How to Add 16 Years on Life!

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By: Bob Boshnack

Chairman of Vision Financial Markets

Want to live 16 years longer? Then read very carefully the conclusions of a 30 year study that was cited in the July/August  2007 edition of Men’s Health magazine!

The magazine states:

 

Purdue scientists found that worrying takes 16 years off your life. Negative thinking triggers the release of cortisol, a stress hormone that can be dangerous when elevated for long periods of time says study author, Dan Mrozek, PH.D. ..The good news is that men in the study who found a way to reduce their worry lived longer.

 

Stress and anxiety are caused by negative thinking and worrying.  The good news is we can control, greatly reduce or eliminate negative thinking and worrying by the way we think and perceive the world around us.

 

Tips for Reducing Stress

 

1.      What’s done is done: There is wisdom in the saying, there is no use crying over spilt milk. Live life in the present. The past is the past and will never come again. The present becomes the future. Carpe Diem!

 

2.      When stressful situations occur, repeat over and over again until the stress dissipates: “This too shall pass. Nothing can get me upset without my permission. I feel terrific”…it works. Try it!

 

 

3.      Inhale and exhale deeply, shutting your eyes, imaging the stress being expelled from your body.

 

4.      Exercise! Exercise is not only the Fountain of Youth; it also helps purge your body of stress!

 

 

5.      Be an optimist! Optimists live their lives knowing that life is short….that they will only live once…..there are no second chances…..no do overs….each day that passes will never come again…..they savoir the gift of life, enjoying each day like a fine wine, by refusing to infect their minds with negative thoughts or allowing negative people to try "infect" them….while most people dream of and never get what they want, optimists turn their dreams into reality by their positive thoughts and expectations…..and most importantly, carefully planned actions to make what they seek happen…….each day that optimists wake up above ground in good health is a great day!

 

6.      Read articles like the one below at www.4bodyandmind.com  I wrote these articles over  the past 25 years, but I still read a few articles every week: they remind me of what I forgot, reinforce what I know, and give new ideas and an everlasting appreciation for the gift of life!

 

HAPPINESS IS A STATE OF MIND

As Abraham Lincoln so eloquently put it, "People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Unfortunately, many make up their minds to wallow in gloom or self-pity. Many of us seek happiness in the transient pleasures of beauty, youth, wealth, or fame. A lot of us believe that if we aren't born rich, lucky, good-looking, brilliant, or talented, we're destined for lives of monotony, disappointment, and pain brightened by the occasional holiday or vacation.

Despite society's suggestion that only the beautiful or rich qualify for happiness, it remains a product of the individual mind. Ralph Waldo Emerson began a famous essay on self-reliance with the Latin phrase, "Ne te quaesiveris extra," which translates to "Do not search for yourself outside of yourself." Happiness is a personal responsibility that we need not look beyond ourselves to fulfill.

We can't always control the tragedies and setbacks that befall us, but we can control our handling and perception of these situations. Great card players play well regardless of the hand they're dealt, and so should each of us. Our happiness doesn't depend on people, things, possessions or good fortune, but on playing life's cards without envy, anger, and regret.

Our best defense against self-defeating thoughts, words, and attitudes is a determination to enjoy the here and now instead of longing for what once was or worrying about what will be. Some sense of beauty, accomplishment, or self-satisfaction can be found in the most menial tasks or unlikely places. Look for it. Our thoughts, rather than our things, make us happy or unhappy all the days of our lives. Material possessions may help, but misery dwells in the drawing rooms of the rich just as happiness often inhabits the shabbiest of hovels.

As children, perhaps much of our happiness stemmed from a belief that our dreams could come true and our goals become reality. We found wonder in everything around us and the world was ours to discover. It still is. As adults, we must learn to find happiness in the commonplace and not to take simple pleasures for granted.

A wise person once said that cynicism is nothing more than frozen disappointment. If that's true, I suggest that we all abandon our cynicism for the realization that we can make our dreams come true if we choose, plan and work to do it.

Set goals for yourself and enjoy the satisfaction of working to fulfill them and the reward that's yours when you do. We choose to be either happy or unhappy, and in every aspect of our lives, we make that choice every day.

 

Remember the famous words of William Shakespeare, "Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."