A Conversation About Aging Well

That Led to an Important Insight

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

Last week, I talked about wellbeing - a term that I learned about during a recent conversation with a long-time friend. This friend, Dinesh, is an entrepreneur, transformation coach, and global citizen. He is passionate about integrative wellness and co-founded the Global Integrative Wellness Network. The network guides organizations in using the pressure of change to upgrade wellbeing, performance, and consciousness.

In our conversation, Dinesh talked about being joyful and peaceful - feelings that have eluded me. I wanted to share portions of our discussion with you.

• He defines aging well as being healthy and happy.

• He sees the dimensions of wellness as being interconnected and interactive. He says, “Integrating our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness enhances our overall quality of life.”

• He rates himself as a 7 or 8 on a scale of 1-10 regarding healthy aging. However, he wants to be more joyous, calm, confident, and in control of his emotions - not letting circumstances interfere with his health and happiness.

• Dinesh strives to live in bliss - to be happy and peaceful, have a purpose, and understand himself.

• He plans to open two wellbeing centers - one in India and the other in the San Francisco Bay Area during the next three years and hopes to touch many lives during his lifetime.

• Dinesh believes people need a support system, clarity of purpose, health, and happiness to age well. They also need to love themselves enough to put themselves first.

• He thinks people who take responsibility for their actions empower themselves to create change in their lives and positively influence their circumstances.

• He talked about wellbeing or contentment with life, which he applies to the corporate environment. He says, “recognition and wellbeing, together, can pave the way for improved business outcomes.”

Wellness refers to a state of physical health in which people have the ability and energy to do what they want without chronic suffering.

Wellbeing encompasses the broader all-inclusive dimensions of a well-lived life.

Although there are other definitions, the Gallup website identified five elements of well-being that add up to a thriving life.

• You like what you do every day.

• You have meaningful friendships in your life.

• You manage your money well.

• You have the energy to get things done.

• You like where you live.

While Dinesh focuses on companies and employee contentment, I began thinking about wellbeing in terms of individual joy and aging well - which was the catalyst for last week’s article. That conversation has been on my mind. I’ve made changes because of it.

P.S. There are two spellings of the word: well-being and wellbeing. For now, I have chosen to use the later one- it seemed to fit with wellness better.

If you want to contribute to my work, consider donating to the Alzheimer's Association. This link takes you to their website. The choice is yours.