"Paradise" Is a State of Mind

As increasingly many Baby Boomers retire, a few are looking for that perfect place to spend the rest of their lives -- thinking that it is one place for all, rather than that perfect place that exists only in their mind.  Undoubtedly, a large part of it has to do with their external environment, but even more has to do with the place they have achieved internally on their own -- and that is a state of grace, and peace of mind.  That is the happy place.

Each gets there on their own unique path -- as a product of their own living -- and responses to the challenges of their own lives.  Those challenges are different for everyone -- and what they make of it.  And of course, there are many who get lost along the way, as well as the many more who have no clue -- about their meaning and purpose in life, but have allowed others to determine their fate for them.

But to an unprecedented degree and extent, we should realize that life is what we individually make of it -- from all the choices available to us, and not the only limited few we choose every day to repeat -- even to the well-proven disastrous results.  Those are because of our actions and decisions -- and not in spite of them, and those who can accept that realization and responsibilities, go on to achieve that greater state of mind and peace.  It is not just for another to give to everyone -- no matter how great and powerful.  The power is one's ability to give to themselves.

The first line of defense, is realizing the control others have on their own thinking and the desire to control another -- in the various ways of daily interactions that make the world seem greater -- or less.  Often, that power takes precedence over one's own ability to determine for themselves -- as what it must be for everyone, as though anyone had that right.

Maybe in another place and time -- in another era.  But now, increasingly, the lives we live are of our own choosing -- if we choose to make it so.  Many would rather not have those responsibilities and would rather others simply tell them what to think and how to live their lives.  Then of course, their choices will be made for and by the other's benefit -- and not necessarily for their own.  That can only best be served by making those choices for oneself -- as best they can determine.  So the best they can determine, is the best they can do -- and to choose otherwise, is to abdicate that responsibility to all the others.  Those results, will be less than ideal -- obviously.  Included in this, are all the addictions and compulsions people allow to take over their lives -- that spiral out of control -- to predictably disastrous and fatal results.

Where did they go so obviously wrong?  Less obvious, are the poor choices that take one's vitality slowly -- over the course of their lives, preventing them from reaching the best of their lives.  That is by far, the greatest loss of opportunity in the world today -- still.  People not making the best of their lives -- and then wondering, "What happened?"  They may live their whole lives in that denial.

Looking Backwards

The major problem of extended lifespans -- is the notable failure of the expressive and cognitive  organs located at the extremities -- of the head, hands and feet, even while more centrally placed organs like the heart, lungs, digestive tract remain viable and intact.  However, when that disengagement occurs, the quality of life and living, is greatly compromised and limits the full enjoyment of every capacity.  That is particularly so with the functioning of the brain -- which of course, plays a major part of all functioning.  There is nothing that is not connected to it -- and thus should be recognized as the critical path upon which all functioning is dependent on.

Thus the curse of otherwise "healthy" modern life, is the failure at these extremities (articulations) -- usually labeled as arthritis at the hands and feet, and dementia in the brain -- particularly in those people, more susceptible to poor circulation to those extremities -- which can be greatly rectified, by using the musculature at those extremities -- to function as adjunct hearts dedicated to the purpose of increasing the flow from and to those areas -- of notably poor circulation.  Obviously, that contributes greatly to their dysfunction and disease -- when because of their genetic blueprint -- those areas are not serviced by the nervous and circulatory systems as a priority or even adequately, by practice and (pre)disposition.

That is not immutable -- but greatly influenced and determined by actual behaviors, exercise and conditioning -- because that (mental) functioning occurs not only internally -- but is manifested externally as well -- by the frequency of such movements -- or absence thereof.  It is the lack of this responsiveness, that is what distinguishes these conditions in such individuals -- that increasingly grows worse, with up to now, no remedies for their improvement.  They simply get worse -- because there is no improvement (movement) in their responsiveness.  At that point, many just do not care -- or act like it.  Again, that is the problem of diminishing responsiveness -- they act like they just don't care, or fail to respond appropriately -- anymore.

Yelling louder will not result in greater acknowledgement or compliance -- nor increasing the bar for appropriate responses -- as many unthinking demand.  So of course such people become increasingly frustrated -- that their demands go ignored, which may be precisely the response merited.  Eventually it becomes the way it is -- especially when the basic needs can be satisfied anyway.  That is the classic codependent relationship.  The more one can get by doing as little as possible for themselves, the greater that dependence will become -- at the expense of the remaining viable life.

That is the personality as well as culture fostered in failing segments of the population.  They don't get better -- and can only get worse, unless they take drastic action for their own improvement.  It cannot be done by others -- for them.  Yet it is the simple ability to turn their heads in a 360 degree rotation from left to right -- and back again -- that optimizes the circulation to the brain, as well as the musculature of the expressions of the face -- that characterize liveliness and animation (responsiveness).  Those features don't come automatically -- but are expressed and exercised by those who wish to optimize their effects.

People with winning smiles, practice it.  People with dour expressions etched on their faces, have gotten that way by practice and conditioning.  That should be obvious to anyone with the least consciousness of human behavior and expression.  But cultures can be in denial -- and even convincing, that everything is the opposite of what is plain and obvious to any observer.  Instead, they prefer to have "expert" opinion decipher and explain everything to them -- so nobody has to think for themselves.  It's much easier and more profitable that way -- even at the cost of many lives.  That would be the continuation of the status quo.

It doesn't matter how many lives are sacrificed that way -- as long as the status quo is defended and preserved.  Usually there is some person receiving most of the funding for this -- and the situation to get increasingly worse -- as long as they are "in charge."  That's what they're getting paid for.  Thus, they never want anything to change -- and they make a good living from the way things are, and hope to remain so -- for the foreseeable future.  That is their "job security."

So one must not depend solely on such experts who offer them no hope but to follow their advice -- even if it doesn't work, and offers them no hope.  For them to seek out any alternatives, they warn would be even worse -- because there is no hope, and one should not delude themselves that there is.

Life is not indefinite -- but there is always hope -- if not in this life, then there is the next.  But way before then, one has to do everything possible to improve in this life -- including trying everything possible to do so -- including the only plausible and sensible.  What can one lose?  One should have that attitude not only at the end -- but also in all the moments of one's life, because it is by having that attitude and understanding, that opens them up to all the possibilities -- especially the unthinkable and extraordinary.

But it always begins with a simple thing -- a simple movement -- that brings about the next, and shortly, takes on a life of its own -- that couldn't have been foreseen, from what one knew before.That is the simplicity of life and human evolution -- that life always returns to the basics and most fundamental things -- that were overlooked.  What capacities and functionality is most important to maintain and improve? -- even at 100?

Is that running a marathon or lifting the most weight?  Or simply the ability to say "No," to all that -- even in the most rudimentary way -- moving the head all the way to the left, and all the way to the right -- as the basic indicator of functionality and competence.  It's that easy, simple and obvious.  It is also the movement necessary to initiate movement at the most rudimentary level -- of turning the body from total immobility -- of the sort that inevitably results in bed sores -- from the lack of any movement off of the constant and unrelenting pressure points.

It is the same for lesser but increasing immobilities -- as the failure to turn over from a fall on one's back.  Then one is like the proverbial cockroach or turtle helpless on its back -- until it can muster a single burst of energy that turns them over.  That motion of the body is called "torque," or the twisting motion -- always originating at the extremity, called the insertion of that muscle -- because the insertion must always move towards the origin (base) in any contraction (movement).  That is to note, that the "core" will not move to the extremity -- but any movement has to be initiated at the extremity -- back towards the origin or core.

That is the critical understanding that most people lack of all movement -- that it has to be "fired" neurologically -- from the extremity rather than at the core on out.  Movement cannot happen in that manner -- because it is not hardwired to work that way -- no matter how many pushups or laps one does without that understanding.  Similarly, the problem of circulation is not critically one of going to the extremity, but coming from the extremity -- because there is no pumping action from the extremity to optimize the circulation -- no matter what its genetic predisposition.  So the solution is not to make the heart work harder and faster -- but to produce an alternation of the muscles at the extremity that evacuates the stagnant fluids accumulating at the extremities so that fluid can be revitalized and recirculated -- rather than allowing to buildup toxicities that destroy the oxygen sensitive nerve tissues -- eventually destroying the capacity to respond.

And of course, the situation becomes increasingly worse.  Thus if one were to prioritize those movements and capacities (organs) one wishes to to maintain and improve throughout a lengthy lifespan -- that is what one must do -- rather than all the superfluous activities that have proven are totally ineffective over time.   That is the only thing that will work with age.  One has to do the right thing -- and not just anything -- as though that were the same thing -- thinking there is no difference.  It makes a difference.  I doesn't hurt to start the proper practice at the earliest age one can think of it.  In fact, it will optimize improvement over a lifetime.