Right Livelihood and Longevity
For me,
meeting interesting people, however briefly, is one of the great rewards of travel.
On my last evening in Los Angeles a couple of years ago, my daughter suggested
that we have dinner at The Milky Way. This tiny restaurant is lovingly run by
Leah Adler, a little pixie who just happens to have given birth to Steven
Spielberg. Her utter joy in making her customers happy is obvious as she flits
from table to table chatting with everyone.
She
seemed to be having such a good time that I thought being a restaurateur must
be a new occupation for her. When she came to inquire about our dinner, I asked
her if she was at the restaurant every day. "Oh, yes," she said.
"I leave home at 8:30 every morning and I'm here until closing. I've been
doing this for 25 years and there's no place I'd rather be. I get to plan
dishes with the cooks, flirt with old men and drink wine. What could be better
than that?" She also confided that she would be 82 on her next birthday
and had no plans to retire.
Leah
Adler is living proof of the longevity-enhancing rewards of right livelihood.
What a contrast she is to all those folks who think life will begin once they
retire.
A few
weeks earlier, I'd gone to my post office and was waited on by a clerk that's
been there most of the time that I've had my mailbox. Since I knew that his
retirement was coming soon, I asked, "How much longer, Jeff?" "A
hundred and forty-seven days," was his instant reply. Imagine spending
your time in such a way that you're counting the days.
More and
more studies now show that every day we spend doing work that we hate is very
expensive. It robs us of our creative spirit, impacts our attitude and physical
well-being in a negative way, and causes us to miss out on the adventure that
our personal life journey was intended to be.
A week or
so after Leah Adler had me thinking about joyful work and longevity, Aging with Grace
by David Snowdon hit the bookstores. I've been
waiting eagerly for this book ever since I first heard about his revolutionary
studies on aging which he conducted with groups of lively, long-living nuns.
Since these women had nearly identical lifestyles, they were an especially
useful group to study. Snowdon admits that his
findings contained many surprises — along with a few
mysteries. Some of the longevity factors shared by the nuns included the fact
that they didn't smoke or drink and lived in a community where basic needs were
provided.
However,
several key factors are readily available to those of us not choosing a
cloistered life. Snowdon discovered essays written by
the women upon entering the convent and found that those who were positive
about themselves and had good language skills were (without exception) the
liveliest in old age. Healthy old age begins early, he says.
Another
important aspect of these women's lives is that they are devoted lifelong
learners, participating in daily discussion groups and continuing to keep their
brains exercised. That's a finding substantiated by Gene Cohen, director of the
Center on Aging at George Washington University. "If you want to enhance
mental functioning as you age," says Cohen, "make it a point to learn
something new, instead of turning to ginkgo biloba.
The best research shows that hormones are nothing compared to taking a
continuing education course for mind expansion."
Since a positive attitude
and curiosity are traits we can all cultivate, it also seems obvious that doing
work you love could be a valuable form of life insurance. At any rate, I'm
planning to keep Leah Adler as my role model and I'm already flirting with more
old men — just to make sure I'm ready.