Joyous Longevity: The A-Z Field Guide

by Sieglinde Othmer

Overview

If you are freaking out over a milestone birthday-your own or that of a loved one, If you worry about getting older; if you just detected another wrinkle on your face, stop fretting right now and open this book.

Here are 26 simple, common-sense tips from A to Z to help you get through life, to cheer you up, to brighten your soul and to hearten your resolve to thrive.

This short read will:

Impact the way you think about agingMotivate you to look at habits that support healthy longevityInspire you to be more activeEnrich your day-to-day enjoyment of lifeEncourage you to feel gratitude and make you smile

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781737602804
Publisher:	Joyous Longevity Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/03/2024
Pages:	146
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Sieglinde Othmer, PhD earned her doctorate in social sciences at the University of Hamburg, Germany. A refugee, immigrant, academic, administrator, researcher, and gardener, she raised three children and three dogs, and has traveled to over forty countries. In this book, she shares the wisdom she has acquired in eighty years of living. She is a board member of the United Nations Greater Kansas City chapter. She resides in Parkville, Missouri, on a lake where Canada geese fly over, where blue herons fish, and where great horned owls keep night watch. Her purpose is to help people feel good about their age. At any age.

Editorial Reviews

★ 2024-12-06
Othmer presents an alphabetical guide to the many joys and challenges of getting older.

In the face of an aging population and increasing anxiety about old-age years, the author here offers a collection of thoughts, inspirations, and encouragements arranged around an alphabetical structure (from “Awake” to “Zen”). Othmer’s advice isn’t concerned with practicalities like navigating health or finances; rather, she concentrates on the emotional and behavioral sides of getting older, always with the aim of helping readers age “intentionally with wisdom, grace, and fun.” Each of the book’s brief chapters takes its alphabetical cue, ruminates for a bit on the topic, and ends by offering some suggestions as to how readers might pursue the cue further on their own. Noting that “N” is for “Nature,” Othmer discusses the Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku (“forestbathing”) and encourages readers to get in touch with the wild world: “Being in nature for two or three hours a week is proven to boost mental health, reducing the stress hormone cortisol,” she writes. Warning against the personal isolation that can be so damaging to the elderly, she consistently emphasizes the need for community (“S is for Socializing”). “Cooking, eating, and cleaning up together, sharing ideas, learning from each other, teasing, and relying on each other,” the author asserts, creates a “forcefield of care” that takes some of the sting out of being older. On every page of this slim volume, Othmer is encouraging and optimistic, highlighting the joys and opportunities of getting older and always reminding her readers (whether they’re getting older themselves or know someone who is) that they can change their own attitudes. “Make joy your habit,” she urges. “It is your good fortune to be alive on this day.”

A bright-minded and very winning call to look on the bright side of aging.

Kirkus Reviews