Eye-opening truth: Sports, Movies, other Content are distractions from achieving your Intentions

Image by Nile from Pixabay

I came across video footages of a man sharing some eye-opening truths. 

Here's one about watching sports:

Does it make sense to be cheering for people who don't know you... in a game that doesn't matter ... while you can't pay your light bill, you can't educate your children the way you want and you can't take a family vacation?  But you are jumping up and down cheering for people you don't know...

It doesn't make sense for a broke person to watch a sports game - how can you watch someone win when you're losing? Unless you are studying how to win.  And then you're delusional to call all those people on that team 'your' team... They might be your team, but you ain't 'their' team... 

You're broke and watch somebody play get paid for playing a game... You are broke and trying to figure out how to pay your life bill... but you're getting excited because your team won?  No, you are making your team lose because you're real team is your family.

And here's one about about watching movies:

You're broke and you're watching a movie.. you are watching people who are rich pretend to be people who don't exist... to distract you from intention in your life... from making your family's life better for generations... You're watching fake people live fake lives to create real feelings in you that anesthetize you from the fact that your life isn't working.  

Spot on, right?

And you can easily replace sports and movies with other content or activities like streaming, shows, social media posts, etc.  - anything that distracts you or keeps you away from the things that you are supposed to do in your life with utmost priority.  He advocates being hyper-focused on intentions, instead of distractions.

I tried to research who the man is and his name is Myron Golden.  Interesting nuggets of wisdom.  And he did say that when you can afford to (e.g. you're not broke anymore), you can watch and do these activities if you want to. 

But I was thinking - even if you are not broke, it would be great to continue pursuing purposeful activities and being intentional (most of the time... and with occasional bouts of spontaneity).  Case in point - for more than a year now, I've deactivated my Netflix account.  Since then, I had more time to pray and to go to Holy Mass on ordinary days (I am work in progress .. still a long way to go, but God is patient!), to reflect, to connect with others, to walk in the park, to listen to podcasts about topics I want to learn about, and to cross off personal tasks that have been on my list for a long while, among many other things.  

When you allow distractions to consume much time in your life -  that is real time taken away from your life that you will never gain back.  A movie could easily take away 2 to 3 precious hours, and doing a tv series marathon could easily take away 12 to 24 precious hours (or even more) from your life which you would never be able to recover - no matter what.  Been there, done that.   

More than a decade ago,  I played a virtual game - spent hours virtually planting crops and harvesting.  Real time spent but no real vegetables & fruits to harvest.  Isn't that ridiculous?   And to think it is not even hard or expensive to plant (e.g. herbs).   Of course, while I was into the game, I didn't realize how ridiculous it was.  To borrow the term by Golden, I was anesthetized!  Why not spend time planting real plants so you'll have something real to harvest and eat? If you're curious what jolted me to wake up, here's my old blogpost.  

Just to reiterate one final time - time wasted is permanent loss.  Unlike lost money which you can possibly gain back with effort, or health which, with proper discipline & care, could be recoverable,  time is the only form of wealth that can never be regained.

Viewing Challenges as Blessings

Here's a beautiful quote from St. Pio of Pietrelcina:

"Blessed is the crisis that made you grow, 

the fall that made you gaze up to Heaven,

the problem that you made you look for God."

In fact if you have the habit of reflecting about life, you'll realize that all the hurdles that happened in the past (no matter how bad they seem to be), all happened for a good reason. :)

The Parable of the Scarecrow

Image by Screamenteagle from Pixabay

I recently finished a book called "The Wealthy Gardener" by John Soforic and I love one of the stories in the book called "The Parable of the Scarecrow".

The story goes that there was once a scarecrow who had a brain, heart and the ability to walk.  Sounds like the one in The Wizard of Oz but no, this is a different scarecrow. :) 

Anyway, for several years after the scarecrow was planted, he acted like all other scarecrows - he stayed motionless even if he had the ability to walk.  Eventually, the crows lost their fear of the scarecrow.  

One day, there was a crow that perched on the arm of the scarecrow and it took a peck at one of his straws and flew away with it.   The following day, the same crow did the same thing - he took a peck at the scarecrow and took another straw.  

The scarecrow started to feel he was weakening.  He felt vulnerable, he was worried, there was fear of survival.  He also sensed a strange pull to leave the field (he could walk after all) but he felt uncertain about walking into the unknown.  He decided to stay in his steady position coz he was a scarecrow after all and it was just logical for him to act like one.  

But each day, crows continued to peck at him, taking straws.  Day after day, he died a slow death.  Despite of all the worries, fears and the inner voice telling him to leave the field, he chose to stay and ignored his thoughts and feelings. Until, one day, the pecking felt normal.  And until one day, the crows took his last straw and he slumped forward lifeless.  The scarecrow never got to use his innate abilities. 😢

Such a sad story but here's the moral of the story so we could learn from the scarecrow -

The fears, emotions, the strange pull to do something was the scarecrows's inner wisdom urging him to do something.  

Soforic shares - Fear, boredom, worry, dread are an emotional guidance system that is screaming at us to change. If we fail to listen, the inner voice will slowly fade...Whenever you feel stressed, anxious, worried or uneasy about any part of your life, it’s nature’s way of telling you that something is wrong. It’s a message that there is something that you need to address or deal with. There is something that you need to do more or less of. There’s something that you need to get into or out of... 

The challenge is it all leads into the unknown. We don't always get to see the end destination when we choose our direction. Sometimes a feeling is all you have to guide the way...  It’s not easy to follow the heart but sometimes we must.  Since the eyes cant always see what the heart can hear, it sometimes wisest to close our eyes.

Of course, we need to discern when it's plain emotion versus inner wisdom nudging us to make sure we don't act impulsively. 😉

Life Skills which kids need to develop to survive in the real world

I get shocked when I hear about the summer schedules of my friends' kids.  Ballet and swimming classes on Monday, reading and karate classes on Tuesday, math and golf lessons on Wednesday...  The daily schedules of kids are so packed!  What ever happened to having free time in summer??? 😬 Times have really changed!

When I was a kid, summer meant freedom - lots of free time to play and to be idle.  I could sleep longer in the morning (provided I made my bed) and do whatever activities at home (play, watch tv, read, do arts & crafts activities using improvised materials like fabric swatches, scrap papers, etc.).  We were also made to do some household chores even if there was house help.  In the afternoon, after merienda time (and usually after we have memorized prayers which my mom wanted us to memorize! 😅), we played street games with our neighbors or go biking around the village.  Lots of free, unstructured time. 

During school season, we were not allowed to watch tv (except on weekends) and I did my own homework and rarely asked my parents for help (this was at a time when there was no internet yet).  I was also never pressured by my parents to make it to the honor roll.  As long as I was doing my best, they said it was ok (though on hindsight, I didn't really give my best all the time coz sleep was more important for me so there were lots of times I submitted mediocre homeworks! 😬).   But I would like to think that I grew up ok.  I got by and survived when it was time for me to be alone in the real world.

After reading "How to Raise an Adult:  Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare your Kid for Success" by Julie Lythcott-Haims, I realized that there is great value to the free, unstructured time I enjoyed as a kid, the chores I was made to do even if I felt they were such a burden and waste of time coz it's time away from playing 🙈, and the independence I was given to manage my own schoolwork.

According to the book -   

If from the time you’re born, your options are dictated for you and all your decisions are made for u and then you are cast out into the world to go to college, its like a country under colonial rule. It falls apart when it gains independence. They get to college and don't know why they are there or ought to be doing there. They are lost.  

When parents do the life stuff for kids - waking up, transporting, reminding deadlines and obligations, bill-paying, question-asking, decision-making, the responsibility-taking, talking to strangers, confronting of authorities, kids may be quite in for a shock when parents turn them loose in a world of college or work. They will experience setbacks which would feel to them like a failure.  They wouldn’t be good at that coz they haven’t had much practice at failure. How do they cope with - 

• room mate who has a different sense of clean?  
• a professor who wants the paper revised but not necessarily say what is wrong? 
• a friend who isn’t being friendly anymore?
• a choice between doing summer seminar or service project?
• have real difficulty handling disagreement, hurt feelings, decision-making process?

The author quoted a certain Dr Abel who said “When children aren’t given the space to struggle through things on their own, they don’t learn how to problem-solve very well, they don’t  learn to be confident with their own abilities and can affect their self-esteem.  The other problem with never having to struggle is you never experience failure and can develop an overwhelming fear of failure or of disappointing others. Both a low self-confidence and the fear of failure can lead to depression or anxiety.

No wonder there is a higher incidence of depression and anxiety among kids nowadays.  During my generation, this is unheard of.  I have never heard of any cases of depression nor suicide attempts.  At the most, you'll have one or 2 classmates who would be sad or you'll find crying but they wouldn't keep the reason for their sadness to themselves. They would tell their closest friends why they are sad like their parents are separating or have separated, or a parent is leaving to work overseas.   It was also rare for any of us to go to the guidance counsellor.

BTW,  I'm not married nor am I a parent but I listened to this audiobook coz I like talking to kids and I have a lot of inaanaks (godchildren).  Twenty-nine of them. 😅 But if you're a parent, this book offers really good advice.  The author, Lythcott-Haims, was Dean of Freshmen and Undergraduate Advising for more than a decade at Stanford University so she has seen a lot of the struggles of young adults as a result of overparenting.   And the stories are really heart-breaking because you know that parents only have the best intentions for their kids but sadly, what they thought was the best for their kids was also what broke their kids' spirits, paralyzed them and suck out the joy from their lives, and sometimes, even caused them to commit suicides.

Anyway, here are the key takeaways for parents from the book -

To know if you might be overparenting and unwittingly causing psychologically harm to your kids, ask these questions:

1. Are you doing for your kids what they can already do for themselves?
2. Are you doing for your kids what they can almost do for themselves?
3. Is your parenting behavior motivated by your ego?

The book says if you are doing one of these ways, you deprive kids of the opportunity to be creative, problem-solve, to develop coping skills, build resilience, to figure out what makes them happy, to figure who they are.  They may result to short term gains but it's also like telling your kid this - "Kid, you can't actually do any of these without me."

Life Skills your kids should learn by age category

Age 2 to 3 - Age when your kids have to start learning life skills
- Do small chores and basic grooming

Age 3 
- Should be able to help put toys away

- Dress himself with some help from you

- Put used clothes in hamper when he undresses

- Clears his plate after meals

- Assist in setting the table

- Brush his teeth and wash face with assistance

Ages 4 to 5

- Know her full name, address and phone number

- Know how to make an emergency call

- Perform simple cleaning chores e.g dusting, clearing table after meals

- Feed pets

- Identify monetary denominations and basic concept of how money is used

- How to brush teeth, comb hair and wash face without assistance

- Help with basic laundry chores e.g. bringing dirty clothes to laundry area

Choose own clothes to wear

Age 6 to 7

- Help cook meals 
- Learn how to mix, stir and cut 
- Make basic meal like sandwich
- Help put groceries away
- Wash dishes
- Straighten bathroom after using it
- Make bed without assistance
- Bathe unsupervised

Age 8 to 9

- Fold clothes

- Learn simple sewing

- Care for outdoor toys such as bikes

- Take care of personal hygiene without being told to do so

- Use broom and dustpan properly

- Follow a recipe and prepare a simple meal

- Prepare grocery list

- Count and make change

- Take written phone messages

- Weeding and watering plants

- Take out trash

Age 10 to 13 - Age of gaining independence

- Stay home alone

- Go to store alone and make purchases by himself

- Change own bedsheet

- Use washing machine and dryer

- Prepare meal with several ingredients

- Use stove to boil and bake foods

Read food labels

Iron clothes

Look after younger siblings

Age 14 yo 18
- Perform more sophisticated cleaning and maintenance chores - cleaning stove, unclogging drains
- Put gas in car
- Change tire
- Read and understand med labels and dosages
- Interview and get a job
- Prepare and cook meal

Young adults - Age of preparing to live on his own
- Make regular and dentist appointments and other health-related appointments
- Have basic understanding of finances and manage bank acct, balance checkbook, pay bills, use credit contract
- Understand simple contracts like apartment lease, car lease
- Schedule oil change and car maintenance

And if you have children who are about to become young adults, here are the list of the most important life skills you need to help them develop so they would be able to cope well when they are out in the real world:

1. Must be able to talk to strangers, deans, faculty, landlords, mechanics bank tellers, bus drivers, etc. The problem is parents tell kids not to talk to strangers.  Parents should teach them how to discern good strangers from the bad ones. 

2. Must be able to find his way around campus, town, city where he is interning and studying. The problem is parents keep driving them.

3. Must be able to manage his own assignments and workload and deadlines.  Parents remind kids about when the homeworks are due and when to do it. Sometimes parents help them do it and sometimes they even do it for them.  The result?  Kids don't know how to prioritize tasks and manage workload and meet regular deadlines without reminders.

4. Must be able to contribute to the running of a household.   The problem is parents don't ask them to help run the household.

5.  Must be able to handle interpersonal problems.  The problem is parents step in to solve misunderstandings and soothe hurt feelings for them, thus, kids don’t know how to cope with and resolve conflicts without the parents' intervention.

6. Must be able to cope with ups and downs of courses and workloads, competition, tough teachers, and bosses.  The problem is parents step in when it gets hard, finish the task, extend the deadline and talk to the adults.  Kids don’t know that in the normal course of life, things wont always go their way and that they’ll be ok regardless.

7. Must earn and manage money.  The problem is kids receive money from parents for whatever they want and need, thus, they don’t develop a sense of responsibility for completing job tasks, accountability to a boss who doesn’t inherently love them, or appreciation for the cost of goods and how to manage money.

8. Must be able to take risks.  The problem is parents have laid out the entire path and have prevented all pitfalls thus kids don't develop to understand consequences, hindering them from developing resilience and grit.

Enrichment classes in academics, sports lessons and talent development classes are all good for a kid's future but life skills are also equally important if you want kids to successfully get through life's problems, challenges, difficult people and failures on their own.   

Why we shouldn't be scared to lose old photographs, diaries and some memories

Source

When it comes to material things, I consider old photographs, journals, and even flash drives and memory cards as the most important items I am most afraid to lose coz they are the last remaining physical proof of our memories with loved ones (unless of course you have backup files on the cloud).  This is true for me - not just at full consciousness, but even at the sub-conscious level as manifested in a dream.  😅

But I read something in "Goodbye, Things" by Fumio Sasaki which made me rethink tabout this fear of losing such sentimental treasures.   The message which struck me wasn't actually by Sasaki but from another Japanese author named Tetsuya who has a book entitled "The Man who do not Possess" (but I think the book is in Japanese coz I tried googling for it and I couldn't find it).  Anyway, Sasaki quoted Tetsuya and it goes:

I don't think there is any relationship between our past and photographs, records and diaries. Even if we were to throw our record and diaries filled with photos of memorable moments, the past continues to exist in our memories. I don't think it's such a big deal to throw away objects.... it is not as if we’re throwing away our past. If we forget a certain memory, then it’s probably something alright for us to forget . . . something unnecessary. All the important memories that are inside us will naturally remain.  It’s the memories we can recall without the aid of objects that are truly important. 

What a beautiful insight, right?  So if one day, we unexpectedly lose our precious photographs, diaries and memory drives, yes, it's going to be really sad but it will be ok coz we still have the memories.  But if eventually we forget some memories, it's still ok coz maybe the reason why those memories didn't stick is because they weren't memorable enough.  In the end, whatever memories remain with us are the most important ones. 😊 

Wait, What? Life's 5 Important Questions

Source

When I first saw the title of the book "Wait, What? and other Life's Essential Questions", I thought that this is perhaps one of the typical books which asks deep questions about life that you need to answer as an exercise. It so happened I wasn't in the mood to reflect and answer any questions so I almost didn't buy it.😆  But then, I saw the author's name - James Ryan, Dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and so I continued to check the book info and read some reviews. I found out that the original content came from a speech Ryan gave to a graduating class in 2016 but which was converted into a book after his speech went viral. At that point, I was so curious about the questions already! 😂  I clicked on "buy now". 😂

And I am so glad I did coz the questions weren't the typical questions you need to answer. 😅  But more of a frame of mind you could use to clarify, generate solutions and insights, and make decisions. Plus Ryan's story about his adoptive parents and biological mom was so moving. It activated my tear ducts. 🙈   He didn't have plans to ever search for his biological mom but the idea to search for her was triggered by one of the questions.

Curious to know what are the questions? Here are Ryan's 5 Life's Essential Questions:

1. Wait, What?

You ask this to ask the other person to repeat he/she just said to be sure you clearly understood it right. This allows you to clarify something, slow down and not jump into conclusions and make quick judgments.

2. I wonder why...? I wonder if...

Asking "I wonder why..." helps you to stay curious and discover new insights. Asking "I wonder if..." helps you to explore new ideas, solutions and options. This is the question which triggered Ryan to search for his biological mom.

3. Couldn’t we at least ...?

Asking "Couldn't we at least..." helps you get un-stuck when you think you're not progressing and also helps you overcome fear when you want to try something new. Asking "Couldn’t we at least agree" also generates consensus within a group.

4. How Can I Help?

Asking someone how you can help him/her is about showing sympathy and empathy. Instead of immediately getting into action to help, it's better to ask the person first what kind of help he/she needs. Why? Coz there are times when all a person needs is to be heard and nothing more. So asking this question is an opportunity to know what the other person truly needs.

5. What Truly Matters?

Asking yourself "What truly matters" reminds you of the most important things in life so you don't get drowned by the loudest but meaningless and insignificant aspects of life. So this is the question to ask yourself when making big decisions in life. This would help you assess if what you're considering is in sync with what truly matters in your life. It makes it easier then to answer with a yes or no.

At the end of the book, Ryan gave a bonus question which he got from a poem that says:

“And did you get what you wanted from life, even so?”

At the onset, you would think it's a question that you should ask towards the end of your life but Ryan said that it's a question that you should ask even today. This question forces you to reflect if you are satisfied with how your life has turned out/turning out to be. And if you're not, the good news is there's still time to make some changes.

The difference between the mindset of the Young versus the Old (lessons from Happiness is a Choice you Make)

When my friends and I talk about the topic of "growing old", we usually joke each other that we have to make sure we won't grow old and grumpy. 😅 But after reading "Happiness is a Choice you Make" by John Leland, it looks like being grumpy is less likely to happen if we have the mindset of the six "Oldest of the old" interviewed by New York journalist Leland.

"Oldest of the old" refers to 85 years old and up, the fastest-growing demographic in the US.  When these people were born more than 80 years ago, their life expectancy was only 60 years old but people have been living longer due to advancements in health, medicine and technology.  Some of them have surpassed their life expectancy by more than 25 years, others by more than 30 years, and a rare breed - by more than 40 years! 😱  That's a lot of unplanned bonus years!

Anyway, so what did Leland discover about the Oldest of the old?
They are happier!  How could that be, right?  They have experienced and are experiencing various kinds of losses - from mobility, vision, hearing and memory, to losing loved ones like spouses, children and peers.   How can they possibly be happier than younger people who have better vision, more physically active, have sharper memory and whose loved ones are still likely to be alive?

The elders' secret?   They found a level of happiness not in their external circumstances but in something they carried with them.  Of course, no one wants to lose mobility or lose loved ones but they made a choice on how to process their losses.  They can either focus on what they’ve lost or focus on the life they currently have and they choose the latter.  

Gerontologists call this selective optimization with compensation.  In short - old people spend their dwindling time and energy on the things they can still do that give them satisfaction and not on lamenting on those they once did but now cannot.  Older people make the most with what they have left and compensate for what they have lost.

What are the other differences between the old and the young based on the book?

The old find happiness in the now while the young hinge it to the future.  The old take satisfaction on what is available right now versus the young who look into the future.  But as the elders remind us, the danger in hinging it to the future is that the future might not come.

One of the elders shared:
Anxieties about work, marital strains, money worries, time conflicts, day to day stress, these were the things that kept me up at night or made me unhappy (when I was young).... The future is so far away and you don’t know what would happen to you and the world. So when you’re young, you have more worries than the elderly ...but I dont worry now.   Imagine that - to be free of the future - meaning the sum of all things that probably wont happen minus the one that will...

The old have a greater sense of contentment.  Knowing they face a limited time in front of them, they focus their energies on things that give them pleasure in the moment whereas young people with long horizons seek out new experiences that may or may not pay off down the line. Young people fret about things they don’t have and might need later. Old people winnow the things they have to the few that they most enjoy. Young people kiss frogs hoping they will turn into their princes; old people kiss their grandchildren.

Incidentally, people who score high in wisdom are more content with their lives.  By wisdom, it refers to 3 dimensional wisdom scale namely:
Cognitive - ability to understand life
Reflective - ability to look at life at different perspectives
Affective - emotional wisdom

The old are "happy in spite of" vs the young who are "happy if only".   "Happy in spite of" means old people made a choice to be happy.   They acknowledge problems but they don't put them in the way of contentment.  Happiness for them is not the absence of pain or loss (because they have lots of those) but in their acceptance of these.   Whereas, "happy if only" - among the young - pins happiness on outside circumstances e.g. if only I had money, if only I had less pain, if only I have a nicer house, I’ll be happy...

None of the old spoke about professional accomplishments.   This was a big surprise for Leland considering we spend much of our lives working or obsessing about work, he explains.  Nor did the elders mention about obstacles they had overcome.  Leland observes that somehow these things which are a measure of life when you're younger, no longer seem to be a measure of life when you're older (in my case, work has never been a measure of my life so I guess I am innately old 😂).    Instead, the elders mostly talked about their families and their close relationships.

The old also ask existential questions like - Did my life matter? Was my time well-spent? What did I mean to others? What can I look back on with pride? Did I love the right people?  

Knowing that time is finite makes the old have better clarity on what's important.  Neurologist, Oliver Sacks, upon learning that he had terminal cancer of the liver wrote that the nearness of death gave him a sudden clear focus.   Some cancer patients also shared that cancer is the best thing that ever happened to them as they experienced such clarity.  I like the question which Leland posed on this topic. He asked - How can we live in this heightened state all our lives without the blessing of terminal cancer to remind us that life is a great unearned gift?

One of the elders observed that there are a lot of people disengaged from life.  He shared - "I grew up with no radio, no electricity, no tv, no music, no photographs... I saw my fist movie when I was 14.... One could live to 200 but yet I see some young people 20 years old and seem to be bored already with life and some of them cannot stand it." 😢

But none of the elders (at least from what I remember) want to live forever.

As a final note, Leland said that the 6 elders reminded him that time is both limited and really amazing.  The challenge, he said, is how to live on the way to the bend.  So often we measure the day by what we do with it - cure cancer, surf in Maui .. and overlook what is truly miraculous which is the arrival of another day.   Enjoy it or not, the day doesn’t care. But if u miss it, it won’t be back again.

P.S.   At the end of the audiobook, there were short voice clips of the interviews with the elders. One was asked - What drives you?   One 94-year old woman said - I love my plants. I love to watch them grow and bloom. I love to read.  Uh-oh. That sounds so much like me. 😂

The big difference between saying "I can't" vs "I don't"

Imagine you've just started with a new fitness goal or a new diet plan. One day, you're eating in a restaurant and the waiter asks you - "Would you like a slice of chocolate cake for dessert?".

Would your answer be - "I can't" or "I don't" eat chocolate cake?

Without thinking really hard, either answer seems ok, right?

But guess what?  Each answer has a very different psychological impact on our behavior.

"I don’t" is a choice you've made.  It affirms your willpower.

"I can't" is a restriction you've imposed on yourself.  It undermines your sense of power.  

In a study, students who had healthy eating goals were told to either say "I can't" or "I don't" when faced with a temptation. On their way out of the lab, they were offered a chocolate bar or granola bar as reward.  What were the results?   64% who answered "I don't" were able to refuse the chocolate bar and opted for the granola bar vs 39% who answered "I can't".

In another study, women with fitness goals were also asked to answer "I can't" or "I don't" when faced with a temptation to skip gym, etc. and to stop using the phrases if the phrases don't help them stick to their fitness goals.   By the end of the study, 8 out of the 10 women were still using the "I don't" strategy vs only 1 out of the 10 women who used the "I can't" strategy.

I did't realize how your choice between "I can't" and "I don't" could have a tremendous impact on our behavior until I read this old article from Forbes.  

Anyway, this is something to try if current strategies don't work!😉  I think the "I don't" strategy could also be used to get rid of our bad habits. Haha... 🙈😜

Secrets to a Long Life of the Oldest People of Ikaria (Icaria), Greece

Ikaria, Greece (Source 

Ikaria (or Icaria), Greece is the fifth and last Blue Zone featured in "The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest" by Dan Buettner.

What are Blue Zones? These are "regions of the world where people people enjoy up to 3 times better chance of reaching 100 years old than we do" Buettner explains.  Where are the Blue Zones in the world? Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Icaria (Greece) and Loma Linda, California.

I first heard about Ikaria, Greece in 2012 when I read about the amazing story of Stamatis Moraitis.

His story is also featured in the book.  What is Stamatis' story?  When Stamatis was in his early 60s, he felt short of breath and he fatigued easily.  His doctor took x-rays and quickly concluded that Stamatis had lung cancer... Four more doctors confirmed the diagnosis. They gave him six to nine months to live.

Stamatis considered 2 options - stay in the US where he could seek aggressive cancer treatment at the local hospital.  That would allow him to remain close to his three children, who were now adults. Or he could return to Ikaria, his hometown. There, he could be buried with his parents in a sloping cemetery shaded by oak trees overlooking a cobalt blue Aegean Sea. A funeral in Boynton Beach (US) would cost at least $1,200, while a nice funeral in Ikaria would cost only about $200.

Stamatis and his wife decided to move back in with Stamatis’ elderly parents in Ikaria.   During his first few weeks there, he spent his days in bed.  But since he was only given a few months to live, he decided to reconnect with his religion. On Sunday mornings, he forced himself out of the house and hobbled up the hill to a tiny Greek Orthodox chapel.

When his childhood friends discovered that he had moved back, they started visiting him regularly. They would talk for hours, invariably bringing him the locally produced wine, which he sipped all day long. What the hell, he thought, I might as well die happy.

In the ensuing months, something strange happened. He started to feel stronger. He got out of bed in the afternoon and shuffled around the gardens and vineyards behind the house...  He planted some potatoes, green onions, garlic, and carrots. He didn’t expect to be alive to harvest them, but he enjoyed feeling the sunshine, breathing the clean ocean air, and getting his hands dirty.

Six months came and went. Stamatis didn’t die.  Instead, he was able to harvest what he planted.  He went on with his island routine -  he woke up late, worked in the vineyards until mid-afternoon, made himself lunch, and then took a long nap. In the evenings, he either drank wine with friends at home or walked to the local tavern where he stayed up past midnight playing dominoes. The years passed. His health continued to improve.

At the time the author interviewed Stamatis for the book, Stamatis was 100 years old and cancer-free. 😱  He never went through chemotherapy, took drugs, or sought therapy of any sort. All he did was move to Ikaria.  6 months became 35 years and still going! 💪💪

While in Ikaria, Buettner also went to meet a couple married for more than 75 years.    Vasilis and Eleutheria were born on Ikaria, married in their early 20s, and lived on the same plot of land their entire lives. They raised five kids. 

Like everyone else in Ikaria, their daily routine was -

Wake late, work in the garden, have a late lunch, take a nap. At sunset, they would either visit neighbors or neighbors would visit them. They would drink tea or wine, eat a late dinner, and go to bed. Their diet was also typical of the area: a breakfast of goat’s milk, condensed wine, sage tea or coffee, and honey and bread. Lunch was almost always beans (lentils, garbanzos), potatoes, greens (fennel, dandelion, or a spinach-like green called horta), and whatever seasonal vegetable their garden produced; dinner was bread and goat’s milk. Meat was reserved mostly for festivals or holidays when they would slaughter the family pig.

Wow, the Ikarian life sounds like vacation time everyday! 😊

In summary, below are the secrets to a long life of the oldest people in Ikaria, Greece as revealed in the book:

- Drink some goat’s milk. Adding some goat milk to your diet could provide a great source of calcium, potassium... goat milk is very similar to human milk which promote intestine flora. It's usually hypoallergenic and could be taken by those with lactose intolerance. 

- Mimic mountain living. The longest lived Ikarians tended to be poor people living in the island’s highlands. They exercised mindlessly, by just gardening, walking to their neighbor’s house, or doing their own yard work. The lesson to us: Engineer more mindless movement into our lives by living in neighborhoods with sidewalks, owning a bike, taking the stairs and planting a garden.  To put simply, we don't have to be marathoners; all we need to do is to engage in regular, low-intensity physical activity during our daily work routine so we don't have to exercise (or go to the gym) for the sake of exercising.

- Eat a Mediterranean-style diet. Ikarians eat a variation of the Mediterranean diet, with lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, potatoes and olive oil...   Never cook with so much heat that the oil smokes. High heat breaks down healthy fats, making them much less healthy.  

- People in Ikaria enjoy drinking herbal teas with family and friends, and scientists have found that they pack an antioxidant punch. Wild rosemary, sage, and oregano teas also act as a diuretic, which can keep blood pressure in check by ridding the body of excess sodium and water.  The key is to drink herbal teas every day and rotate varieties.  

- Nap. Take a cue from Ikarians and take a mid-afternoon break. People who nap regularly have up to 35 percent lower chances of dying from heart disease. It may be because napping lowers stress hormones or rests the heart.  

- Fast occasionally. Ikarians have traditionally been fierce Greek Orthodox Christians. Their religious calendar called for fasting almost half of the year. Caloric restriction—a type of fasting that cuts about 30 percent of calories out of the normal diet - is the only proven way to slow down the aging process in mammals. 

- Make family and friends a priority. Ikarians foster social connections, which have been shown to benefit overall health and longevity. In fact, researchers who analyzed 148 different studies found that people who weren’t connected to their communities had a 50 percent greater chance of dying during the follow-up period of seven and a half years (on average) than those who had strong social networks.   So get out there and make some plans.  

But as Buettner explains, each secret reinforces the other.  For example, merely eating a Mediterranean diet everyday won't necessarily result to a long life if let's say, you don't have purpose or religion. 

P.S. This second edition of the book was published in 2012 which means the interviews of some centenarians were conducted years before that. Some of them may have passed away already, but some could still alive and are now supercentenarians (a term which refers to people who surpass 110 years old). 💪💪💪

*Italicized text are excerpts from the book.

Secrets to a Long Life of the Oldest People in Nicoya, Costa Rica

Nicoya, Costa Rica (Source)

Nicoya, Costa Rica is the fourth Blue Zone featured in "The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest" by Dan Buettner.

What are Blue Zones? These are "regions of the world where people people enjoy up to 3 times better chance of reaching 100 years old than we do" Buettner explains.  Where are the Blue Zones in the world? Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Icaria (Greece) and Loma Linda, California.


Here are some of the oldest people whom Buettner met in Nicoya:

• 102-year old Ofelia who could still recite from memory a six-minute poem by Pablo Neruda.  (I can't even memorize a mobile number other than my own! 🙈😂)

• 101-year-old Don Faustino whom Buettner tagged along with on market day.  Faustino routinely woke up at 4am every Saturday, took the bus going to the market (accompanied by his grandson and great grandson who lives with him) and bought the exact same items on a grocery list every week.  He bought vegetables and meat from the same vendors, not minding to walk even if his favorite vendors are half a mile apart!   

Don Faustino also bought corn bread as pasalubong for his son.  How sweet that a 101-year old dad still brings pasalubong for his 79-year old son! 😊

Buettner asked Don Faustino about his life. Faustino told him he loved to work, mostly because the fruits of his labor have provided for his family. For most of his career, he worked as a mule driver, hauling logs out of the forested hills and acting as a courier across the largely roadless Nicoya Peninsula. He also grew corn, beans, and vegetables to feed his wife and six children. “I also had two kids with a village girl,” he said matter-of-factly, out of nowhere. “Didn’t your wife care?” Buettner asked. “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “We didn’t talk about it.” He went on to tell Buettner, unapologetically, that he never gave the children his name nor did he ever support them. “How do I know if they’re going to turn out okay?” he exclaimed as if explaining his actions.  (According to a local demographer, the majority of the men, and a small percentage of the women in Nicoya, admitted to having lovers besides their spouses.) 

From the market, Don Faustino passed by his son's house to deliver the corn bread and where the rest of the family is gathered - from Don Faustino up to his great-great grandsons - all 5 generations in one roof!😱   Upon seeing Don Faustino, his 78-year old daughter lit up and hugged his father and exclaimed "Oh Papa, thank you!  You know I wait all week for this!".

Apparently, Don Faustino buys the same ingredients every week to cook the family's Sunday soup.  After church, the family will all gather for dinner. He has been cooking this Sunday soup in the last 40 years 😮 and it is the highlight of his week.  Wow.

Dr. Fernández, a local nutritionist shared, “We notice that the most highly functioning people over 90 in Nicoya have a few common traits.”One of them is that they feel a strong sense of service to others or care for their family. We see that as soon as they lose this, the switch goes off. They die very quickly if they don’t feel needed.” 

• 91-year old Aureliano but who looks like only 60!  Buettner saw Aureliano with a machete whacking weeds, pruning trees, and chasing away vermin.  How can a 91-year old possibly do all that????😱   All the nonagenarians I know need assistance when walking or are in wheelchairs or are bedridden.

Aureliano is still living the traditional Nicoyan lifestyle planting and harvesting his own vegetables and fruits, grinding corn to make home-made tortillas, etc. Though Aureliano has lived all his life in relative poverty, he is robust and looks young because of his fresh, organic and nutrient-rich diet.

• 100-year old Panchita (partially deaf and blind) whom Buettner cites as the most extraordinary among all the centenarians he has met.   Here's how Panchita described her young life -

“In those days, there were no roads in Nicoya. My father owned a guesthouse, and occasionally mule trains would come by. I woke up at three each morning to make coffee and tortillas for the men who stayed overnight. I took care of my parents,” she said. Then, turning to me, she scolded congenially, “It’s like this, Papi. Those who honor their parents are rewarded by God.”

Panchita eluded questions about her husband and the father of her children.  From her answers, we were able to ascertain that she did raise her children mostly by herself. They all lived with Panchita’s parents until they died, then Panchita inherited their farm.   There, the family grew most of their own food. When they needed salt or sugar, Panchita would walk the 18 miles to town and back to get it. “Life was hard those days..."

Then Panchita shared a tragedy which happened 50 years ago -
“They killed my son,”  she shared.  “When he was a beautiful 20-year-old man, he got into a stupid fight with a friend, and he killed my son.”

“God does everything for a reason, though,” Panchita resumed brightly. “I am a blessed woman today.”  Buettner noted that Panchita’s faith was amazing—her unwavering belief that no matter how bad things got, God would take care of everything.   He also noticed that when you ask the most highly functioning seniors how they are, they always say, ‘I feel good … thanks to God.’ Yet they may be blind, deaf, and their bones hurt.

Late in the morning, the neighbor boy, 10-year-old Luis, arrived, as he does each day, to help Panchita catch her free-range chickens and put them in the coop. Later, her 31-year-old neighbor, Carmen Gómez, stopped by to help Panchita sweep her floors. “I don’t come here because I have to,” she told me when I asked. “Panchita has a way of making my day happier. Everyone in Hojancha loves her.”  Awww.... 😍

Panchita's 80-year-old son, Tommy, also biked to see her each day.  Awww.... 😍

Panchita had no packaged or processed foods. All her food required preparation except the fresh fruit.  And she still cooked on a wood-burning fogón.  Yes, she's still the one cooking! 😲  She still grinds corn kernels using a hand crank to make tortilla dough and roast them over the open fire. 😲   And when she slices cheese, Buettner said she could still cut paper-thin slices considering she could barely see the cheese coz she's partially blind. Wow.  😱

In about 30 minutes, Panchita finished preparing their lunch—small portions of beans, corn tortillas, and one egg on a small plate.  Whoa... 😱  In 30 minutes, the only way I can produce that lunch is to heat beans (in a can!), toast ready-made tortilla and fry an egg OR get take-out food. 🙈😂

• 90-year old Juvenil but who also looks like he's only 60!  When Buettner saw him in the jungle, he was shirtless and was fiercely chopping wood.  How can a 90-year old be chopping wood??? 😱😱

When Buettner asked him some questions, here are his answers:

What do you eat? “Beans, tortillas, fruit, and once a year, beef when I butcher a cow.”
When do you go to bed? “When the sun sets.”
When do you wake up? “When the sun rises.”

• A middle-aged woman named Aida who was visiting their nonagerian Nicoyan friends in a place called Juan Diaz. You know how far she and her husband walked to visit their elderly friends? 5 miles and walked for 2 hours. Whoa... 😲

When Buettner asked Aida how their typical day is, here's how she describes it -

“We wake up when the sun rises. I make breakfast for the family and then Ananias (her husband) takes our boys into the fields. Meanwhile the girls and I stay home and clean up. At noon or so, the men come back. We eat our ‘strong’ meal and then relax. We maybe visit someone like today or someone visits us. We have a light dinner. Usually we’re in bed by 8:30,” she concluded. “Since we don’t have TV, there’s not much for us to do after sunset.”

“And for food, what does one eat in Juan Díaz?” Buettner asked.
“Beans and rice,” replied Aida, and after a well-timed pause added: “Or rice and beans. It depends how we feel.” Everyone laughed. “We eat what God provides,” Ananias said, now serious. “Eggs, rice, beans. Sometimes we kill a chicken.”

“We don’t need much,” Aida interjected, heading off an implication of poverty. “We’re satisfied..." she trailed off.

“You have to keep busy,” she resumed, now answering a question I did not pose. “When people have too much time they get involved with vices. Here we have enough to do. We stay busy enough to keep the Devil away, but not so much that we get stressed. It’s a clean, pure life.”

“But don’t you ever get bored?” Buettner asked coz when he looked around, there was no TV, no radio, or electronic entertainment of any sort.  “What do you do to entertain yourself?” he asked.

“I find a patch of shade and eat an orange,” Aida answered, not skipping a beat.

Wow. Such meaningful and wisdom-packed answers. We should learn a lot from the Nicoyans. 

In summary, here are the secrets to a long life of the oldest people in Nicoya, Costa Rica as revealed in the book:

- Have a plan de vida. Successful centenarians have a strong sense of purpose. They feel needed and want to contribute to a greater good.

- Drink hard water. Nicoyan water has the country’s highest calcium content, perhaps explaining the lower rates of heart disease, as well as stronger bones and fewer hip fractures.

- Keep a focus on family. Nicoyan centenarians tend to live with their families, and children or grandchildren provide support and sense of purpose and belonging.

- Eat a light dinner. Eating fewer calories appears to be one of the surest ways to add years to your life.

- Maintain social networks. Nicoyan centenarians get frequent visits from neighbors. They know how to listen, laugh, and appreciate what they have.

- Keep hard at work. Centenarians seem to have enjoyed physical work all of their lives. They find joy in everyday physical chores.

- Get some sensible sun. Nicoyans regularly take in the sunshine, which helps their bodies produce vitamin D for strong bones and healthy body function.  Regular, “smart” sun exposure is about 15 minutes on the legs and arms.

- Modern Nicoyans’ roots to the indigenous Chorotega and their traditions have enabled them to remain relatively free of stress. Their traditional diet of fortified maize and beans may be the best nutritional combination for longevity the world has ever known.

P.S. This second edition of the book was published in 2012 which means the interviews of some centenarians were conducted years before that. Some of them may have passed away already, but some could still alive and are now supercentenarians (a term which refers to people who surpass 110 years old). 💪💪💪

*Italicized text are excerpts from the book.

Secrets to a Long Life of the Oldest Adventists in Loma Linda, California

Loma Linda, California (Source)

Loma Linda is the third Blue Zone featured in "The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest" by Dan Buettner.

What are Blue Zones? These are "regions of the world where people people enjoy up to 3 times better chance of reaching 100 years old than we do" Buettner explains.  Where are the Blue Zones in the world? Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Icaria (Greece) and Loma Linda, California. 

Loma Linda is Spanish for “lovely hill” and the centenarians here are Adventists whose religion discourages the consumption of meat in general, as well as rich foods, caffeinated drinks, and even “stimulating” condiments and spices. Some of the most conservative Adventists don’t also believe in going to the movies or the theater or indulging in any other form of popular culture.  There's a saying that “Cleanliness is next to Godliness"; for Adventists, healthiness is next to Godliness. 

 
One of the Adventist centenarians whom Buettner met is 100-year old Marge Jetton.  Marge woke up at 4:30am and after getting dressed, she did what she called “my devotions,” reading lyrics in the song hymnal, and then the Bible.

After praying,  Marge walked in the hallway to the other end of the building of the facility for the elderly, back and forth six times, total of about a mile! 😱💪   She would stop by the dining area and drink a glass of water every time she passes there, thus she ends up drinking 6 glasses of water before breakfast. 😱

Not only does she power-walk but also rides a stationary bike and does 6 to 8 miles a day (😱) and also weight-lifts! She lifts a 5 pound dumbbell for each hand. 😱  Shame on me, my dumbbells at home are only 2 pounds each! 🙈🙊😂😂   

Here are some words of wisdom from Marge -

“It took me a year to realize that the world wasn’t going to come to me,” Marge said. “That’s when I started volunteering again, and it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I found that when you are depressed, that’s when you do something for somebody else.

When asked if she ever got lonely, she replied -  “Well, sure, you miss people. Most of my friends have died. My husband is dead,” she said matter-of-factly. “But I just like to talk to people. My motto is: A stranger is a friend we haven’t met yet.

Buettner also interviewed an Adventist nonagenarian, Ellsworth Wareham, who was 91 at that time.  At 91, he still performs open-heart surgery! 😱  He assists in open heart surgeries about two to three times per week. 😱  He shares - “My hands are still steady, my vision is good, and I don’t have Alzheimer’s disease."   To increase my endurance I exercise regularly by doing my own landscape maintenance and gardening. But in recent years, in spite of adequate exercise, my stamina is decreasing. The hormones that build the muscles are diminished. (Oh my, I am not even half of Wareham's age but I could feel my stamina is decreasing and have memory lapses! Tsk-tsk.... 🙈😂) 

In summary, here are the secrets to a long life of the longest-living Adventists in Loma Linda, California as revealed in the book: 

- A combination of four types of exercise will keep the body balanced and strong. Endurance: Activities like walking, hiking, swimming, and cycling improve the health of the cardiovascular system. Strength: Lifting weights builds up and maintains muscles. Flexibility: Stretching keeps us limber and flexible. Balance: Practicing balance through activities like yoga will help avoid falls.

- Studies have found that a belly laugh a day may keep the doctor away. In 2005, researchers at the University of Maryland showed that laughter helped relax blood vessels, linking it to healthier function and a possible decreased risk of heart attack. Others have found that laughter may lower blood pressure and increase the amount of disease-fighting cells found in the body.

- Find a sanctuary in time. A weekly break from the rigors of daily life, the 24-hour Sabbath provides a time to focus on family, God, camaraderie, and nature.  During Sabbath, they shut off the television, not think about work or business, and just spend time with the people who are important to them.  Adventists claim this relieves their stress, strengthens social networks, and provides consistent exercise.   Sabbath reminds Adventists that they are creatures and not creators. It reminds them that they don’t need to have all the answers, that they recognize their finite capabilities, and that they are dependent on God. 

- Adventists with healthy BMIs (meaning they have an appropriate weight for their heights) who keep active and eat meat sparingly, if at all, have lower blood pressure, lower blood cholesterol, and less cardiovascular disease than heavier Americans with higher BMIs.

- You don’t need to be a marathoner to maximize your life expectancy. Getting regular, low-intensity exercise like daily walks appears to help reduce your chances of having heart disease and certain cancers.

- Spend time with like-minded friends.

- Adventists who consume nuts at least five times a week have about half the risk of heart disease and live about two years longer than those who don’t.

- Give something back. Like many faiths, the Seventh-day Adventist Church encourages and provides opportunities for its members to volunteer.

-Adventist Health Studies (AHS) show that consuming fruits and vegetables and whole grains seems to be protective against a wide variety of cancers. For those who prefer to eat some meat, Adventists recommend small portions served as a side dish rather than as the main meal.

- A light dinner early in the evening avoids flooding the body with calories during the inactive parts of the day. It seems to promote better sleep and a lower BMI.

- Non-smoking Adventists who ate 2 or more servings of fruit per day had about 70 percent fewer lung cancers than nonsmokers who ate fruit only once or twice a week. Adventists who ate legumes such as peas and beans 3 times a week had a 30 to 40 percent reduction in colon cancer. Adventist women who consumed tomatoes at least three or four times a week reduced their chance of getting ovarian cancer by 70 percent over those who ate tomatoes less often. 

- Adventist Health Studies (AHS) suggest that men who drank 5 or 6 daily glasses of water had a substantial reduction in the risk of a fatal heart attack—60 to 70 percent—compared to those who drank considerably less.

P.S.  This second edition of the book was published in 2012 which means the interviews of some centenarians were conducted years before that.  Some of them may have passed away already, but some could still alive and could now be supercentenarians (a term which refers to people who surpass 110 years old). 💪💪

*Italicized text are excerpts from the book.

Secrets to a Long Life of the Oldest People in Okinawa, Japan

Okinawa, Japan (Source)

Okinawa, Japan is the second Blue Zone featured in "The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest" by Dan Buettner, a book which I am currently reading.

What are Blue Zones? These are "regions of the world where people people enjoy up to 3 times better chance of reaching 100 years old than we do" Buettner explains. Where are the Blue Zones in the world? Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Icaria (Greece) and Loma Linda, California.   

One of the centenarians whom Buettner interviewed was 102-year old Kamada.  What is her story?

At age 18, Kamada entered into an arranged, political marriage with a man four years older than her.  They had 3 sons and 3 daughters.  Her husband died ten years ago, at age 96.  When asked what his her secret to surviving 75 years of marriage, she simply replied “I learned to be patient.”

When asked to describe her daily routine, she said “I wake up at about 6 a.m. and make a pot of jasmine tea and eat my breakfast—usually miso soup with vegetables. Then,” she pointed toward her door, “I go to the sacred grove to pray for the health of the village and thank the gods for making it safe.” 

Kamada is a noro, some kind of spiritual leader where the health of the village depends upon her paying attention to the stars and the moon and the spirits of her ancestors. Roles are very important in Okinawa. They call it ikigai—the reason for waking up in the morning. A sudden loss of a person’s traditional role can have a measurable effect on mortality. We see this especially among teachers and policemen who die very soon after they quit working. Police and teachers have very clear senses of purpose and relatively high status. Once they retire, they lose both of those qualities and they tend to decline rapidly.

At noon, Kamada said, she wanders into the kitchen garden behind her house to harvest some herbs and vegetables for her lunch. “I’ll use mugwort to give my rice flavor or turmeric to spice my soup,” she said. “I don’t eat very much any more. Usually just stir-fried vegetables and maybe some tofu.” “And meat?” I asked. “Oh yes, I like meat, but not always. When I was a girl, I ate it only during the New Year festivals. I’m not in the habit of eating it every day.”

All day long she nurses a pot of hot, green tea. Before each meal she takes a moment to say hara hachi bu, and that keeps her from eating too much.”

Hara hachi bu is a Confucian-inspired adage which Japanese old folks say before eating. Hara hachi bu means ‘Eat until you are 80% full.’   This means cutting your calories by 20% every time you eat.  The mindset of Okinawans is to stop eating as soon as they no longer feel hungry while most of us eat until we feel full! 🙈   That difference between the 2 mindsets is about 500 calories a day if your daily calorie intake is at at least 2,400.

Most afternoons Kamada naps, does some light gardening, and then, at 4 p.m. or so, joins a group of lifelong friends—her moai—for sake and gossip. She eats a very light dinner before 6 p.m. that might include some fish soup, whatever vegetables are in season, some spring onions, salad, and rice. She’s usually in bed by 9 p.m.

What is moai?  It means “meeting for a common purpose”—originated as a means of a village’s financial support system. If someone needed capital to buy a parcel of land or take care of an emergency, the only way was to pool money locally. Today the idea has expanded to become more of a social support network, a ritualized vehicle for companionship.

When asked what is Kamada's secret to living to age 102, Kamada replied:

“I used to be very beautiful,” Kamada replied. “I had hair that came down to my waist. It took me a long time to realize that beauty is within. It comes from not worrying so much about your own problems. Sometimes you can best take care of yourself by taking care of others.” “Anything else?” “Eat your vegetables, have a positive outlook, be kind to people, and smile.”

That's Kamada's secret! And there's nothing even scientific about it. 

Another Okinawan centenarian whom Buettner met is 102-year old Gozei.   For most of her life, Gozei had worked in the mountains barefoot, cutting firewood and carrying it back to the village to sell. When she was 18 her parents arranged a marriage to a local farmer. They had 4 children.

Here's an amazing anecdote in Gozei's life:

Once when Gozei was working in the mountains, she came upon a much bigger woman who had been bitten by a habu—a potentially deadly poisonous viper indigenous to the island. Gozei, who weighs about 85 pounds, cut off a strip of her dress to apply a tourniquet to the bite, then hoisted the woman onto her back. She carried the woman four-and-a-half miles back to sea and into a boat that she rowed to a neighboring village for help. The woman survived. Gozei was 62 then.

At 102, Gozei lived independently in a tiny wood-and-rice-paper house.  She tends a vegetable garden daily and harvests three times annually—mostly garlic, bitter melon (goya), scallions, and turmeric. She reads the comics her grandchildren give her and loves watching baseball games on television. She cooks for herself, washes the dishes and cleans her home.S Late afternoon is her favorite time of the day, when neighbors stop by for a visit.

She makes daily offering to her ancestors, a ritual that is a cornerstone of Okinawa spiritual life. She stands in front of a wall which held a collection of vases with flowers, urns, and old photographs. Gozei lit a few sticks of incense and recited a series of prayers bowing toward the altar. 

“This is what we call ancestor veneration. Older Okinawan women have great respect for their deceased ancestors. They believe that if they make the proper offerings in the morning, the ancestors will watch over them for the rest of the day. It’s like if something bad happens, it was meant to happen; if something good happens, it’s because the ancestors were looking out for them. It’s a great stress reducer for these people. They relinquish worries to a higher power.”

What else is amazing about Gozei?  At age 102, she could spring up and down from a tatami mat on the floor!💪💪💪 (I'm not even half Gozei's age but I can't spring up from a squatting position!🙈😂)    

Another centenarian whom Buettner met is 104-year old Kamata Arashino.   What's her life story?  In 1945, when she was 43 years old during WW2, she, her children and other villagers were hiding in a cave coz they were told that if American soldiers captured them, they’d be tortured to death. So in the event of capture, villagers were given suicide bombs they could detonate for a painless ending.

US Troops advanced from the beach toward the cave. The villagers made a hasty decision to detonate the bomb. But a split second before the bomb went off, Kamata decided that she wanted to live. She rushed her children to the back of the cave.

Over half of the people on the island died. Kamata and family were captured by the Americans but the Americans didn't hurt them.  Eventually, the war ended and prosperity came in Okinawa. 

When Buettner asked Kamata about her experience in the cave, she just simply replied: 

“Yes, I was there. There was a great explosion and I lived, my children and I. This is enough!” she said, chopping the air with her hand. “I’m tired of the past. I don’t want to talk about it. I’m happy now. I have enough to eat. I’m surrounded by my friends. Why relive misery when better times have arrived? I’ve lived those hardships, and now they serve me well because they allow me to enjoy today.”

So nice to hear such beautiful words of wisdom from these Okinawan centanarians!  I love to read real stories and listen to life lessons like these, not because I want to live a long life (😬), but to learn from those who have been there.   It's also to minimize the stupid things I might do in life coz if you think about it, some of the mistakes we commit are obvious mistakes yet we still do them anyway. 🙈🙊😂 

In summary, the book lists down the following secrets to a long life of Okinawa's centenarians:

- Embrace an ikigai. Older Okinawans can readily articulate the reason they get up in the morning. Their purpose-imbued lives gives them clear roles of responsibility and feelings of being needed well into their 100s.  A sense of purpose may come from something as simple as seeing that children or grandchildren grow up well.  It can also come from a job or a hobby, something that gives you sense of freedom, enjoyment, fulfillment, and skill.

- Older Okinawans have eaten a plant-based diet most of their lives. Their meals of stir-fried vegetables, sweet potatoes, and tofu are high in nutrients and low in calories. Goya, with its antioxidants and compounds that lower blood sugar, is of particular interest. While centenarian Okinawans do eat some pork, it is traditionally reserved only for infrequent ceremonial occasions and taken only in small amounts. 

- Do gardening.  Older Okinawans grow or once grew a garden.  Its also a physical activity that exercises the body with a wide range of motion and helps reduce stress. It’s also a good source of fresh vegetables.

- Eat more soy. The Okinawan diet is rich foods made with soy, like tofu and miso soup. Flavonoids in tofu may help protect the hearts and guard against breast cancer.

- Maintain a moai. The Okinawan tradition of forming a moai provides secure social networks. It's their stress-shedding security of knowing that there is always someone there for them.

- Enjoy the sunshine. Vitamin D, produced by the body when it’s exposed on a regular basis to sunlight, promotes stronger bones and healthier bodies.

- Exercise.  They are active walkers and gardeners. And having very little furniture, residents take meals and relax sitting on tatami mats on the floor. The fact that old people get up and down off the floor several dozen times daily builds lower body strength and balance,

-  Mugwort, ginger, and turmeric are all staples of an Okinawan garden, and all have proven medicinal qualities.  By consuming these every day, Okinawans may be protecting themselves against illness.  

- They have affable smugness. They’re able to let their difficult early years remain in the past while they enjoy today’s simple pleasures. They’ve learned to be likable and to keep younger people in their company well into their old age.

BTW, I like a quote in the book given by one of those whom Buettner collaborated with.   He pointed out that Okinawans throughout their life, eat a lot of vegetables which are powerful anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anticancer drugs like garlic, mugwort, turmeric.  He said, “You know, you don’t just wake up one day and have cancer. It’s a process, not an event. And prevention is the same way; it has to be a daily activity."   This is a good insight coz I think most of us have this misconception that one day, you could just catch cancer and we forget that if we do get sick, it's not just because of genes but also due to a lot of other little things we've probably done over our lifetime.

P.S.  This second edition of the book was published in 2012 which means the interviews of some centenarians were conducted years before that.  Some of them may have passed away already, but some could still alive and are now supercentenarians (a term which refers to people who surpass 110 years old). 💪💪💪  I quickly googled one of them - Kamada - and guess what?  According to Fandom, Kamada passed away only last year in Sept 2017. 😢  You know at what age?  113 years and 134 days old.  Wow. 😱

*Italicized text are excerpts from the book.