Sensei Talks  

Here’s one of those studies I love. “Unlike Fine Wine, Crabby People Don’t Age Well”.

A survey of almost “700 older adults found that those who got along with their relatives, friends and neighbors were” happier and healthier. “Getting along well with others is more than a key to pleasant human interaction. It also appears to be good for your health.”

Like the chicken and the egg, one might ask which came first. Do people with a pleasant and positive outlook encourage more social interaction? Does their view of life endow their days with a sense of well-being?

When “they’re cranky and critical and cantankerous…they tend to elicit even more negative behaviors from others.” “There’s a big element of self-fulfilling prophecy” at work here. We are all guilty of the pleasure of prolonging a pleasant personal encounter and rushing to end an unpleasant one. Maybe the missing key to an elderly persons’ happiness lies in their next encounter.

Let’s be the wine. Take the extra minute. Give them a reason to be cheerful. Unleash their inner wine too.

Let’s all age well!

- Nancy