What about self-esteem?

For those who have defined their lives by their work, retirement is an especially difficult time. These people have built their sense of value on their achievements. (See BLOG)

Even if all material needs are met and there is no financial need to work, to suddenly feel no longer needed is a painful experience for many.

The free time one has at one’s disposal as a retiree can suddenly become a vast impassable expanse with no structure and no goals.

How to Structure Your Free Time

Retirement is often looked forward to and dreamed about as a right that one has earned. We can see pictures of strapping seniors, smiling, with full heads of hair, riding their bicycles beside a lake. The truth of the matter is, many retirees struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide.

If you are more stressed in retirement than before, you are definitely doing something wrong. Burnouts and bore-outs are not reserved for the working class alone.

Spending time and energy on other meaningful activities while you are still employed will make the transition easier when the regular job ceases.

An especially difficult transition is in store for people who are in the habit of being reachable from work 24/7 or of checking their email every 15 minutes. The sudden silence is deafening. It seems no one needs them anymore.

Sometimes it is possible for retirees to continue working past retirement age. Part-time work might also be a good way to soften the blow.

Health – the Most Important Thing

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live the next 30-40 years being as healthy as possible? People who decide to do that must have a special interest and love for truth, because not everything that claims to be healthy is actually healthy.

A Prime Example

Throughout the world, people have been trained to believe in the importance of drinking milk and getting enough calcium and protein through milk and cheese. Many doctors still believe and teach this line of logic. The facts, however, if one cares to check them out, prove the opposite. It is a known fact that countries with high milk consumption also have a high percentage of osteoporosis and other unnecessary chronic conditions. (T. Colin Campbell, The China Study p. 217-222)

If You Want to Get (and Stay) Healthy

If you are really interested in a holistic healthy lifestyle, have a look at these important BLOGs: NEW - START - Plus.  We see “miracle after miracle” at our vacation and health center SONNMATT in the eastern Swiss Alps when our guests adjust their lives to live according to the principles described in these three blogs. Using only natural remedies to strengthen the body’s own immune system, quality of blood and emotional balance, healing transpires in every area. Praise God for these simple, natural remedies!

Here is a view of Sonnmatt (the yellow house) and its surroundings. Fresh air and sunshine make for a stronger heartbeat.

Members of the 50+ Club are a privileged class; they have many opportunities that others don’t have. The knowledge and wisdom they have acquired in the first 50 years can help them make decisions that will guarantee them a higher quality of life in the next 50 years! If they take these positive measures, they will be enviable indeed.

How to Relate to New Year’s Resolutions

Those of you who know the game of games, chess, know that much thought, strategic planning and adherence to the plan are deciding factors in the outcome. Without these, nothing will be accomplished. Perhaps it is similar with New Year’s resolutions. We really owe it to ourselves to improve our circumstances. Each of us carries responsibility for his or her own life.

New Year’s Eve – the Beginning

Most people love New Year’s Eve, maybe because of the food and fun. At the same time, this last day of the calendar year holds a natural promise of a new beginning. For many, it makes sense to take the opportunity and bid bad habits adieu. Why not?

Unfortunately, many good resolutions are soon broken or forgotten. I would like to present my findings on how to best deal with the subject of resolutions, which I have gathered from various sources.

Classical New Year’s Resolutions

Undoubtedly one of the most widely practiced resolutions is

Live More Healthfully

For sensible, purposeful people, this is a great subject. Health is our most important treasure, and we only have one. When it’s gone, life looks completely different.

As you may read in the highly recommended NEWSTART-PLUS - BLOGs , a holistic view of health is necessary, which promotes a healthy balance of exercise and rest, fresh air, nutrition, water, sunshine and trust in God.

Finally Free!

Tackling addictions is difficult. One needs to be highly motivated, and not just for the first week of January! As you can read in the blog on the frontal lobe, the secret of success in this area is directly dependent on the care it receives. Sonnmatt has wonderful courses to help smokers get free. It’s the best and most successful method I know.

New Priorities and Time Management

Beside health, there are other important subjects. Of those, PARTNER and FAMILY are most likely highest on the list. There are a thousand topics that steal our valuable time, but end in nothing. If we can get these time killers under control, our lives will be much better. We must take time for our relationships, for they, and the love we have for one other, are the best components for health and healing, whether physically, emotionally or mentally.

A somewhat modern and very wise resolution might be to do a digital detox. Increasing numbers of individuals are falling victim to these dopamine providers. Instead of a real love source, many try to fill their empty love tanks with happy hormones produced by gaming and social media. However, this is a dead end street.

Here is the “Best of” list from last year. Maybe there’s something in it for you.

Top 10 Favorite Resolutions:

1. Improve fitness We all know that regular exercise has more health benefits than anything else out there. Studies have shown that improving your fitness also improves your mood, mentality and reduces the risk of some cancers, not to mention it keeps you in shape. So find some exercise you enjoy, and do it regularly!

2. Eat better Try a whole food, plant-based diet. Here’s a link to our daughter’s Cookbook .

3. Quit smoking If this is you, click on that Sonnmatt link above and join us for the course.

4. Quit drinking If you have decided that you'd like to quit drinking this year there is a lot of help and support available. Groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous offers regular meetings and there are a lot of clinics out there to help.

5. Learn something new Maybe you're looking to take up a new hobby or learn a new language for upcoming travels. With the Internet, you can learn almost anything!

6. Travel more You can visit beautiful places, experience different cultures, discover a new cuisine or explore your own back yard.)

7. Volunteer Helping others in need is a great and selfless New Year's Resolution. Whether you'd like to head overseas to volunteer, help disadvantaged kids in your local area or something else, there are a lot of organizations out there that can make it happen. By the way, this one can easily be combined with point #6.

8. Meet someone Sometimes we feel like the time has come, and we just HAVE to find a partner! There are good places and not so good places to meet quality partners. It’s a good idea to think about what kind of person would suit you best and measure a prospective partner by that standard before you fall in love. Frontal activity tends to wane during periods of infatuation.

9. Sleep more Tired of being tired? There are more benefits to getting a good night’s sleep than just feeling more refreshed. A proper snooze can do all kinds of things, including keeping your metabolism going strong, helping you concentrate better, and making you less likely to get sick.

10. Get out of debt Debt is definitely a four-letter word that can ruin your life. If you would like to find freedom from this problem, it’s important to find and plan a strategy. I’ll say more on this hot topic in a future blog.)

10 Reasons Why Resolutions Often Fail

Here are a few suggestions of how one might learn from past mistakes. Any resolutions made while under the influence of alcohol will usually be forgotten by the next day. It seems a necessity to make resolutions binding, like a contract. Our enemy, our weak inner self, is often against such measures. It does not welcome any uncomfortable changes, but rather loves the path of least resistance.

1. Your resolution was not formulated as a measurable goal. “I want to lose a few pounds” is not specific enough. A resolution should be measurable, with step by step goals and dates.

2. Your resolution was formulated in a negative way. “I want to eat less chocolate.” If you add some reasons to this, like “for my health” or “to clear my conscience,” for instance, because chocolate producers often use forced child labor LINK, it will have a greater impact on your behavior and resolve.

3. Your resolution was not carried out regularly. “I want to do more sports, but only when the weather is nice.” Jogging twice a week might go well for a while, but is too easily forgotten.

4. You didn’t really want to do it. Resolutions are part of celebrating the New Year. Since everybody else is doing it, you make one too. At least it was a nice thought.

5. New Year was not the best time to implement. Sometimes it’s better to make a resolution at another time, when it can be done more voluntarily, like NOW :-) !

6. You tried to do it all by yourself. “I won’t tell anyone what I’m trying to change.” The advantage here is that you are only responsible to yourself, but the added incentive of public obligation could also be helpful and motivating.

7. You didn’t write it down. “I’m going back to the gym in March.” But by March, all your confidants have forgotten about it. Write it in your calendar or put it on your refrigerator.

8. True motivation was missing. “I want to do more sports,” is not a healthy motive as such. “I want to lose 10 pounds this year,” sounds much better.

9. You didn’t know how to make it happen. “I want to learn to play a new musical instrument.” This resolution can fail by just not being able to choose an instrument.

10. Your New Year’s resolution was completely unrealistic. “This year I’m going to lose 40 pounds!” This would not only be extremely difficult, but also dangerous! Never start your program with a marathon!

Now let’s look at a few positive suggestions:

10 Ways to Make Your Resolutions Stick

1. Choose the right moment. Sometimes January 1 is not the best day to start with an important new resolution.

2. Less is often more! Too many resolutions can spoil the broth. Instead, concentrate on one or two resolutions that you can really put your heart into. Set realistic goals.

3. Write your resolutions down. Things that are put down in writing are more meaningful. Things that are “only in your head” can be forgotten much too quickly.

4. Place the paper somewhere where you and others can see it. Regular reminders can raise motivation.

5. Make a radical new start. Starting slow and easy can often lead to half-heartedness, which easily can end in nothing. 100% commitment will more likely be rewarded with success.

6. Count on difficulties. Challenges are the best opportunities to build strength. Use them to your advantage. “I REALLY feel like a piece of chocolate!” Such thoughts will come, but with the right attitude, they can be overcome, and your will will be strengthened.

7. Dwell on the positive! Instead of thinking, “I don’t feel like going to the gym!” replace that thought with, “I always feel so much better when I’m finished with my fitness training!”

8. Take advantage of any possible support! “Shared suffering is only half as hard.” If you share your challenges with your family and/or friends, you may get some much-needed support. For some activities, like sports, there are groups you can join.

9. Note your progress! For certain resolutions it makes sense to chart progress daily.

10. Celebrate success! BUT not like the guy in this picture! If you plan some smart rewards for certain goals reached, they can be great motivation raisers. Don’t use rewards that would weaken your ambition to reach your goal.

Further Suggestions:

• Get in touch with family and friends at least once a month.

• Read 5 intelligent books in exchange for less TV and computer games.

• Learn to say, “No, thank you!” to sweets, alcohol, tobacco, etc.

• Read the Gospel of Luke (again) by the middle of the year.

• Surprise someone once a month with a surprise gift.

• Learn about the love languages of three most-valued relationships. (LINK)

• Refrain from eating between meals.

If you have any suggestions for a resolution, you’re welcome to add it below. Thank you for your support and may you have a successful 2019!

Verwendete Quellen : Link-1 - Link-2 - Link-3 - Link-4

Source in English : Link-5

Improving EQ through Lifestyle

For many, eating is taboo. Nobody is allowed to interfere. The results are all the more devastating: obesity, illnesses, diabetes II. Sure, the food has to taste good, in any case. Nowadays, good and healthy food can be served in our latitudes. The hard question is: what is really healthy eating?

Here are some blog links on the subject to introduce you, dear reader, to this important topic.

EQ0 (Definition)  -  EQ0 (Areas Of Live)  -  EQ1 (Marriage and Family)  -  EQ2 (Job)

As a reminder: The five areas of social life:

1. MARRIAGE u FAMILY (mutual understanding based on self-image)

2. PROFESSION (dealing with colleagues, subordinates, with the boss, motivation)

3. HEALTH (healthy lifestyle promotes the frontal lobe)

4. ENVIRONMENT (privacy, public and society can see added value)

5. SPIRITUALITY (understanding and dealing with belief in a postmodern context)

3. Health

How do you like the following: General health is the result of the application of human laws of nature. If we knew our needs better and if we knew how best to meet them, then health would be a corollary. There are certainly exceptions. (Genetics)

Imagine that we humans would obey the laws of nature and cultivate our relationship with nature, learn from it and recover. What would happen to us - But no, we want to be independent, create our own laws, live our own lives autonomously, no matter what the cost. Is health still possible like this?

WHO defines: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not just the absence of illness or ailment."

Although we live in a sophisticated, medically high-quality health system, it strikes me again and again that there are interest groups who are nevertheless not interested in our health. I think among other things to the pharmaceutical industry, which can have a significant influence on our state of health via medicine.

Interaction: physical, mental, social

Viewed individually, a person can, for example, be physically fully functional, but have psychological problems or live socially isolated. How strongly these three aspects of health interact, however, we feel very quickly in ourselves or in our fellow human beings. Our body reacts to stress, fears, and conflicts. Our mental freshness diminishes as soon as we become physically ill. Our social contacts can also suffer.

When we are young, we usually do not consider the consequences of our lifestyle. Only in old age is the bill presented for it. Health is particularly important at retirement age. Then you still have time to do it. A healthy lifestyle pays off right from the start.

Only the positive interaction of all factors means health.

The assessment of these factors can, however, be very subjective and it is not uncommon for one's own well-being to be an indicator of one's "perceived" health.

About every 20th patient who see a doctor suffers from hypochondriac disorders, which is also a disease. These patients feel sick, fear illness, and are so fixated on their bodies that they experience physical symptoms that a doctor cannot diagnose.

The other way around, a person can feel very good and healthy until he receives a diagnosis from the doctor, such as Cancer. Many physical illnesses are not recorded by the patient themselves, or are never recorded at all, because the body's self-healing powers work and illnesses can be dealt with by the body itself before they become noticeable to the person concerned. Thanks to a good lifestyle and / or a strong psyche.

What affects our health?

Almost all of our living conditions have a direct or indirect effect on our health: air, soil and water quality, nutrition, exercise, sleep, rest, relaxation, stress, self-image, social contacts, love, sexuality, work, security, recognition, life goals and hobbies . There are other aspects that have a positive or negative effect on our health.

Love and intimacy in particular can have the greatest positive effects on health. However, this does not always have to be associated with such an acrobatic exercise!

Control the impact yourself

A healthy lifestyle contributes significantly to maintaining health. Anyone who constantly exploits their own body through a lack of exercise, unhealthy diet and addictive behavior destroys their own health.

Unemployment, strokes of fate or environmental influences can usually not be avoided. But it pays to expand your own control and develop joy in good health.

Mental / Spiritual Health

PESSIMISM is very bad for our health. It weakens the immune system. Our health at 60 is heavily dependent on how strong optimists / pessimists we were when we were 25. (says Martin E.P. Seligman, psychologist). The inner attitude seems to be fundamentally important. The joy of the pessimist that he gossips about the bad experience because he was right is probably not a forward-looking attitude. (See blog Toxic Thoughts).

OPTIMISM only wants to see or expect the good. If this is based on a realistic background, then sooner or later this will also have a positive effect on the environment. It is interesting that what you see and expect coming often also happens. Here are a few positive effects:

• better health thanks to better chemical brain processes (see blog ToxG-Env)

• longer life expectancy thanks to mental well-being

• better perception thanks to stronger mental abilities

• deeper relationships thanks to pleasant personality

• Setbacks and rainfall are temporary and provide learning material

• the mental resistance (resilience) is greater

Some people seem to be born optimists. Nothing can tarnish your feelings of happiness. Let's do it after them!

How do you become an optimist?

1. It helps to move more in optimistic company. Optimism is contagious. Instead of always talking about negative things from others, you can also mention positive things.

2. Become aware of your negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. It's a training thing, but it's worth it. Pull someone into your trust. Then it's even faster.

3. If someone asks you, "How are you?" Then you say: "Very good, thank you." This even if you are not doing so well, because now you have the opportunity and the impetus to quickly make use of your gratitude and indulge your happiness in valuable relationships.

4. Learn to make the best of uncomfortable situations. You are stuck in a traffic jam. Do not allow frustrating emotions and expressions, but find reasons for positive thinking.

Much more could of course be written about mental health.

Physical health

Many people have found that exercising in some form makes them feel positive. This means fitness. Fitness is an umbrella term for healthy nutrition, exercise, training of strength, endurance and coordination.

The risk of developing diseases of civilization such as heart attack, obesity, lung cancer, colon cancer and diabetes II can be reduced through targeted fitness training. In addition, the ability to concentrate and learn is increased. People who actively keep fit are considered healthier and, statistically speaking, have a higher quality of life and life expectancy. This also increases your EQ, especially in the areas of 'self-motivation' and 'emotional self-regulation'. More information on this in the blogs EQ0 (Definition)  and EQ0 (AreasOfLife).

So don't miss this. Use your self-motivation, set an achievable goal, find a like-minded person, and begin your fitness program. You will not regret it.

Movement, let's say at least 5000 steps a day, has an enormously positive influence on health. Jogging 2-3 times a week as interval training will keep you young and strong.

Social health

Like me, like me, like you!

As I am to myself, so am I to others too. Ok, sometimes you can play a role, play a salesman, sell yourself better than you are. But the source of motivation for dealing with other people comes from within.

Those who hate themselves also hate others. Those who have accepted themselves find it easy to treat their fellow human beings in a positive way. In the blog about SELF-HATE and SELF-LOVE there is more detailed information.

Tit for Tat !

Many people reduce their social contacts to the level of REACTION. If YOU are good with me, then so am I with you! The blog CONDITONAL LOVE talks about it. This makes us dependent on other people's goodwill. We no longer live our own lives.

How about UNCONDITIONAL LOVE ? This component changes a lot, yes it opens our social potential, enables miracles in relationships such as marriages, family and professional life.

Let us remember: WE shape our social world ourselves. We can choose healthy relationships. That is probably not always easy, but possible. With a strengthened frontal lobe, we also make healthy decisions thanks to a healthy lifestyle.

Final thought: Eating healthy alone does not create holistic health. My attitude towards life, towards myself and towards other people has greater influence. Anyone who does something for physical, mental and social health will also benefit from it. And with him also his environment. BRAVO.

Whoever Seeks The Meaning Of Life

_ and never finds it, he/she will in the end miss his own life! Without a real meaning in life, life is like walking on ice - unsafe - and you quickly find yourself sitting in the cold of life.

A reader reports: "Young woman, almost 30 years old, behaves like a child. She is married, basically nothing is wrong with her. She has the most beautiful life, sunshine, enough to eat, a wonderful garden, peace and quiet, no hectic, a lot that others would fight for. But she is completely dissatisfied with herself. Every now and then the environment gets a complete blow from her. Most of the day she sits in front of the computer or TV or plays games. The husband is overwhelmed and no longer knows what else he should do to make her happy. Friends tried to coach her. Nothing helps. What's wrong with her? "

HAVING does not yet make sense of life. It depends on BEING. Who are we ? Where do we come from ? Where are we going ? Where do we want to go ?

Anyone who has a lifestyle that destroys the frontal lobe needs help to get out of it. But to convince such people that they also accept help requires supernatural influence. Appropriate borderline experiences could help.

More and more people are becoming addicted to gambling or building their lives in a virtual world. Unfortunately mostly young people. The frontal lobe (BLOG) drunk, apathetic, passive and lacking in motivation. Do you also know such people?

If we look into our world with the question of the meaning of life - as far as we can grasp it - then you may also notice that postmodern people tend to avoid this question. If you ask it anyway, something like: "I enjoy life as long as it is possible" often comes up.

ENJOY LIFE - is that a sufficient answer for people in the 21st century? We in Europe can actually still enjoy life, while in other countries life often becomes a struggle for survival.

We are privileged. For real ?

When pleasure turns into greed and one loses self-control over it, a great love deficit becomes visible.

What is YOUR meaning in life? What makes sense for YOU to live this life?

Is it the family, the spouse? Is it your career, your car, your bank account, your status, your LUST for life? What would hurt you the most if it were taken away from you? Is it health after all?

It is apparently our values ​​that make our life worth living or not? What are your values? If you ask managers about the most important value in life, you often hear them say "the family", even though many have divorced and any children are spread out as a blended family. How come

We think we have values, but we are wrong. The values ​​have us! Many people are pushed through life and have therefore given up the helm. At least that's how it is typical of postmodern people. Total egoism - WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME - dominates our thinking. Individualism to the point of no longer possible. Add to that narcissism, which, when you look in the mirror, serves up lies that are simply taken over. Or how do you explain the way in which we deal with the problems of our society?

Who does something for the good of others? Who is ready to work for the success of the life or survival of friends and neighbors? That would mean charity.

Ok, there are exceptions. There are people who don't just think of themselves.

How did we earn our quality of life? Where did our wealth take us?

Again, what meaning in life, what values ​​do you have?

Where do our values ​​come from?

Our culture, our country, our society, our family shape our values.

• We learn to obey laws, otherwise there is a fine.

• We learn to study so we can make money to eat and drink and go on vacation.

• We learn how to deal with our fellow human beings, who also have to look after themselves.

• We get to know our family system, which shapes our understanding of humanity and thus defines our society.

• We learn a lot more, but we forget most of it.

Here are some values:

Choose your three most important ones:

WORK MONEY INFLUENCE CAREER PEACE HEALTH FAMILY FAITH LOVE TRUTH FORGIVENESS HELP ENJOYMENT NATURE INTEGRITY FREEDOM HONESTY GENEROSITY HONOR DISCIPLINE STATUS MORAL CHARITY APPEARANCE APPRECIATION JUSTICE POWER CHANGE

Do you still have daily access to nature? Do we protect them or have we already been lost in our technical world?

If people live without vision, goals and future-oriented values, then they are in danger of losing themselves. This can then easily end in addictive behavior, self-destruction and self-abandonment. Too bad. There is so much to do. So many challenges are ahead of us. But we have to want to see them. Better to watch TV, be entertained, enjoy and laze around ... That may be a short-term pleasure. But in the long term, deficits will become apparent that can no longer be easily made up for in old age. Our brain adapts quickly.

It is interesting that even the richest can have serious problems with themselves, constantly running from psychiatrist to psychiatrist to uncover the secret of a meaningful life. At some point, perhaps when the consultant has earned enough, he sends the rich lady or gentleman to the desert, to Africa, to a poor area. As soon as these rich experience the discrepancy and recognize what it means to fight for survival in poverty every day, then it gets under their skin that they, as rich, could do something about it. As soon as they practically do that, their healing process begins.

Really helping is an art. It takes sympathy, sensitivity and foresight.

Doing good to others - that has to do with happiness and health!

It has been known for over a hundred years that doing something good has a positive influence on one's feelings, makes the blood circulation happy and even has positive mental and physical effects. Therefore we are all called:

Love thy neighbor as thyself !

Whatever we mean by love - it takes serious thought to recognize the content of this often misused term - the better we get involved in it, the clearer the personal life mission will appear to us:

Everyone has an environment, the immediate environment, to which they can get involved. The circles can get bigger - from the family to a meaningful project - some call it work that brings real added value to society.

If you get that far, you won't get sick so quickly and you don't have to put off your retirement. Life is too interesting. And if you do feel lonely, then remember that there are people who need YOU, who love YOU, who appreciate YOU, because there is no one who is like YOU and could replace YOU! Nobody.

People need people, they need the right help and attention, actually real love.

Our practical understanding of LOVE makes the difference!

I'm sure there is someone today to give a warming hug.

How Albert Einstein responded to the question of meaning:

What is the meaning of our life, what is the meaning of the life of all living beings in general? To know an answer to this question is to be religious.

According to Mr. Einstein, the question of God is connected with the answer to the question of meaning. Those who want or have to live without a loving God have a harder time finding a really happy answer. With the experience of a loving God, new dimensions, even worlds, open up that make human life really worth living.

Maybe some say AMEN? :-)

Partnership-based connection practiced in every weather of life, isn't that an indication that you have found the meaning of life?

PS. This topic was chosen by a reader. Do you also have a topic of your choice?