Category: Spirit

What keeps us going!

Health, Spirit

Mental Health is as Important as Physical Wellbeing in Ageing

Mental wellness is as important as your physical health in navigating the ageing process. We often focus on taking care of our physical self but neglect mental wellness. Our mental health is all about happiness and the way be think and feel about life. A short booklet from the UK Mental Health Foundation entitled “How to Look After Your Mental Health in Later Life” is a great read – download here. Here are 10 ways listed to help you stay mentally healthy.

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Night lights Singapore
Politics, Spirit

Singapore, thank you for 2019 …

As we edge closer to the countdown to 2020, as Singaporeans, let’s take a moment during our holiday festivities to give thanks for 2019. At the start of year, there were a lot of worries about an increasingly fragile global economy which Singapore depends to be successful and the many growing geopolitical concerns that can hurt us. But thank God, 2019 turned out to be a good year. And there are many things to be thankful for!

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Spirit

Long life is not the problem – our culture is.

“Long lives are not the problem. The problem is living in cultures designed for lives half as long as the ones we have.” says Laura Carstensen, a professor of psychology and director at Stanford Center for Longevity in an opinion published on November 30, 2019 by Washington Post.

In the last century, better healthcare and various advancement in technology have added an average of 30 years to our life expectancy. Many of those born in this century will have a good chance of living past 100 years. Carstensen argues that while life expectancy has surged, human culture has not kept pace.

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Spirit

How to Talk Career to the Next Generation

At our age, we have a lot to share with our kids and grand kids about career advice. But I hesitate because I doubt if my experience in a different generation is still relevant. For example, I worked for the same company for almost a quarter of a century. By today’s standards, that would certainly be an outlier. But having survived the internet revolution, here are some ideas on what career advise to give.

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Spirit

Conversation With A 90-Years Old Man in Woodlands

By Tan Too Yong

Yesterday, I met a 90 year-old man who struggled to walk with a walker.

Soon got to know that he spends everyday at a Foodcourt in Woodlands. He reaches there at about 9 am and would sit there to pass his time till about 6 pm in the evening when he goes home – spending about 8 to 9 hours each day at the Koufu Foodcourt.

I inquired why he did that. He told that he had to do that because there was no one home as his other family members are all away at work. He would just be staring at 4 walls otherwise. His spouse has passed on …

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Health, Spirit

At 103, Julia Hawkins Is the Oldest Women to Compete in American Track & Field

In an amazing report by The New York Times, Julia Hawkins aka Hurricane took up running at 100. She is the oldest women at 103 to compete formally on an American track and she did so recently at the National Senior Games in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Hurricane” did not manage to beat her own record of 39.62 seconds two years ago and came in about 6 seconds slower. Her reply, “I’m two years older, remember?” Here are some lessons that we can take away from this remarkable women.

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Spirit

Regret Retiring Too Early – You Are Not Alone

Many folks dream about having the financial means to retire early and enjoy life not having to work the 9 to 5 job. For those that have the actual good fortune to do just that, it has not always turned out to be the good times that they have expected. I would not say that they entirely regret the decision, but there are certainly some regrets.

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Health, Spirit

Studies: Pets Can Make You Healthier

According to the US government’s Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pet can be really good for your health. The CDC has listed that apart from bringing the joy and happiness, studies have shown that bonding with your pet will bring about many health benefits including:

  • Decreases loneliness and provides opportunity to socialise with other pet owners
  • Decreases blood pressure
  • Decreases cholesterol levels
  • Increases physical activity and exercise
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Health, Spirit

Loneliness is bad for ageing – here’s how to beat it.

A study in UK raised alarm about a loneliness crisis nationwide – where over 2 million people over 75 live alone. The report also states that “more than a million older people say they go for over a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member.” In many cases, this happens due to various reasons such as declining mobility, death of a spouse, retirement from work or simply losing touch with family. Loneliness can seriously impact a person’s health – but there are some steps seniors can take to avoid being caught in the loneliness trap.

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Spirit

“The Top 5 Regrets of Dying” – What is Yours?

In the face of mortality, many thoughts and emotions will fill the last days of your life. With little time left, one often think about regrets – and what you would do differently had you been given a second chance. Bronnie Ware is a palliative care nurse in Australia and the author of “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying – A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing” – and has shared some of her interactions with many patients who have just days to live. In her book and blog, she tells us what the 5 biggest regrets of the dying are.

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