Focusing Illusion

Considering the long lives most of us will likely enjoy, our goal should be to maximize the quality and experience of those final decades.

What will that experience look like, is a question worth pondering today. What do you want to be able to keep doing in your golden years?

Take a moment for this activity:

Close your eyes
Take a few deep breaths to relax and let go
Ask yourself: What are the three things you want to be able to do in your 80s?

Go on… it’s just a minute…

Did any of these make your list?… Losing the ability to recognize your family due to dementia? Being wheelchair-bound from severe muscle atrophy? Relying on a feeding tube to eat and drink? Living in an old age home with no friends or meaningful relationships?

I doubt it.

And yet, sarcopenia, neurodegeneration, and social frailty are equally probable. If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, all the more.

If you want to stay strong and sane in your 80s, you need to be strong and sane in your 60s. Which means you need to be really, really strong and sane today.

Sure, there are apps, devices, and regimes tracking all your key biological markers. But this is a focusing illusion – a mismatch in attention allocation. We obsess over lifespan metrics (short-term gains) and neglect the bigger picture of healthspan awareness (long-term well-being).

You can track nutrition, count your calories, and measure your glycemic load. But you need mindfulness to truly experience satiety.

You can follow exercise regimes, control your weight with diet plans, and monitor your REM cycles. But you need mindfulness to listen to your body.

You can subscribe to calming music, practice meditation in Himalayas, hear discourses on life. But you need mindfulness to build your cognitive reserve.

You can own multiple houses, build a lucrative bank balance, and visit all the exotic destinations. But you need mindfulness to savor the happiness that comes from contributing to others.

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“Extraordinary results come from doing ordinary things exceptionally well, consistently, and over a long time.”

Becoming the Buddha or The Rock of your own life is about applying first principles.

Drink the medicine of right thinking and right doing everyday.

Here’s a list of simple healthspan metrics to guide your longevity journey.