Not Old Yet
For persons merely over 40 and not ill a most important rule is: don’t overdo.
It’s easy to injure tendons and muscles by pulling or stretching them too far. Don’t try, with almighty determination to open a jar. Leave it for stronger hands. Don’t try to stretch a gigantic stretch to reach something on a high shelf. Wait for someone taller to come along and reach it down for you. Don’t do exercises, that have left you with strains in the past. Do different exercises. Don’t do new exercises, with a determined approach; start moderately; stay moderate. If you start a new job that uses a foot, leg, hand or wrist a lot, more than it was used before, even though it’s in ordinary use, it can feel injured. These stresses and strains invite bacteria toward themselves. Bacteria from the liver or your own intestines find these strained tissues immediately and intensify the pain. Kill the bacteria with a zapper, cleanse the liver, and start the Bowel Program if this has already happened to you.
Don’t kneel on the floor to do some cleaning job. Don’t sit on the floor at a gathering. Don’t let your grandchildren take “rides” on you. Don’t bend over as far as you can to pick something up. Let your family know you are aiming to reach 100 years in healthy condition.
Super Longevity
We should be able to live to 140 years of age. Middle age might begin at 65, old age at 90. What is the clue to long life? surely it is keeping all your cells healthy so they can coordinate the constant tasks of nourishing themselves, removing their wastes, plus whatever job that cell was meant to do.
since your cells divide and therefore start again at age zero, even though you are 90, why do you age at all? Only the nervous system does not divide. Is it the nerve that ages then, and decides death for each of us?
It would never do to live forever. It would clutter the planet. Are evolutionary forces at work preventing this? But we have never cluttered the planet yet. so how could evolutionary forces have “learned” to establish death to prevent overpopulation? Living to age 140 is not living forever. Wisdom comes with age. Wisdom would serve our society well. Perhaps wisdom is needed more than ever for humans to survive. Part of the human tragedy is war. Wisdom gathered from a knowledge of history, might help end wars! But history can’t be gathered and understood in less than 100 years. If centenarians can’t think well or express themselves, their perspectives are lost. Longevity seems a very useful trait if only it were accompanied by health!
Dying
Although it can’t be avoided it can be helped. Dying alone is the most barbaric of all society’s practices.
It is still like death in the forest amongst chimpanzees. Unable to feed, to run, to call for help brings pain, fear, loneliness and finally, death. When your loved one is in the mood to talk about dying, listen. Especially if it is about their own imminent death. This doesn’t obligate you to carry out any of their wishes. When death approaches the important thing is simply to be there. They may not have requested this, out of a sense of guilt or masochism, or plain dementia. But it is the most primitive of needs, the same as having a loved one nearby during childbirth. It is just a presence that counts. How can you be there if you have a job or are attending a family’s needs? It is a time of great frustration for you. All your hard work and successes are culminating in one grand failure!
The good news is that it need not be you who attends your loved one every minute of the last week. Pay for someone to sit—someone who is recognized. But arrange for immediate privacy when you return. No matter how much your loved one admonishes you to go about your business, you will know when you share the final minute that your presence helped. The loneliness of the last coma, the last silence is unspeakable. Give yourself the reward of knowing you shared the pain, fear and silent cry for help.