The Seven Pillars of Wisdom are found in Biblical scriptures, in Islamic lore and, famously, in the autobiographical account of the experiences of T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”), serving as a British military advisor to Bedouin forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire of 1916 to 1918.
I have nothing to do with any of these! My Seven Pillars of Wisdom has to do with universal healthy aging, body wisdom and genius in mind and spirit. It could just as easily be the Seven Pillars of Wellness. Seven, of course, was a mystical number to the ancients but I assure you, for my work, the number seven is just a happy coincidence.
These are my Seven Pillars, as they relate to Third Age winners:
Health and Vitality (Obviously)
Diet and nutrition, my wheelhouse, form an important part of this pillar and you can benefit from 50 years experience.
It is important to make the journey at least once in a lifetime. To go on challenging your body every day with foods that it does not like or well tolerate is not going to lead to a good result! On the other hand, if you identify and get rid of your bandit foods, the rewards are enormous, both in terms of feeling good and also longevity.
Get my book One Diet for Life. It tells you what to do and in it, I share the profound food journey made by a 15th century Italian nobleman, Luigi Cornaro, that enabled him to live energetically to 98 at a time when the average life expectancy was less than 40 years.
Love and Connectivity
We need to be loved. It’s not just something nice, it is a real need. Back in 1965 psychiatrist William Glasser MD pinpointed what seem to me to be among the most fundamental of all human needs. These must be honored. These needs are the basis of Glasser’s “Reality Therapy”:
- The need to love and be loved.
- The need to feel that we are worthwhile, to ourselves and to others.
As Glasser pointed out, although the two needs are separate, a person who loves and is loved will usually feel that he or she is a worthwhile person and one who is worthwhile is usually someone who is loved by others and who can give love in return.
But there is an important caveat, with which I agree wholeheartedly: to be worthwhile, we must maintain a satisfactory standard of behavior. That’s what my Gentle Person’s Guide To Good Behavior is about… It starts with the Golden Rule: treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself.
However there is a major missing element in this universal wisdom, filled by the teachings of Tal Ben- Shahar. He called it the Platinum Rule: treat yourself as you would want others to treat you!
Purpose and Meaning
Living a long and healthy life has one basic requirement… The person has to WANT to live on for many years; he or she needs to have a reason for being here!
It’s been shown over and over, by countless studies, that having meaning to your life and a reason to go on living can be worth an extra 20 – 30 years!
Posture and Movement
As everyone knows, you can easily spot an “old” person at 1,000 feet: he or she is hunched over (bent back) and walks with a characteristic slow and uneven gait.
We need to work on this. It’s not just exercize, though of course that comes into it. A strong and upright spine is essential and we’ll be teaching you some corrective techniques.
The best exercize of all, because it sharpens your mind at the same time, is not running, jogging or swimming. It’s dancing! Learning the tango (pin-point timing and anticipation) is probably better than doing crosswords or sudoku, because you exert your heart and lungs, as well as exercize the mind!
Plus dancing gives you the feeling of celebrating yourself.
Knowledge and Experience
This is not so much about educational knowledge or learning, like in college. It starts with my saying that: you are what you know. A plumber is a plumber because he knows soldering, leaks, how to install piping and bathroom equipment… What he knows makes him what he IS!
So broadening out that simple truth, it means our life is mainly determined by what we know. If we are ignorant of the principles and the way life works, we will get poor outcomes. Losers, typically, don’t know what to do to help themselves get what they want. Winners, on the other hand, know what to do (or are driven learners who will find out what to do) and they put their knowledge to use.
What they KNOW makes them winners!
Cognition and Memory
Without memory, we are no-one. If you cannot remember your name, where you live, who you live with or what you are doing in the place you find yourself, you are suffering from dementia. These fundamental memory parameters are crucial to making us who we are—literally. Loss of memory is one the saddest afflictions that can affect such wonderful organisms as human beings.
Science supposes that memory and cognition will decline as we get older. But that’s baloney: just ONE person aged 100 years who is sharp and the whole theory collapses. In fact there are vast number of people over the age of 100 years, who have bright minds and superb memories.
Awareness and Being
As we near the end of life, important questions appear to us: what does it mean to be? Is there life after life? Remember, we are not a body (a creature); we are assuredly non-material beings.
We have a module called “Overcoming The Fear Of Dying.”
And the legacy question: what is now in the world that’s there because you created it? The definition, in a way, of a worthwhile life is that the world is a better place because you were in it! It need not be things (stuff) but you can leave a trail of happiness and loving behind you!
Can your life be celebrated as something that had a positive impact on your contacts? If so, you did well. If you are not sure yet, we can help you frame your contribution, which is probably vastly more than you think.
Copyright © 2022 by Prof Keith ALL RIGHTS RESERVED For Third Age Wisdom™
