Top 6 by Atul Singh

Top 6

Folks, all of us are at an age, when, even though we are aware, we still need friendly reminders regarding our health and well-being. So here goes :

Age brings lots of joys, like

1. Seeing our kids come into their own
2. Finally having paid off our homes and cars or getting close to it
3. Friendships and intimate relationships maturing and providing us the feeling of security and warmth thereof
4. Professional rewards both positional and financial
5. Starting to build a real Spiritual walk and starting to get an understanding of the world that way. 

All these, needless to say, need time and energy to enjoy. There-in lies one of life’s biggest contradiction. When we have all these things, our energy and mental faculties seem to start losing the edge. Clearly they wane with time and it accelerates between the ages of 50 and 60. But we all know that there are ways to keep the proverbial “Wolf” at bay. Hence this reminder. 

My top six ways on keeping our elan’-vital from depleting over the next 10 years and beyond.

1. 5 hour magic: 5 hours is less than 3 percent of the total time of 168 hours we have at our disposal every week. If we meet this threshold every week, in physical exercise, we will enjoy absolutely outsized dividends. This number holds in its bosom magical powers to change our physical and mental landscape. I personally have been able to hit some significant endurance milestones over the last decade because of it. My average workout time over last 10 years has not exceeded 5 hours per week. Most of you may be below 2 hours if you average it out over multiple years. (This time does not include tying shoes or yelling at spouse for finding the gym shorts for you). Don’t doubt me, Just do it. Claim your five hours workout time every week. 
2. Learning something new: Swimming, an instrument, new language .. you know the drill. Those new neurological pathways have to form for the entirety of the brain to stay alive and functioning.
3. Thou shall not abuse: Eating marginally less, more vegetarian, and reducing 10-20 percent alcohol intake than you currently enjoy, would yield significant results over the long haul. Good sleeping habits go hand-in-hand with this as well.
4. Learning to meditate. 5-30 min daily. This is the final frontier of understanding any Spiritual or Universal truths in my opinion. We can attempt to understand them through reading all kinds of texts, but they are like the Menu in a restaurant. They can point in a direction. But one has to go there to see the vista. We can chew on the menu but will not taste the food. Similarly truths are experiential in nature. Either we visit them or don’t. (think sex, if you are still debating with me)
5. Pursuing a hobby and taking it to next level. Putting time, money and thought behind a hobby that you really care for. For some of us, our work gives that satisfaction, and so be it. It could just as well be a cause that you identify with too. Point is what can we do with it over next 10 years. Where could we take it? There is power in intensity, in whatever we do, because that alone engages all of our faculties and we need “all aspects of us” to stay full of vitality. 
6. Friends, Friends, Friends : Last but not the least, we know that we are social beings. No food or bank account nourishes us anywhere close to what some quality time with friends does. So, prioritizing time with friends, building and enhancing those relationships, hanging out, laughing, sometimes even crying with them is a mandatory part of the potion of happiness and longevity. 

While no one knows what will happen tomorrow, and all our nicely laid out plans can get upended in a jiffy, those pointers above are part of a good insurance plan to mentally and physically stay available through the next decade and beyond and enjoy the fruits of our lifetime’s labor.

Some of you will take this as gyan-bazi and side step it, as you should. Others may take heed, take this as a healthy reminder, coming from a good place, and engage. 

For the latter, let’s rate ourselves activity wise, on a scale of one to five across the six mentioned areas. Then take time through the end of the year to build up the activity level across all of these. What a nice kick start to the new year it will be. Don’t you think?