OWN YOUR POWER

We Can Win This Shar Dubois 2024

Election season is in full swing and anxiety levels are rising. It’s time to zone in and remember some of the basics of self-care, because as we’re told on every airline flight, ‘Put your oxygen mask on first so you are prepared to help others.’

. Inform yourself. Make your decisions.

. VOTE! 

Lotus Flower (Kamala) Steps Into Power 
LiDoña Wagner 2024

Then, as Michelle Obama says, “Do something!”

. Help others get informed and vote.

. Connect with those you support by writing postcards, making phone calls, knocking on doors.

The Choice Is Clear
LiDoña Wagner 2024

. Lean into the timeless. Be present to the reality that all our actions together preserve a future in which others have agency over their lives.

. Control your anxiety by setting specific times for news and social media, including cut off times.

. GET ENOUGH SLEEP. Put all electronic devices out of your bedroom.

I Voted
Shar Dubois 2024

BOLD PERSISTENT EXPERIMENTATION

When Kamala Harris laid out an economic plan for her future presidency, she invoked FDR’s motto for pulling the United States out of the great depression, BOLD PERSISTENT EXPERIMENTATION. 

Nature is the ultimate experimenter.

The same motto describes my approach to figuring out what it means to be an elder in contemporary society. And that begins with caring for a living body.

FLEXIBILITY

Two days a week I participate in a Water Aerobics class led by an 87-year-old volunteer. I have found that it helps keep my joints flexible. In addition, there is something primordially satisfying about being in water kept at 88 degrees. Perhaps it is because water provided the origin of an evolutionary process that led to Homo sapiens. Or maybe because the human embryo grows in an amniotic sac inside a womb.

Biden's flexibility led Democrats in a new direction.

BALANCE

The first question at one’s annual physical checkup is, “Have you fallen in the past year?” The desirable answer is, “No!” To achieve that answer, another two days a week I engage  in a Senior Exercise class led by a 65-year-old fitness instructor. By building overall muscle strength we enhance our balance. To engage the neuroplasticity of our brains, we learn simple dance steps.

Trees show that balance is a total body experience. 

REBUILDING

Due to repeated actions related to a persistent lifestyle, the brain-body connections of our bodies become rigid or distorted. Some muscle memories receive strong repetition and others weaken. To refresh and rebuild attenuated muscle memories, I attend Yoga once a week. Holding a pose for several deep breaths provides time for the brain/body connection to be renewed and attenuated muscle memory to be recharged.

The sentience of trees.