More Important than Money: Life

Yesterday I highlighted a piece titled Ten Small Things That Can Add Big Years to Your Life when talking about pets. Today I'd like to cover all the tips listed in this piece since living longer is something most people would place above money in importance. Here's their list:

• Daily Workouts
• Not Smoking
• Owning Pets
• Eating Wisely
• Having Good Friends
• Laughing
• Being Nice and Positive
• Meditating
• Taking Time to Relax
• Doing Yoga

And here's the conclusion of these ten:

The majority of above mentioned ways to increase life have a common theme: reducing stress adds years to life.

Here's how I score on these:

1. I don't workout daily, but I do work out four times a week for at least a half hour.
2. I don't smoke. Yuck.
3. I don't own a pet currently, but my kids are chipping away at my wall of resolve. ;-)
4. I do eat fairly well, thanks to my wife.
5. I have several good friends and...
6. ...we laugh a lot together.
7. I consider myself nice and positive, though some of you might disagree with that. ;-)
8. Meditating? Does thinking good thoughts while falling asleep at night count?
9. I take regular times to relax (such as our recent trip to Disney), but probably less than I should.
10. Ha! I get a backache just looking at some of those poses!

I do several other things that decrease stress in my life: grow roses, coach my son's basketball team (it's usually stress-free), read, etc. And to be quite honest, my finances are a source of zero stress. Applying the principles I talk about here regularly has left me debt free and with a solid net worth that allows me to be completely unstressed about my money. I hope everyone reading this can either say the same thing or someday will be able to say it.

How about you? What do you do to decrease stress in your life?

Comments

[Anitra]

Unfortunately, there are several things on that list I don't do (workouts, eating healthy, take time to relax, yoga)...

Regarding meditation, have you tried meditating on a Bible verse or two? Rather than emptying your mind, as transcendental meditation suggests, this fills your mind with what is "excellent, pure, and lovely". Pick a verse or two, and read it over and over; emphasize each word in turn and think about what it means. Try paraphrasing the verse in your own words. After just a few minutes, you'll find that you have a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the subject than you did before. And I find it relaxing, too.

[FMF]

Anitra --

Yes, I've done that often. But since that wasn't what they were advising, I commented on their meaning of meditation.

[thomas]

Know who says Yoga extends your life expectancy? Unemployed yoga instructors.