7 Powerful Tips from Highly Spiritual People for Aging Well

#4. Be strategically selfish.

Photo by Centre for Ageing Better on Unsplash

People often talk about their regrets at the end of life, but few mention their successes, those little things that allowed them to lead a reasonably happy existence.

However, deeply spiritual people do.

They live aware of the here and now, are grateful for life, and do not overlook their blessings or what worked for them and for which they are thankful—even the most minor things.

I have been fortunate that my mother works in a religious nursing home, allowing me to interview many of these people at the end of their long lives (many centenarians).

Their oft-repeated responses could be grouped into the following seven lessons that almost no one talks about:

1. Work for people who appreciate it. Many times, it’s not about trying harder or being more productive; it’s about doing it for those who value your effort. As a Trappist monk who spent much of his life in a French abbey that was self-financed by wine production, he told me: “It is not the same to offer a great wine to someone who understands wine as it is to someone who knows nothing about wine. The former are willing to pay much more than the latter.”
2. Avoid pain proactively, not passively. A…