Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 302 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

9 Ways to Stay Young

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 302 of our trek, and yesterday we explored the 9 different moments each day that will bring us happiness. Today we are going to travel on the Fountain of Youth Trail and learn 9 ways to stay young.

Thank you so much for coming along with me each day as we explore and consume these “nuggets of wisdom.”  These bits of wisdom help us to live a rich and satisfying life while creating a living legacy. While some of our daily treks are multi-part series, you can join us at any time and start along with us from that point on.  If you would like to listen to any of the past episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal. You can also subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on iTunes, Spreaker, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and Google Play so each day’s trek will be downloaded to you automatically.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. It was a great weekend of activities. Our three older children and their families were with us Saturday, and we had a family Easter dinner that evening. On Sunday together we worshiped our Risen Savior Jesus Christ. What a great blessing it was.

We also have the blessing of our grandson Kip staying with us for this week. We will continue our renovations and have a full client load, so it will be a challenging week accomplishing all that we would like to complete. We are glad that we are young both mentally and physically for our age, as it gives us the strength to carry on even when we are busy.

There are certain habits or character traits that will help you to feel and stay young. On our trail today we will explore and examine…

9 Ways to Stay Young

Youth is wasted on the young—or at least, that’s what has been declared, but it would be a travesty if it were true. Youth is not only a time of life; it’s also a state of mind.  Paula and I often speak on how we still feel that we are in our 30s.  We do still consider ourselves young—and we intend to stay that way.

You can have a youthful outlook and attitude at an older age, or an old-fogey attitude at a young age. The choice is yours.  Want to stay young at heart and mind? Here are a few ideas to help you:

1. Keep only cheerful, positive friends.

You can pick your friends, and I like to choose those who are positive and those who challenge me. They make me feel good. They don’t drag me down or make me angry at the world. Negative people see the difficulty in every opportunity while positive people see the opportunity in every difficulty. We need to be choosy of who we become close friends with or spend a lot of time with. 1 Corinthians 15:33 tells us, “Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”

2. Keep learning.

I think Henry Ford put it best when he said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”  You should consider that you are a disciple all of your life. Never stop learning.

3. Enjoy the simple things.

Don’t forget to take the time to enjoy the things that you like to do—go for a walk or to the movies, read a good book, watch a favorite TV show, or spend time with your family. To stay young, you have to have a good balance in life.

4. Laugh often.

Starting your day with a good laugh, or, at least, a big smile, is as beneficial to your health as it is to your mood. Scientific studies have concluded that laughter benefits the heart, lungs, stomach, and other organs. It relaxes tension, changes attitude, and increases the body’s natural painkillers. Plus, it has no harmful side effects.

5. Stay in shape.

Exercise is good for your mind as well as your body. Studies show that healthy employees have decreased absenteeism, improved performance, and improved morale. I’ve always felt that a healthy life is a dynamic life.

The human body is the only machine that wears out faster if it is not used. Cherish your health. If you’re healthy, do what you can to preserve it. If your health is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

6. Be happy.

You are responsible for your own happiness. We sometimes convince ourselves that life will be better after we get a better job, make more money, get married, have a baby, or buy a bigger house. Yet the accomplishment of any of those events might not make any difference at all. If you are not happy with the stuff you have now, you will never be happy with more stuff. There is no magic secret to happiness, but it starts in your head.

7. Don’t stress out.

You can’t escape stress, but you can avoid creating unnecessary anxiety. You just need to find a stress reliever. Mine is running, working on renovating The Big House, and working on the lawn. If the stress just doesn’t go away, then you have to make some changes in your life that might be more stressful in the short term but healthier in the long run. Philippians 4:6 tells us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

8. Don’t take guilt trips.

I remember a story about the worry tree. At night, an accountant would go home from work and place all his worries on a tree in his front yard. The next morning he would pick up those worries on his way to work, but surprisingly, they weren’t as heavy the next day. Taking trips can be enjoyable, but stay off the guilt trips.

9. Visualize yourself as youthful and with endless energy.

I learned years ago that visualization through life planning is the most powerful means of attaining personal goals. Visionaries can achieve whatever they want by determining a plan to attain it and expecting positive results. Visualization doesn’t do the planning, and it doesn’t anticipate the obstacles. But, it gives you a real idea of what is possible, if you want it bad enough. Vision is not so much what you think as how you think. If you can visualize it, you can make it happen. If you have a vision to build a house, you must take care of the preliminary requirements before beginning as it tells us in Proverbs 24:27, “Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house.”

Harvey MacKay put it into perspective, 

If you want to stay youthful, stay useful.

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Along our trek for today, we learned the 9 ways that will help you stay young. As we hike our trail tomorrow, we will search for the 9 signposts to turn endings into new beginnings. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!