Well that’s the plan anyway!
Why 105?
I just think it’s a nice round number 🙂 and it gives me plenty of time to do everything I still want to do.
No-one in my family has ever lived to anything like that age.
My Dad died of heart failure when he was 69 and my Mum from leukaemia at 71.
I’m also a Type 1 diabetic…with no appendix or gallbladder!
So it’s not looking likely that I’ll get to anywhere near that age.
BUT
I’m still doing everything in my power to TRY to make it happen.
Plus, I don’t just want to LIVE till I’m 105 – I want to THRIVE and live a wonderful full life till I’m 105.
Here are SOME of my reasons, for having such a big audacious life goal.
I want to:-
- Be around for as long as possible for my amazing children and potential future grandchildren.
- Have lots more time to learn, study and master all the things that I’m interested in.
- Visit all the places around the world that spark my curiosity, and fully soak up what they have to offer.
- Share my knowledge and therapeutic experience with as many people as are interested and want to listen.
- Help/support/guide and transform as many of my Lovelies and Lonelies as I can. (My two favourite types of client).
- Do lots of good in the world and (as much as possible) have a positive effect on everyone I meet.
- Fully indulge all of my lovely hobbies and passions.
- Meet new people, experience new experiences and have lots of fun and lovely adventures.
- Love the people I Love till my heart is overflowing and bursting with happiness, for as long as is humanly possible.
It’s a very tall order, so what am I doing to make this happen?
Well, I’ve been studying longevity for as long as I can remember.
It absolutely fascinates me.
I’ve researched what’s happening in the blue zones of the world (the areas with the greatest number of centenarians).
I know that 90% of our wellness is linked to our beliefs and our lifestyle.
In Japan, they have something called Ikigai.
It’s the Japanese secret to a long and happy life.
The first page of The Book of Ikigai quotes the following Japanese proverb:-
“Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years”
This is so true.
If your years are not happy and active, you won’t want to live a 100 of them…
The principles of Ikigai are:-
- Eating light and having a healthy diet.
- Exercising for life.
- Finding and living in your true purpose.
- Never retiring from work, but working less and only doing work that you Love.
- Forming strong social ties.
I incorporated these five principles into my life a long time ago.
Could you do the same?
In addition to the Ikigai principles, I once read that it was possible for everyone to live to 100, if they looked after all four rooms in their house.
If you imagine that you are a building with four main rooms. Each room is a different aspect of your life.
The four main rooms are:-
- Your physical wellbeing
- Your mental wellbeing
- Your emotional wellbeing and
- Your spiritual wellbeing
Most people are good at one or two of these, but very few focus on all four.
So you may be physically fit, but have terrible emotional health.
Or you may be mentally well, but you’re overweight and unfit.
A healthy life is all about balance.
If it helps, instead of thinking about rooms, think of each one of these aspects as a table leg.
Unless they are all in balance, you’re going to have a very wonky table.
(And no a beer mat won’t sort it out) 🙂
Physical health is the obvious one – it’s about being strong, healthy and physically fit.
We achieve this by regularly moving our body, stretching and building muscle.
Mental health is about keeping our mind active, learning new things, challenging our brains.
Your brain is like a muscle, the more you challenge it, the longer and better it will work for you.
Emotional health – often confused with mental health. Our emotional health is all about how we feel about things.
How much happiness and life contentment we have. How well we process our emotions and how healed we are.
Spiritual health is definitely the poor relation to the other three. Your spiritual health is how you feel about yourself and your place in the world.
It’s your connection to yourself, your loved ones, nature and any higher power.
Your higher power can be God, Spirit, Mother Nature, The Universe, The Angels or your Higher Self.
Basically, anything bigger than yourself.
Studies prove that when you believe in something bigger than yourself, you live a longer, more fulfilled life.
Which rooms/legs are you strong in and which need your attention?
As a clinical hypnotherapist, I know the incredible power of our beliefs.
Belief is EVERYTHING.
Our beliefs even have the power to switch off our faulty genes.
Google Drs Bruce Lipton and Joe Dispenza if you want to be blown away on this topic.
Our beliefs MUST be positive if we are to harness their power for our good.
If your beliefs about your health are negative, you are literally putting a curse on yourself.
Here are some of the things I have GRADUALLY introduced over the years to improve my health/longevity.
See if you like any of them 🙂
- I do an absolute minimum of 70,000 steps every week –briskly, and in nature, wherever possible.
- I do a 20 minute workout and lift light weights every day.
- I do yoga and tai chi every week – both help with my strength and balance. Studies show that to live longer you must be able to close your eyes and stand on one leg for 10 seconds without falling over.
- I get up and walk a minimum of 250 steps every hour. My Fitbit encourages me to do this. Sitting down is the new equivalent of smoking, so I sit down as little as possible! Studies show if you can stand up and sit down 36 times in 60 seconds, you’ll live for another 13 years.
- I’ve recently tagged 25 squats onto this. Muscle deteriorates quicker as we age.
- I eat 7 different fruits and veg a day. This one’s not easy.
- I take 7 different kinds of supplements every day.
- As a diabetic I have to track and monitor what I eat. I have a constant glucose monitor on my arm which helps me keep tighter control of my blood sugars. The better the control, the longer I will hopefully live without complications.
- I sleep for an absolute minimum of 7 hours every night. I aim for at least 90 minutes of both REM sleep and deep sleep (my Fitbit also tracks this).
- I drink very little alcohol. If I do drink, I never have more than 2 or 3 glasses and I link any drinking with celebrations or socialising, no other reasons, so I’m happy when I drink, not drowning my sorrows etc.
- I floss my teeth every time I brush. Believe it or not, this is one of the best things you can do to prolong your life!
- I dance as many weekends as I possibly can (Dancing makes my soul sing).
- I never watch TV, including the news. But I do watch funny, uplifting, heart-warming stuff on YouTube. I love to laugh and be moved emotionally.
- I read, learn and study every day.
- I have a new experience/adventure, something I’ve never tried, once every season. This can be absolutely anything I’m drawn to.
- I speak to my children and loved ones practically every day.
- I hug, kiss, cuddle and enjoy intimacy as often as I possibly can.
- I have friendship Fridays, where I have lunch with a different friend every week.
- I meditate, journal and talk to The Universe every day.
- I keep a daily gratitude journal too.
- I use tapping, deep breathing and regular massage to de-stress.
- I remain positive as much as possible and programme my subconscious every day with my long-life goal.
- I self-care myself to bits and max out my pleasure in absolutely everything I do.
And lots lots more too…
Do I occasionally fall of the wagon?
YES, of course, I’m human.
Do I beat myself up?
NO, I just get back on the wagon.
I know the power of consistency and the compound effect (doing something religiously every day) so wherever possible I stick with it all.
I’ll be honest though, it’s taken me years to get to this stage.
I hope this blog has made you think.
Could you start to make some tweaks to your life?
If you don’t want to live till 100+, why not?
Could your life be made better so that you’d want to live longer?
I really hope so.
Much Love
(A hopefully very long-living) Christina xx