The Tenets of Rootedness

Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature and Spirit.  By Lyanda Lynn Haupt. Litte, Brown Spark, 2021, 229 pages.  FVRLibrary.

The Tenets of Rootedness

Ecology and Mysticism
Everyday Animism - Aliveness of Living Beings
Poetry and Science Intermingle
Truth and Fact are Not Synonyms
Mystery - Unknown Dimensions, Awe
Kindred, All
Kith - Your local environment, Place
Reciprocity - Interbeing, Interdependence
All is Sacred - Reverence, Awe, Respect
Enchantment and Wonder
Creativity and the Great Work - Drawing, Painting, Collecting
Eccentricity - Individuality, Unconventional

Try: Walking, Gardening, Reading, Nature Studies, Visiting Beautiful Places, Play, Listening, Seeing, Looking at Botany or Animal Books, Swimming, Going Barefoot on Grass or Sand, etc.

Keeping Your Balance and Avoiding Falls for Older Persons

Keeping Your Balance and Avoiding Falls 
Safety Tips for Around Your House
For Older Persons, Seniors, Elderly:

Avoid clutter. Don't leave things on the floor. Pick up after yourself.
Make sure you have good lighting for both night and day.
Keep furniture and tables to a minimum. Leave room for walking.
Keep areas beside the bed and into a toilet clear and uncluttered.
Use hand bars beside toilet and shower.
Have a strong small ladder for reaching up to higher shelves.
Wear good shoes indoors.
Make sure rugs and runners are secure on the floor.
Watch out if you have steps into your garage or rooms.
Be careful, slow down, be alert!
Use your cane or walker as needed.
Be aware if medicines you take make you feel lightheaded or dizzy.
If sitting for a long time, stand up slowly and carefully.
Move carefully on arthritic or injured limbs.
Use tips and techniques for standing up carefully and safely.
Exercise each day to improve strength, flexibility, and balance.
Make sure all chairs, seats, and tables are in good working order.
Use it, or slowly but surely loose it.
Keep all cabinet drawers or doors pushed and closed properly.
Let others help you or pay for services.
Know you own strengths, limitations, or weaknesses.
If you are obese, it will impair your balance skills. Loose weight!
Do exercises to improve the strength of your legs and hips.
See a physician for serious dizziness.
Practice Tai Chi Chuan to improve your balance skills.
- Michael P. Garofalo, Balance

Aging Well  Information, Bibliography, Quotes, Notes, Links

Aging and Humor

 Old Age . . .

 

"To get back to my youth I would do anything in the world, except exercise, get up early, or be respectable." - Oscar Wilde 

 

"The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for." - Will Rogers 

 

"We must recognize that, as we grow older, we become like old cars – more and more repairs and replacements are necessary." - C.S. Lewis 

 

"Old age comes at a bad time." – Sam Banducci “

 

"Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened." - Jennifer Yay

 

"Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you are aboard there is nothing you can do about it." - Golda Meir 

 

"The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened. - Mark Twain 

 

"Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes, age just shows up all by itself." - Tom Wilson 

 

"I’m at that age where my back goes out more than I do." - Phyllis Diller 

 

"Nice to be here? At my age it’s nice to be anywhere." – George Burns 

 

"Don't let aging get you down. It's too hard to get back up." - John Wagner 

 

"First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down." 

Leo Rosenberg

 

"At my age, flowers scare me." - George Burns  

 

"At age 20, we worry about what others think of us…at age 40, we don’t care what they think of us… at age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all." - Ann Landers 

 

"As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two." - Sir Norman Wisdom 

 

“The older I get, the better I used to be.” – Lee Trevino 

 

"I don’t feel old. I don’t feel anything until noon. Then it’s time for my nap." - Bob Hope 

 

"Getting older. I used to be able to run a 4-minute mile, bench press 380 pounds, and tell the truth." -Conan O’Brien

 

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old." - Mark Twain 

 

"The idea is to die young as late as possible." - Ashley Montagu

Positive Aging Principles

"Through processes embedded in valued subjective experience we have learned that disciplining how we think and feel about ourselves and our health is as important to well-being as any physiological markers of disease.  Positive Aging describes a process whereby we take control of our own late life experiences by discovering meaning in growing old that transcends the deteriorative processes of aging.  Positive Agers posses four characteristics: (a) mobilizing resources to meet the challenges of aging, (b) making life choices that preserve well-being, (c) cultivating flexibility to deal with age-related decline, and (d) focusing on the positives (verses the negatives) in old age."
-  Robert T. Hill  

Seven Strategies for Positive Aging
1.  You can find meaning in old age.
2.  You're never to old to learn.
3.  You can use the past to cultivate wisdom.
4.  You can strengthen life-span relationships.
5.  You can promote growth through giving and receiving help.
6.  You can forgive yourself and others.
7.  You can possess a grateful attitude. 
-  Robert T. Hill, Ph.D., Seven Strategies for Positive Aging, 2008

Seven Strategies for Positive Aging.   By Robert D. Hill, Ph.D..  New York, W.W. Norton and Co., 2008.  Index, references, 63 pages.  ISBN: 978-0393705232.  VSCL.   

Making Aging Positive by Linda P. Fried 

Aging Well:  Recommended Readings, Quotes, and Resources

Living the Good Life: Principles, Recommendations, Wisdom

Virtues: Quotations, Sayings, Recommended Reading, Resources

Activities I Do Everyday

39. Fourteen Acts I Do Everyday at 8o Years of Age

Get Up, Stand, Move; Plan
Eat breakfast; Think
Talk with my wife; Listen
Read; Reflect
Tend to our garden; Smile

Write, Web Publish, Journal; Analyze
Enjoy Walking; Encourage Others

Do some Yoga or Tai Chi; Study Sages
Do Household Chores; Clear Mind
Eat Lunch and/or Dinner; Gratitude
Clean my Body, Drink Water; Purify
Socialize; Communicate for Peace

Mind My Own Business; Summarize
Sleep; Dream

53. Write Sonnets and Quintains

SM8 Sonnet Model 8

Garofalo Sonnet Form

5 2 5 2 = 14 Lines

Quintain Couplet Quintain Couplet

The Couplets are often connected thematically with each other.

Can be rhymed verse, blank verse, or free verse.

Typographically, mostly Left Justied; but with some variations in identation, spacing, layout.

Makes free use of punctuation.

Some use of hypertext and reference links.

A Google drop-down Translation Menu. Read the webpage in over 50 different languages.

Many of these Sonnets are cellphone readable with ease. However, due to the limitations on the width of the lines on a cellphone screen, these Sonnets can appear to be 28 to 45 lines long. Viewed on a larger desktop screen, the same Sonnet can been seen as just 14 lines. Consequently, this cellphone line length limitation affects the writing style.

Examples in The Gushen Grove Sonnets: #1, # 2, #4, #9.

The Gushen Grove Sonnets. By Mike Garofalo.

Quintains, Pentastich, and Tankas. By Mike Garofalo. Over 750 Quintains.

Tercets, Haiku, Senryu. By Mike Garofalo. Over 1,000 Tercets.

Pulling Onions. By Mike Garofalo. Over 1,000 One-Liners, Quips, Epigrams.

Poetry Research. By Mike Garofalo. Bibliography, Links, Notes, Reviews, Commentary, Research.

Sonnet Poetry Research. By Mike Garofalo. Bibliography, Links, Notes, Reviews, Commentary, Research.

Quintain Poetry Research. By Mike Garofalo. Bibliography, Links, Notes, Reviews, Commentary, Research.

 

 

Tai Chi Chuan Instruction in Vancouver, Clark County, WA

 Tai Chi Chuan Instruction in 2025-

The Yang Style of T'ai Chi Ch'uan

Private or Group Lessons

Instructor: Mike Garofalo, M.S., B.A.

Instructor's Qualifications

In Clark County, Washington State:
Vancouver, Battleground, Camas,
Orchards, Salmon Creek, Minnehaha,
Prairie Creek, Five Corners, Felida,
Sunnyside, City Center, Mill Plain

Contact Mike Garofalo by Email or Phone

Teaching and practicing the Yang Style
Taijiquan Short 24 Movements Form,
the Standard Long 108 Movements Form,
Cane, and Qigong

 

Cost for Lessons:
$20 per hour for one person
$30 per hour for two persons
Senior Citizen Discounts
Large Group Discounts
Long Time Student Discounts
Gratuities Always Welcome

 

Location of Lessons:
9102 NE 100th Street
Vancouver, WA 98662
Also at Nearby Locations

 

Websites: Cloud Hands Tai Chi Chuan

Blog: Cloud Hands Blog

Qigong (Chi Kung), Longevity Practice

 

 

Instructor: Michael P. Garofalo
Qualifications and Experience

I began learning Yang Style Taijiquan and
Qigong in 1986, and have taught these
Body-Mind Somatic Arts since 2000.
I also taught Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga
in Red Bluff, CA, from 2003-2016.

All of my Yoga and T'ai Chi Ch'uan
Classes Include Some Qigong
(Chinese Yoga) Practices

In 2025, I am 79 years of age.

 

I began learning Yang Style Taijiquan and Qigong from
1986-1990 with Sensei Frank McGourick in Whittier, California.
I studied Lui Ho Ba Fa and Qigong with Sifu Robert Moore from 1987-1990 in Whittier, California.
I studied Red Dragon Kung Fu from 1991-1993 with Sensei Tony Ippolito in Hacienda Heights, California.

I taught over 950 one hour classes of Taijiquan and Qigong in Red Bluff, California, from 2000-2017.
I also practice the Chen 18 Style of Taijiquan and Sun 73 Style
of Taijiquan, the cane weapon, and many Qigong forms.

Tai Chi for Diabetes Instructor Trained and Certified by Dr. Paul Lam in 2003.
Tai Chi for Arthritis Level 2 Instructor (Sun Style) Trained and Certified by Troyce Thome in 2006.
Advanced Tai Chi and Qigong training at workshops or classes led by Robert Moore, Paul Lam, Ken Cohen,
Patricia Long, George Xu, Elaine Waters,
Bill Helm, Doc Fai-Wong, Sher K. Lew,
Kevin Weaver, Troyce Thome, Yang Jun,
David Fetyko, and Brian Knack.

I taught Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga in Red Bluff from 2003 to 2016 for over 1,460 hours of one hour classes.
YogaFit Level IV Certified Yoga Instructor (Standard 200 Hour Yoga Alliance Curriculum Completed) in 2004.
Over 100 hours of additional yoga training with Dr. Paula Barros, Desiree Rambaugh, and at the Ananda Yoga Center.
All of my Yoga Classes include some Qigong (Chinese Yoga).

Personal Fitness Trainer Certified by AFAA 2007
Mat Pilates AFAA Certified 2005
Spin Cycling AFAA Certified 2005
Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) Certifications
SilverSneakers Trained Instructor 2012
CPR and AED certified from 1999-2017, 2024-.

Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit, 4/1999-4/2017
Certified by the State of California Commission
on Teacher Credentialing.
M.A. Education, 40 units, CSU Chico.
M.A., Philosophy, 30 units at CSU Los Angeles.
M.S., Library and Information Science,
University of Southern California, 1968
B.A. Philosophy, CSU Los Angeles, 1967

Brief Biography

My telephone number in 2025 is 530-200-0750.

 

Qigong
(Chinese Warm-up Exercises, Chinese Yoga,
Chi Kung, Energy Development, Energy Work)

Eight Section Brocade Qigong (Ba Duan Gin)

Five Animal Frolics Qigong (Wu Qin Xi)

The Magic Pearl Medicine Ball Qigong

Ba Gua Circle Walking Eight Mother Palms

Entering Tranquility: Standing Meditation

Silk Reeling and Circles in Taijiquan

Temple Qigong

Dragon Qigong

Muscle-Tendon Changing Qigong (Yi Jin Jing)

Cloud Hands Website

Cloud Hands Blog

25 Steps and Beyond: Collected Works

 

Updated on April 12, 2025

 

Balance for Seniors

 Balance

Maintaining and Improving Your Balance
Methods, Exercises, Concepts, Causes
Better Balance for Seniors and Avoiding Falls

By Michael P. Garofalo

Bibliography Links Resources Information

Quotations References Commentary

Instructor Qualifications of Michael P. Garofalo

 

 

Keeping Your Balance and Avoiding Falls 
Safety Tips for Around Your House
For Older Persons, Seniors, Elderly:

Avoid clutter. Don't leave things on the floor. Pick up after yourself.
Make sure you have good lighting for both night and day.
Keep furniture and tables to a minimum. Leave room for walking.
Keep areas beside the bed and into a toilet clear and uncluttered.
Use hand bars beside toilet and shower.
Have a strong small ladder for reaching up to higher shelves.
Wear good shoes indoors.
Make sure rugs and runners are secure on the floor.
Watch out if you have steps into your garage or rooms.
Be careful, slow down, be alert!
Use your cane or walker as needed.
Be aware if medicines you take make you feel lightheaded or dizzy.
If sitting for a long time, stand up slowly and carefully.
Move carefully on arthritic or injured limbs.
Use tips and techniques for standing up carefully and safely.
Exercise each day to improve strength, flexibility, and balance.
Make sure all chairs, seats, and tables are in good working order.
Use it, or slowly but surely loose it.
Keep all cabinet drawers or doors pushed and closed properly.
Let others help you or pay for services.
Know you own strengths, limitations, or weaknesses.
If you are obese, it will impair your balance skills. Loose weight!
Do exercises to improve the strength of your legs and hips.
See a physician for serious dizziness.
Practice Tai Chi Chuan to improve your balance skills.
- Michael P. Garofalo, Balance

Aging Well  Information, Bibliography, Quotes, Notes, Links

9 Practical Walking Principles
By Arieh Lev Breslow
"Tai Chi Falls Prevention Manual"

"1. Wear shoes that fit comfortably and promote balance. Look for shoes that are stable from side to side and are well-cushioned. They should enable you to walk smoothly and comfortably and provide you enough room to wiggle your toes while being snug in the heels. 

2. When you step forward, always step with the heel first. Then roll your weight onto the bottom of your foot. This is the natural way to walk. If you can’t do this, then you need to ask for a diagnosis from your physician or physical therapist. If you are stepping with the flat part of the foot or the ball of the foot first, you will be unbalanced with each step. 

3. Allow your weight to sink into your ankles and knees as if they were springs. This will impart a sense of buoyancy to your body as you walk. If your knee and ankle joints are held in a rigid or locked position, your gait will lose its fluidity and thus increase the probability of falling. 

4. As you walk, be aware of the shifting of weight - Tai Chi Walking 

5. Walk from your belly button. The Chinese call this area, Tan-Tien (pronounced “Dahn T-yen"). It is approximately the center of the body and the storage place of Chi energy. Imagine that you have a belt around your body with a piece of it extended out from your belly button. When you walk, allow yourself to be gently led as if someone was pulling the extended piece of belt. Remember that this is only an image. You should not walk with your belly sticking out. No one from the outside should know that you are using this image. 

6. Walk with an Upright Body. The idea of your headtop being lifted toward heaven by a string is an important image in Tai Chi Walking. It works against the tendency to lean. When you lean, you are likely to fall in that direction. 

7. Before you change direction, first turn your head and look in the direction you want to go. Then turn your body in that direction. Many falls occur when turning too fast. 

8. The arms should swing naturally at the sides of the body. This is important because the arms provide balance and momentum. If they are held in the pockets, they cannot be used to prevent or to cushion a fall. 

9. Breathe deeply in a natural way to relax the body. A stiff body is like a pole ready to topple over. Breathing deeply will also mitigate the mental fear factor." 

Old Age - Quotations

 Old Age . . .

 "To get back to my youth I would do anything in the world, except exercise, get up early, or be respectable." - Oscar Wilde 

 

"The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for." - Will Rogers 

 

"We must recognize that, as we grow older, we become like old cars – more and more repairs and replacements are necessary." - C.S. Lewis 

 

"Old age comes at a bad time." – Sam Banducci “

 

"Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened." - Jennifer Yay

 

"Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you are aboard there is nothing you can do about it." - Golda Meir 

 

"The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened. - Mark Twain 

 

"Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes, age just shows up all by itself." - Tom Wilson 

 

"I’m at that age where my back goes out more than I do." - Phyllis Diller 

 

"Nice to be here? At my age it’s nice to be anywhere." – George Burns 

 

"Don't let aging get you down. It's too hard to get back up." - John Wagner 

 

"First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down." 

Leo Rosenberg

 

"At my age, flowers scare me." - George Burns  

 

"At age 20, we worry about what others think of us…at age 40, we don’t care what they think of us… at age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all." - Ann Landers 

 

"As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two." - Sir Norman Wisdom 

 

“The older I get, the better I used to be.” – Lee Trevino 

 

"I don’t feel old. I don’t feel anything until noon. Then it’s time for my nap." - Bob Hope 

 

"Getting older. I used to be able to run a 4-minute mile, bench press 380 pounds, and tell the truth." -Conan O’Brien

 

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old." - Mark Twain 

 

"The idea is to die young as late as possible." - Ashley Montagu

...

Improving Balance in Seniors

 Balance

Maintaining and Improving Your Balance
Methods, Exercises, Concepts, Causes
Better Balance for Seniors and Avoiding Falls

By Michael P. Garofalo

Bibliography Links Resources Information

Quotations References Commentary

Instructor Qualifications of Michael P. Garofalo

 

 

The Benefits of Qigong Exercises for Older Persons

The Anti-Aging Benefits of Chinese Qigong (Chi Kung) Exercises
Gentle Exercise, Breathing, and Meditation

Scientific Research  Many Reports on the Effect of Qigong on Improving the Health of the Elderly

Aging Well

"Qigong can do wonders to rejuvenate the elderly. In fact, more than 50 percent of the people who begin tai chi and qigong in China do so after the age of 60, when the realities of aging can no longer be pushed aside. Already, hundreds of millions of people over the age of 60 have found qigong to be uniquely effective."
-  Bruce Frantzis, Qigong for Seniors

Anti-Aging Benefits of Qigong   by Kenneth Sancier, Ph.D.

Qigong for the Elderly

"This report shows that regular qigong practice could relieve depression, improve self-efficacy and personal well being among elderly persons with chronic physical illness and depression"
-  Effect of a Qigong Program on Elderly Persons with Depression, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Qigong (Chi Kung):  Styles,Bibliographies, Research, Resources, Links, Lessons, Benefits, Quotations.  Website by Mike Garofalo.

A review of clinical trials of t’ai chi and qigong in older adults reported in the March 2009 issue of the Western Journal of Nursing Research notes that qigong improves physical functioning, limits fall risk, alleviates symptoms of depression and anxiety, and lowers blood pressure in older adults.

"Why Every Elderly Citizen Should Do Qigong: Qigong can treat many diseases.  Qigong can prevent many diseases.  Qigong can extend life.  Qigong can improve the quality of life.  Qigong can prevent accidents."

"According to T'ai Chi and Qigong enthusiasts, the discipline can prevent many ailments, including high blood pressure, tuberculosis, and diabetes, and US scientists agree that T'ai Chi can offer some important fitness benefits, particularly for older adults."
-  Modern Maturity, V. 35 June/July 92 p. 60-62

Qigong (Chi Kung): Recommended Reading, Bibliography, Resources, Links, Quotations.  Research by Mike Garofalo, Qigong Instructor

"The average person uses only five to ten percent of his or her 15 billion brain cells; yet studies show that Qi Gong activates 90 percent of the human brain by suffusing it with stimulating bioelectric currents.  This results in significant memory improvement, learning, and enhancement of the physiological functions  controlled by the brain.  Studies also show that practicing Qi Gong increases the level of essential neurotransmitters in the blood.  Deficiency of these elements can cause Parkinsons, Alzheimer’s, chronic depression, and insomnia."
-  Lee Holden

According to the February 2009 issue of The Journal of Nursing, “evidence-based research supports the argument that qigong improves cardiovascular-respiratory function and lipid profile, decreases blood sugar, and relieves anxiety and depression.”

An Evidence-Based Review of Qi Gong by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration, 2010

The Healing Promise of Qi: Creating Extraordinary Wellness Through Qigong and Tai Chi.  By Roger Jahnke, O.M.D..  Chicago, Contemporary Books, 2002.   Index, notes, extensive recommended reading list, 316 pages.  ISBN: 0809295288.  VSCL.  

The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing.  By Kenneth S. Cohen.  Foreword by Larry Dossey.  New York Ballantine Books, 1997.  Index, notes, appendices, 427 pages.  ISBN: 0345421094.  One of my favorite books: comprehensive, informative, practical, and scientific.  VSCL.  

Ten Ways to Nurture Resilience

 Ten Ways to Nurture Resilience

"1. Boost your physical vitality, with exercise, nourishment, and rest.

2. Boost your mental vitality with quiet time, adequate sleep, and time in nature.

3. Practice coping with small things so you can better cope with the big things.

4. Set yourself a series of small goals and work toward them.

5. Grow something. Pay attention to the difference your care makes.

6. Make regular notes of the things you do well, to remind you how capable you are.

7. Seek out community and build a support network.

8. Seek our resilience role models and learn from them.

9. Support yourself with inspiring quotes.

10. Look for reasons to be positive every day.

- Beth Kempton, Wabi Sabi, 2018

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons

https://www.egreenway.com/reason/advice.htm

Aging Well https://www.egreenway.com/reason/aging.htm

At any age, the objectives are the same:

Feeling vital and energetic

Playing with gusto and enthusiasm
Becoming delighted by creative play
Reducing stress
Sharing activities and helping others
Learning something interesting and valuable
Trying to do your best
Learning about Chinese internal martial arts
Having some fun and pleasure
Presenting a cheerful and upbeat demeanor
Adjusting performance to limitations and setbacks
Having a positive, open minded, and grateful manner
Mastering an art or practice
Respecting the achievements of older Taijiquan players
Becoming strong, flexible, and conditioned
Developing positive and uplifting habits
Remaining in good health
Preventing accidents and disease
Facing death and dying with courage, poise, dignity, and compassion

Both qigong and taijiquan books frequently show persons over 70 practicing these movement arts. Some books feature masters who lived to be 100 years of age. The enhanced vitality and athletic exuberance of these seniors is an encouragement to everyone; and if longevity is an additional benefit, then so be it.

Martial Arts and the Art of Aging
Rogue Scholarship on Aging
http://uofugeron.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/martial-arts-and-the-art-of-aging/

Fitness and Aging Well
Recommend Reading List by Mike Garofalo

"So far as motivational status is concerned, healthy people have sufficiently gratified their basic needs for safety, belongingness, love, respect and self-esteem so that they are motivated primarily by trends to self-actualization (defined as ongoing actualization of potentials, capacities and talents, as fulfillment of mission (or call, fate, destiny, or vocation), as a fuller knowledge of, and acceptance of, the person's own intrinsic nature, as an unceasing trend toward unity, integration or synergy within the person. ... These healthy people are there defined by describing their clinically observed characteristics. These are:
1. Superior perception of reality.
2. Increased acceptance of self, of others and of nature.
3. Increased spontaneity.
4. Increase in problem-centering.
5. Increased detachment and desire for privacy.
6. Increased autonomy, and resistance to enculturation.
7. Greater freshness of appreciation, and richness of emotional reaction.
8. Higher frequency of peak experiences.
9. Increased identification with the human species.
10. Changed and improved interpersonal relations.
11. More democratic character structure.
12. Greatly increased creativeness.
13. Certain changes in the value system."

Toward a Psychology of Being. Abraham Maslow. New Jersey, Van Nostrand, 1962. 3rd Edition, Wiley, 1998. 320 pages. ISBN: 0471293091. pp.23-24

Liang Tung-Tsai (T. T. Liang) (1900-2002)

Advice for the Elderly

"Japanese Advice for the Elderly
Aging Hints from Hinohara Shigeaki, 1911-
(translated and adapted from Tanoyaku, Vol 38, June, 2007)

Emphasize love, not hate
Recognize your imperfection but aim to improve
Try something new
Focus your attention; don't waste time thoughtlessly
Find a model person to imitate
Seek to empathize
Value encounters with others
Maintain small eating habits
But don't be neurotic about diet; enjoy food
Walk; use stairs as much as possible
Participate in group sport activities
Enjoy leisure; avoid a life with only work
Handle stress by exercising; walk, play
Take responsibility for your own behavior
Change habits when necessary; don't be obsessed with maintaining habits"
-  Advice for Aging Well from David K. Reynolds, Ph.D.

A New Weekly Workout Plan

Monday      
Beat around the bush
Lift myself up by the bootsraps
Make mountains out of mole hills
Get all fired up
Jump to conclusions
Climb the walls

Tuesday
Drag my heels
Make my point
Push my luck
Pull my own load
Hit the nail on the head

Wednesday      
Bend over backwards
Jump on the Band Wagon
Grab all I can get
Run around in circles
Shoulder my share of responsibility

Thursday    
Shop till I drop
Hang loose
Grind to a halt
Rest and recuperate

Friday      
Push it to the limit
Pull out all the stops
Add fuel to the fire
Pave the roadway to hell
Throw it all away

Saturday
Open a can of worms
Put my foot in my mouth
Start the ball rolling
Go over the edge

Sunday
Pick up the pieces.
Wade through the morning paper
Lift my spirits
Toot my own horn

-  Mike Garofalo, 2005, Aging Well

 

Home Safety Tips for Seniors

"Housing Tips and Advice from The National Aging in Place Council

The Boomer’s Roadmap for Aging in Place: How to Prepare Today for your Senior Years

Preventing Falls at Home

Fall Prevention Tips for Seniors | A Home Design Guide

Exercise & Physical Activity: Your Everyday Guide from the National Institute on Aging

The Benefits of Cooking with Alzheimer’s: A Caregiver’s Guide

14 Ways to Help Seniors Avoid Isolation

Canine Caregivers for Dementia and Alzheimer’s Patients

A Senior’s Guide to Using Computers and Software

Economic Security for Seniors Facts

Home Safety and Security for Aging-in-Place Seniors"


Thanks to Information provided by Elder Impact:

Marie Villeza
information@elderimpact.org ǀ http://elderimpact.org/
340 S. Lemon Ave #5780 ǀ Walnut, CA ǀ 91789

Here are some resources for Seniors that Mike Garofalo has added to his hypertext notebooks:  

Aging Well

How to Live a Good Life

Fitness Methods for Seniors

Program for Healthy Aging

A Twelve-Point Program for Healthy Aging

"1.  Eat an anti-inflammatory diet.
2.  Use dietary supplements wisely to support the body's defenses and natural healing power.
3.  Use preventive medicine intelligently: know your risks of age-related disease, get appropriate diagnostic and screening
tests and immunizations, and treat problems (like elevated blood pressure and cholesterol) in their early stages.
4.  Get regular physical activity throughout life. 
5.  Get adequate rest and sleep.
6.  Learn and practice methods of stress protection. 
7.  Exercise your mind as well as your body. 
8.  Maintain social and intellectual connections as you go through life. 
9.  Be flexible in mind and body: learn to adapt to losses and let go of behaviors no longer appropriate for your age.
10.  Think about and try to discover for yourself the benefits of aging. 
11.  Do not deny the reality of aging or put energy into trying to stop it.  Use the experience of aging as a stimulus
for spiritual awakening and growth. 
12.  Keep an ongoing record of the lessons you learn, the wisdom you gain, and the values you hold.  At critical points in
your life, read this over, add to it, revise it, and share it with people you care about." 

-  Andrew Weil, Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being, 2005.

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Aging Well, Senior Citizens

Repost from 2019

How to Sleep Better Each Day

 How to Sleep Better Each Day

Follow a schedule and routine for sleep
Prepare for sleeping at 9:00 pm
Sleeping around 7-9 hours is best for most
Don’t use stimulants: drugs, ideas, worry
Get enough sunlight during the day
Get enough exercise during the day
Avoid foods that prevent sleep
Alcohol or drugs might reduce your sleep
Don’t drink liquids a few hours before sleeping
Reduce or eliminate naps during the day
Turn off the television or radio or pod-cast
Bathe if dirty, and change into clean pajamas
Listen only to soft, gentle, relaxing instrumental music
Do any gentle stretching or gentle yoga well before sleeping
Sleep in a cooler room
Reduce, avoid, dim, or turn off any lights in bedroom
Don’t look at clocks if you awaken
Use pillows or bolsters to relieve bodily discomfort
Use clean sheets, covers, pillows and mattress
Don’t work in bed
Reduce reading books or eReader in bed
Sexual activity may or may not help you sleep
Excessive sex will keep you awake
Use techniques to turn off your thinking
Don’t talk a lot or write in bed
Try changing the smell of your bedroom
Go to sleep and get up at the same time each day
Don’t over-sleep beyond your normal wake up time
Keep bugs out of your sleeping area
Other people need to be quiet from 9 pm to 5 am
Some people favor a cup of warm soporific tea
There are many soporific supplemental medicines
  available, but use care with combining medicines
Some people elevate the upper torso and sleep better
If you suffer from insomnia, restless legs syndrome,
  sleep apnea, or narcolepsy consult a physician
Sleep apnea sometimes can be helped with equipment
Keep the CPAP equipment clean
Use meditation techniques to turn off thinking too much

By Michael P. Garofalo  August 23, 2022

I have been dealing with some sleep problems: insomnia, mild sleep apnea,
nighttime urination, tossing and turning when sleeping, no dreams.  

Today, I have an appointment for a consultation with Dr. Steven Hill at the Vancouver Clinic in east Vancouver.  He is a M.D. Sleep Medicine specialist.  Medicare requires an overnight sleep test before any follow up equipment (CPAP, dental devices) or medicine can be prescribed. 

I am reading the following book on the subject:

Say Good Night to Insomnia: The Six Week, Drug Free Program Developed at the Harvard Medical School.  By Gregg D. Jacob.  2009, 256 pages. VSCL.

The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi: 12 Weeks to a Healthy Body, Strong Heart, and Sound Mind.  By Peter Wayne, Ph.D.. Harvard Health Publications.
Shambhala Press, 2013, 240 pages.  

Advice about Getting Older

"The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for." - Will Rogers

"As we grow older, we become like old cars – more and more repairs and replacements are necessary." - C.S. Lewis

"Old age comes at a really bad time." – Sam Banducci

"Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened." - Jennifer Yane

"Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you are aboard there is nothing you can do about it." - Golda Meir

"I’m so old that my blood type is discontinued." - Bill Dane

"The older I get, the more clearly I remember things that never happened. - Mark Twain

"Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes, age just shows up all by itself." - Tom Wilson

"I’m at that age where my back goes out more than I do." - Phyllis Diller

"Is it nice to be here? Heck, at my age it’s nice to be anywhere." – George Burns

"Don't let aging get you down. It's too hard to get back up." - John Wagner

“Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life.” - Kitty O’Neill Collins

“Older people shouldn’t eat health foods. They need all the preservatives they can get.” – Robert Orben

"Middle age is when you’re sitting at home on Saturday night and when the telephone rings and you hope it isn’t for you." - Ogden Nash

"It’s important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle." – Unknown

“I have successfully completed the 30-year transition from wanting to stay up late to just wanting to go to bed." – Unknown

"At age 20, we worry about what others think of us… at age 40, we don’t care what they think of us… at age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all." - Ann Landers

"When I was young, I was called a rugged individualist. When I was in my fifties, I was called eccentric. Here I am doing and saying the exact same things I did back then, and now they label me senile." - George Burns

"I complain that the years fly past, but then I look in a mirror and see that very few of them actually got past." - Robert Brault

“Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.” - Larry Lorenzon

“The older I get, the better I used to be.” – Lee Trevino

"I was thinking about how the older they get, people seem to read the bible a lot more, and then it dawned on me—they’re cramming for their final exam."- George Carlin

"I don’t feel old. I don’t feel anything until noon. Then it’s time for my nap." - Bob Hope

"I’m 59 and people call me middle-aged. Tell me how many 118-year-old men do you know?"- Barry Cryer

"I don't drink alcohol anymore—I get the same effect just standing up fast." – Anonymous

“By the time you’re 80 years old you’ve learned just about everything. The trick is in remembering it.” - George Burns

“Old age isn’t that bad when you consider the alternative.” – Maurice Chevalier

"Getting older. I used to be able to run a 4-minute mile, bench press 300 pounds..., and tell the truth." - Conan O’Brien

"Grandchildren don’t make a man feel old, it’s the knowledge that he’s married to a grandmother that does." - J. Norman Collie

"You know you're getting old when everything hurts, and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work." - Hy Gardner

"When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old." - Mark Twain

"There’s one advantage to being 100, there’s no peer pressure." - Dennis Wolfberg

"I've never known a person who lives past 100 who is remarkable for anything else." —Josh Billings

"At my age ‘getting lucky’ means walking into a room and remembering what I went in there for." – Unknown

"The idea is to die young as late as possible." - Ashley Montagu

"People ask me what I’d most appreciate getting for my eighty-seventh birthday. I tell them, a paternity suit." - George Burns

"Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician." - Anonymous

"It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.” -  Andy Rooney 

Aging Well
By Michael P.  Garofalo