Better Aging

Written by Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach


My friend who retired last year from years on Wall Street tells me, “I have to watch very carefully how I spend my money. I don’t know how to do anything.”

One ofrepparttar reasons people find retirement challenging, is alsorepparttar 115402 solution torepparttar 115403 problem of better aging: we identify with roles in our lives. Worse than that, we enjoy them. They’re what our life is all about or we wouldn’t have been doing them inrepparttar 115404 first place. Now my friend certainly knows how to do things. He can cook his breakfast, he’s an attentive father, he knows how to mowrepparttar 115405 lawn. But to his way of thinking, now that he’s no longer a broker, he “doesn’t know how to do anything.”

Whether it’s being a manager, a doctor, or a mother, a recent study confirms we do best when have control over roles we value, and that this is more important than a sense of control over life itself. ["Role-Specific Feelings of Control and Mortality," Neal Krause, Ph.D., and Benjamin A. Shaw, Ph.D.; Psychology and Aging, Vol. 15, No. 4.]

What does this mean to you and me on a daily basis?

Inrepparttar 115406 study, conducted over 6-7 years, participants were asked to namerepparttar 115407 roles they valued most in their lives, including such things as parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, friend, homemaker, provider, volunteer work, church member, etc.

Inrepparttar 115408 follow-up study it was found that participants who were able to maintain a sense of control overrepparttar 115409 role most important to them were less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors (smoking, drinking, obesity) and less likely to die prematurely. And,repparttar 115410 research found, it was onlyrepparttar 115411 most important valued role that correlated with decline, not choices two and three.

By “having a sense of control,” I imagine they mean being able to continue doing that. I also would imagine, unless your life has been different of mine, there’s no sense assuming control over life in general. You’ve learned that by now!

Your most-valued role amounts to why you like being alive, or what makes life worth living. In other words, what matters to you.

The researchers suggest that psychological coping abilities “decline” with age. I suggest they can be bolstered, even increase by studying EQ, and a look ahead is an emotionally intelligent thing to do.

In my coaching work with clients in transition,repparttar 115412 “transition” often amounts torepparttar 115413 fact they’ve lost or been ousted from a role they enjoyed. Some were fired, some forced into retirement, others lost children prematurely, others are between parenting and grand parenting, and not “needed” by anyone in that special nurturing role.

How can you cope better? While life is about losses, it is equally about gains and wins. While you may be dumb-founded by an immediate loss, with time and Emotional Intelligence competencies, you can makerepparttar 115414 next step and find a new role.

Somewhere there’s a baby crying … a group that needs managing … an account that needs balancing. How you define your role is up to you. It’s personal choice and that’s what EQ is all about. You may no longer run Coca-Cola, but you can runrepparttar 115415 volunteer department ofrepparttar 115416 local children’s shelter.

How You Can Eat Carbohydrates and Still Lose Weight

Written by Jason Barger


When I decided to lose weight I of course decided to do as much planning as possible. It seemsrepparttar older I getrepparttar 115401 harder it is to do anything without completely planning it out. Anyways, I had already been onrepparttar 115402 all protein diets and knew that they worked. The only problem was I could never stick to them for very long.

So I decided to researchrepparttar 115403 net a little more and see if I could find some other program that I had not yet heard about. I noticed something kind of strange,repparttar 115404 more I looked around at different weight loss articles.

The two types of people that seemed to be claiming their way of eating wasrepparttar 115405 best, were either vegans orrepparttar 115406 no carbohydrate eaters. This made sense to me. I mean, I know people who have lost lots of weight eating no carbohydrates. And if you know anyone who is a vegan, you know that they are generally very slim.

So I researched some more and came across some articles on food combining. These people claimed that you can eat whatever you want as long as you combine it properly. You can eat pasta as long as you only eat it with vegetables. Or, you can eat meat as long as you only eat it with vegetables.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use