September 09, 2010

Aging Gracefully With A Quest For Positive Change



This week’s Beauty of the Week is Ginny Hutchinson who turned 50 this year. Every now and then we need a reminder of how good life is.  Luckily, Ginny and her long time friend Cathy Haffner, who are both former business executives, have written a very handy book called Better Because of You, that does just this. Their book encourages readers to change how we think, and reminds us that we can be an irresistible force for positive change. One of the book’s core beliefs is that life is what we think.

I totally agree.

Ginny has this to share about aging happily:

“As I mark this year with a 5-0, I’m thrilled to be getting older.  The alternative is much worst!  To truly celebrate my 50 years on our planet, I’ve chosen to embrace my life and this year try 50 new things….or about 1 per week. They range from small, new activities – like standing on my head in yoga or baking bread from scratch, to larger feats like trekking near Everest Base Camp. I’m Better Because of Aging. With each new day, I am getting older, but wiser and better, too!  I look at age as gain, not drain. By keeping life fun and interesting, it helps keep me young at heart.”

Better Because interviewed Harvard Professor, Dr. Nicholas Christakis who was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World (2009) because of his findings from a 20+ year study on the affect of positive and negative emotions. What is his take? That happiness is contagious.  If you would like to hear more about what I think is a very interesting study click here.

Also, below is an interview with Ginny and Cathy on the NBC Seattle Evening News.

Ginny and Cathy, I'm not kidding when I say this:

I feel better because of you.