Age: Word of the Week with Jean Edelman

When we accept ourselves for who we are, we can age gracefully without guilt or judgment

Ric Edelman: Time now for everybody's favorite segment of the program, visit by my wife, Jean Edelman. Jean is a student of the healing arts, reiki, traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture and, of course, macrobiotic and plant-based cooking. Here's Jean.

Jean Edelman: Hello. Great to be with you this week. This week, my word is age. It's just a number. What matters is how we feel, and the goal is to feel good. The goal is to wake up each day without pain and stiffness. I know you're rolling your eyes. We need, because how many of us wake up without pain and stiffness? But we need to stop the illusion that as we age, we can't be strong, healthy and vibrant.

The key is to connect the dots to understand that how we treat our body in our 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, will affect our long-term health and vitality as we enter our 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond. You heard our good friend Ken Dychtwald, the founder of Age Wave, in his interview with Ric. Feeling good is about our diet, exercise, sleep, reducing stress, our relationships, our continued learning. We do not need to prove ourselves to anyone. We have the wisdom from our life's experiences. We shift from jobs and commitments to having freedom to learn, to recreate ourselves.

And so an action item for this week, have you made a major life change? Take some time to chart out your list of new experiences, new classes. Maybe it's an outdoor experience, a hike, train for a mini marathon. What health changes will you make? Will you be taking daily walks? Maybe shift to a plant-based diet? Maybe learn to cook for the first time? This is our time, the time when we get to focus on ourselves.

No guilt. No judgment. And so, my word of the week is AGE.

A is for accept.

Accept ourselves for who we are. All the bumps and scrapes that have gotten us to this moment, we should be proud of. Proud of our accomplishments, proud of everything that we've gone through to date and excited for what's to come.

G is for grace.

Give ourselves grace. We are so hard on ourselves. We're children and every day is new and glorious. Be available for what can appear in our day.

And E is for expand.

We want to expand our mind. We can change everything. We can be a 70-year-old body builder. We can be a long-distance swimmer. We can paint and create anything we want if we expand our mind to believe that we can. Don't get stuck in the stereotype of an age. We create what it looks like. We create what we want it to be. It can be so much fun. There's no rules as to what and how we need to be. These are our best decades. Dream big. Have a great week, everybody.

Ric Edelman: That was Jean Edelman here on The Truth About Your Future, and if you want to get more of Jean's words of the week, just go to TheTruthAYF.com.