HAVING PERSPECTIVE
W. Mitchell's famous quote: "Before I was paralyzed there were 10,000 things I could do. Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I've lost or focus on the 9,000 I have left." And before that he was badly burned over half of his body...including burning his fingers off...
We expect so much in life and are given so much that we become "spoiled" - and blind to what our true gains are. When we were younger we did have more capabilities and perhaps more potentials. But relative to an absolute standard of not existing at all, we will still have so many blessings and abilities to enjoy life that we are still living in abundance, with plenty to enjoy. The essential perspective is to see that we have so much, even if we lose alot of it. See and know The Mountain Of Haves Versus What I Am Missing - and get this down pat, for you will be amazed at how good things are!
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We are happier in old age, on average.
But some people fail to be happy in old age.
Why?
Because they simply don't learn how to age well and enjoy later life!
So, let's really nail how to be happy in later years!
And do the exercises to give you additional perspective, including learning from the content of Gratitude Contents/Links - a vital and enlightening perspective and a great addition of more happiness!
WE ADAPT
Human resiliency is remarkable. We simply adapt to our new situations. Knowing that you'll adapt removes a huge source of anticipatory unhappiness - where we feel bad now that we think we'll feel bad later (humans are poor predictors of the future).
However, we also want to purposely add a huge capability to be happier. This is what we call "proactivity".
WE CAN LEARN MORE HAPPINESS TECHNIQUES
Some are automatically learned, as we tend to get wiser with age - not having unrealistic expectations and using better strategies to live life. Study the Happiness section and become an expert at happiness! Using Gratitude and especially the Reminders Notebook (and early morning review) is one of the keys.
OLD AGE IS GROSSLY MISESTIMATED AND EXAGGERATED!
The effects of older age are not really known by most people - and we as humans tend to not be able to accurately, at all, estimate either future happiness or future pain. (Read, for a perspective on how future pain is grossly misestimated: Pain About Future Pain, plus the perspectives in Pain .)
HEALTH
Read and follow You Staying Young, Roizen and Oz - Super well-done, super-informative, super-understandable.
