Seniors Ahead in Happiness

Follow this link to an article by Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. http://www2.asanet.org/journals/asr/. His title is "Social Inequalities in Happiness in the United States", and ta-da, his studies suggest good news for those of us entering Act III of life. Especially those of us who prefer happiness over misery. (I think we all do in our depths. Some people have been so whiplashed by disappointment that they wrap themselves in pessimism and cynicism which of course doesn't make them feel emotionally safer anyway. And...they get few invitations to dinner parties.) Yang reports that Americans are happier in their "senior" years than at other stages of life. He attributes this, in part, to close social relationships that nurture well-being. When I talk to clients about longevity, I often hear "But I don't WANT to live to 100," (or 110, whatever the actuaries are predicting). My inkling is our minds automatically illustrate the idea of living past 90, and the picture is grim, undignified and helpless. Truth is, people who make it to 100 usually are still independent, active and lucid and have little likelihood of dying from a protracted yucky disease. And...only about 4 percent of older Americans live in nursing homes. This good news I found in a book by Bob Gleeson, M.D., "What Healthy People Know". So it's time to edit those old movies in our brains. And of course, we don't have to wait until we're in our seventies to begin living a happier and more fulfilling life. Might start practicing now, even if you just turned 40, or 21.