Healthy body, but vigorous actions.

When young, consider following Ben Franklin’s easy advice, “Happy, Healthy, Wise and Wealthy.” As you get older, transition that advice to Just the right amount of everything. Content, vigorous, forethoughtful, and moderate.

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I asked ChatGPT

Give twenty definitions of healthy

Absolutely! Here are twenty definitions of “healthy”:

1. Physically Fit: Being in good physical condition or shape.
2. Well: Free from illness or injury.
3. Nutritious: Containing beneficial nutrients that promote health.
4. Robust: Strong, healthy, and full of energy.
5. Hale and Hearty: In robust and good health.
6. Wholesome: Conducive to or suggestive of good health and physical well-being.
7. Vigorous: Full of physical strength or active force.
8. Sound: In good condition; not damaged, injured, or diseased.
9. Balanced: Having a diet or lifestyle that creates physical and mental harmony.
10. Flourishing: Developing rapidly and successfully; thriving.
11. Energetic: Showing or involving great activity or vitality.
12. Heart-Healthy: Beneficial to the heart and cardiovascular system.
13. Fit: Suitable and in good enough physical condition.
14. Resilient: Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.
15. Clean: Free from harmful substances; pure.
16. Unimpaired: Not weakened or damaged.
17. Vital: Full of energy; lively.
18. In Fine Fettle: In good health and spirits.
19. Well-Nourished: Having a diet that provides all necessary nutrients.
20. Mentally Sound: Having good mental health and cognitive well-being.

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That covers the abstractions of happiness. Now, let’s search for historical human suggestions.

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I asked ChatGPT

List twenty short sayings about health, including the authors’ names and links.

Here are twenty such sayings:

1. “Health is wealth.” – Common proverb
2. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” – Welsh proverb
3. “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” – Benjamin Franklin
4. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates
5. “To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” – Buddha
6. “The greatest wealth is health.” – Virgil
7. “Health is not valued till sickness comes.” – Thomas Fuller
8. “A healthy outside starts from the inside.” – Robert Urich
9. “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.” – Joseph Pilates
10. “The first wealth is health.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
11. “Health and cheerfulness naturally beget each other.” – Joseph Addison
12. “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” – Jim Rohn
13. “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” – Mahatma Gandhi
14. “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.” – Albert Schweitzer
15. “A fit, healthy body—that is the best fashion statement.” – Jess C. Scott
16. “Your body hears everything your mind says.” – Naomi Judd
17. “In order to change we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.” – Fannie Lou Hamer
18. “Self-care is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation.” – Audre Lorde
19. “Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.” – Thomas Dekker
20. “The mind and body are not separate. What affects one affects the other.” – Unknown

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Health is a wonderful thing, but without vigor, it doesn’t accomplish much of anything.

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I asked ChatGPT

Give twenty definitions of vigorous.

Certainly! Here are twenty definitions of “vigorous”:

1. Strong and Active: Showing physical strength and good health.
2. Energetic: Full of energy and enthusiasm.
3. Robust: Strong and healthy; hardy.
4. Forceful: Powerful and full of force.
5. Dynamic: Characterized by constant change, activity, or progress.
6. Intense: Very strong; very great.
7. Powerful: Having great power or strength.
8. Strenuous: Requiring or using great exertion.
9. Lively: Full of life and energy; active and outgoing.
10. Hearty: (of a person or their behavior) loudly cheerful, enthusiastic, or approbation.
11. Zealous: Full of, characterized by, or due to zeal; ardently active, devoted, or diligent.
12. Aggressive: Assertive, bold, and energetic.
13. Hardy: Capable of enduring difficult conditions; robust.
14. Resilient: Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.
15. Vibrant: Full of energy and life.
16. Sprightly: (especially of an old person) lively; full of energy.
17. Brisk: Active, fast, and energetic.
18. Assertive: Having or showing a confident and forceful personality.
19. Vital: Necessary to life, essential; key; crucial.
20. Industrious: Diligent and hard-working.

These definitions capture various aspects of being vigorous, including physical strength, energy, and a dynamic approach to activities or challenges.

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Health is a condition, but vigor brings awesome thoughts into being.

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I asked ChatGPT

List twenty short sayings about vigor, including the authors’ names linked to Wikipedia.

Here are ten such sayings:

1. “The energy of the mind is the essence of life.” – Aristotle
2. “Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light.” – Dylan Thomas
3. “Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. “Energy and persistence conquer all things.” – Benjamin Franklin
5. “The world belongs to the energetic.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. “Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
7. “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare
8. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
9. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
10. “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

These sayings touch on themes of vigor, such as energy, persistence, and the zest for life, which are central to the concept of vigor.

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Chat usually obeys simple commands, but there appear to be few usages of the word vigor. I was hoping there were more thoughts, like:

Health is the typical tribute of youth and helpful for living a comfortable life, but vigor is a quality of developed character aimed at accomplishing something, and it can be available even in the decrepitude of old age.

#8. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs

Joy and the vigor it generates accompany the progress of making wonderful things.

#9. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer

No matter your circumstance, when you find joy in your actions, you will find the vigor to do the job perfectly.

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The Blue Zones 2nd edition, 9 Lessons for Living Longer by Dan Buettner, Lesson #6

DOWNSHIFT – Take time to relieve stress

To get moving in your Blue Zone, try some of my replacement comments on Dan Buettner’s tips.

Reduce the noise. If something on your life journey isn’t fulfilling your ideal life, then it is clutter, and you should consider eliminating it from your behaviors.

Be early. Make it your habit to begin preparing for departures to totally cover all of the potential contingencies.

Meditate. Spend some quiet time alone every day, letting your mind observe itself, your emotions, and your body.

How to live to one hundred.

When young, consider following Ben Franklin’s easy advice, “Happy, Healthy, Wise and Wealthy.” As you get older, transition that advice to Just the right amount of everything. Content, vigorous, forethoughtful, and moderate.

Some previous Probaway Posts on aging well.

Happy, Healthy, Wise and Wealthy

How can we know when we are happy, healthy, wise and wealthy?

AI measures people – happy, healthy, wise, and wealthy.

A critique of measuring happy, healthy, wise and wealthy.

How can we know when we are happy, healthy, wise and wealthy?

Happy, Healthy, Wise and Wealthy

Happy, healthy, wise and wealthy updated.

How long do health influencers live?

Episode 1 of 3

Episode 2 of 3

Episode 3 of 3

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Surprising centenarians lived to tell their stories.

Bud Anderson

Bob Sharp

Glenn Tierney

The Blue Zones 2nd edition, 9 Lessons for Living Longer by Dan Buettner, Lesson #5

PURPOSE NOW – Take time to see the big picture

To get moving in your Blue Zone, try some of my replacement comments on Dan Buettner’s tips.

Craft a personal mission statement. I modified the statement attributed to Ben Franklin, “Happy, Healthy, Wise and Wealthy” to “Content, Vigorous, Forethoughtful, and Enough.“

Find a partner. My companion and I have, for thirty-nine years, transitioned through many strange and wonderful experiences, and I go to sleep every night with a heartfelt smile. I cannot see a smile on her face during the night, but I do feel her warmth and care.

Learn something new. I see so many new things every day that I intentionally put my gaze down when I am going somewhere important, or I get so distracted with interesting new things that I will be late.

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The weather isn’t cold; it’s my clothing that was inappropriate.

The temperature was down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit last night, so Mirror Pond had frozen over.

On the way to the Commons Coffee Shop, I passed what appeared to be a home for a hobbit or some other small, reclusive being.

From inside the Commons coffee shop, the view looked comfortable enough, out there, but my buddies and I sat inside.

I got my Caffe Latte first and sat down on our large and comfortable couches.

In only two hours, our group of old guys succeeded in solving all of the world’s problems, and we went our merry ways.

This is what a morning of pleasant conversation produces.

The Blue Zones 2nd edition, 9 Lessons for Living Longer by Dan Buettner, Lesson #4

Lesson 4 Strategies from page 281

To get moving in your Blue Zone, try some of my replacement comments on Dan’s tips.

Buy a case of high-quality red wine.

We buy a couple of bottles of wine occasionally, which generally sit around for a month or more before we drink them. The hesitancy arises because a bottle is far more than we want, so it takes a couple of days to drink one. Perhaps if it were of higher quality, we would drink more, but I doubt it.

Treat yourself to a “Happy Hour.”

My “Happy Hour.” is my midday meal with Debbie. Occasionally, we do share a glass of wine or beer. At least once a month, we go to a restaurant, and there we always share a glass of wine or a beer. Because we have only a few places we eat out, the people there treat us as family, and we have some conversations.

Also, I have a happy hour, actually two, every Thursday morning with some friends where we discuss everything with candor and a drink.

Take it easy.

My doctors and interviewers at the VA (Veterans Administration medical-service) always ask their patients if they drink. I always say yes, but they are shocked when I say, “Every day.” This is accurate, but my drink alone is always a sip from a bottle of Scotch whisky, about a teaspoon. Never more! I find it very refreshing to just savor the flavor for as long as it lasts.

The Blue Zones 2nd edition, 9 Lessons for Living Longer by Dan Buettner, Lesson #3

Lesson 3 Strategies from page 279

To get moving in your Blue Zone, try some of my comments on these tips.

Eat four to six vegetable servings daily. Drink a glass of water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar before eating, and have water or a beverage to sip on during your meal. Eat a large mixed salad before your proteins, finish with carbs, and quietly rinse your teeth with water before getting up.

Limit the intake of meat. Blue zone centenarians only eat two meat meals per week; even those servings are modest. Eating meat is associated with colon cancer and is proportional to total consumption. According to the World Health Organization, processed meat is a Class 1 carcinogen.

Showcase fruits and vegetables. Put the healthiest foods where they are visible to casual observation as you walk through your kitchen and dining room. Hide candies, cakes, and beverages out of sight, and even in the pantry and refrigerator, put them at the back, out of sight.

Lead with beans. Eat beans every day, as they are cheap, easy to mix with many good things, and healthy. It is suitable for weight maintenance and gut health, and it encourages you toward a more nutritious diet. Eat them earlier in your meals, and you will not crave sweets.

Eat nuts every day. Set out a bowl of mixed nuts and dried fruits for a closing meal snack. Walnuts, almonds, and a Brazil nut will cover some unusual daily needs. They have less sugar than candy mints, pie, cake, and ice cream.

Stock up. Keep a month’s supply of all essential foods available in your home. Rice, beans, and grains can be sealed and stored in a dark place, but you must keep perishable foods in a refrigerator or freezer.

The Blue Zones 2nd edition, 9 Lessons for Living Longer by Dan Buettner #2

Lesson 2 Strategies from page 273

To get moving in your Blue Zone, try some of my comments on these tips.

Serve and store. Learn how much you need to eat by serving your food onto your plate and bowl in the kitchen, putting the food away, and transferring your meal into your dining area. After a few days, you will be a good judge of how much you need to eat in that meal.

Make food look bigger. This can be done by adding plenty of vegetables to the calorie portion of the meal.

Use small vessels. By using small serving vessels, you can adjust your perception to better fit what you need.

Make snacking a hassle. Hide leftovers from a meal in the refrigerator or behind closed pantry doors. If you like, put fruits and vegetables into nice bowls for display, but always keep candy and deserts out of sight.

Buy smaller packages. Shopping at Costco can be a disaster because they package their things in huge quantities. So, when you get home, pour small quantities into small containers and refill them as needed.

Give yourself a daily reminder. Weigh yourself every morning as part of your wake-up routine. It will help to motivate yourself to move toward your ideal weight. Do a little research on what that weight might be. As a starting point, choose a weight from your early twenties when you felt the best.

Eat more slowly. Eating with other people helps you eat more slowly because you get involved in the conversation and can pace yourself with talking and eating.

Focus on food. If eating alone, don’t watch TV, and when watching TV in the evening for entertainment, avoid having drinks and goodies to munch on.

Have a seat. Make a habit of always sitting down when you eat, and make a point of enjoying your food. Have a full glass of water handy, and have some before and along with your meal. Also, rinse your teeth after by gently swishing the water between them, especially if you end up with a sugary dessert.

Eat early. To maintain a healthy body, eat early in the day and totally avoid anything caloric within six hours of going to bed. That will automatically give you a long enough period of fasting to let your body find its ideal weight.

The Blue Zones 2nd edition, 9 Lessons for Living Longer by Dan Buettner

Lesson one Strategies from page 268

To get moving in your Blue Zone, try some of these tips.

Inconvenience yourself: by doing things that are a little bit more action-demanding. For example: Walk around your home to get needed things. Go to the closet to get the broom when you spill something, and after the cleanup, put the broom back.

Have fun. Keep moving: Take a five-minute break every hour you are sitting, grab a portable drink, and keep walking.

Walk: Take at least two twenty-minute walks every day, which can be combined with shopping or walking the dog.

Make a date: Combine your walking with a spouse or friend so you can get relaxing exercise and some essential social conversation.

Plant a garden: This is an easy activity that requires frequent, low-intensity activity and gives you the satisfaction of seeing something that depends on your work to grow.

Enroll in a yoga class: Practice some yoga at least twice a week to maintain your physical, mental, and emotional balance.

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I am doing well in all those categories, but there’s no gardening in the winter. The yoga meeting is called a meditation, with a conversation afterward. I’m not doing so well in some of the coming lessons.

How can an ordinary person prepare for 2024?

Perhaps I don’t watch enough media to discover how the pundits are suggesting to cope with the chaos that is a tsunami of problems coming at us this year. AI will supposedly find many beautiful things that will benefit humanity, but the downside is that these things will put many people out of work. Intellectuals and artists are among the biggest losers because they won’t be able to compete with the simple beauty that Chat and other AI bots create. Also, those professions like lawyers, who were required to know a lot of law cases so they could find ways of helping their clients, are being totally displaced by these same bots that can scan all the legal cases ever printed and prove any absurdity needed at the moment.

Many other types of routine jobs, like long-haul truck drivers who spend hours driving straight ahead on four-lane highways, are easily replaced for 99 percent of their straight-ahead driving. Another thing already being implemented is self-driving cars that come directly to your home, take you to where you want to go, and immediately go on to another customer’s call. When you request to go home, another self-driving car that happens to be in your vicinity directly replaces the one that brought you. An ordinary person drives less than 10,000 miles per year, but one of these self-driving cars could drive 100,000 miles yearly, so it would be much cheaper for a company to own because it would be fully utilized. By the end of 2024, these may begin replacing personal cars in some cities.

The take-home message on these questions is not to purchase a new car now, especially if you will make payments for years. Your car will become an expensive albatross tied around your neck that you must pay for, when if you didn’t buy it, you could just call an automatic car to pick you up in a minute, at a very minimal cost for a trip. If you have some kind of disability, anything will do; you can probably get free transportation.

Why owe $50,000 when you can ride for free?