Active Thinking Topic 85 - Life in the Rear View Mirror 23 & 25 June 2024 Recommended viewing: SoarTogether (23 Sept 2021) "The Rear View Mirror Life." @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Tsc_aPJwE [3 minutes] Talking Points: 1. So what about the luck of the draw ... Were you born in the right country at the right time to the right parents? Better options? 2. What risks did you take or avoid that with rear vision wisdom you would now do differently .. or would you make the same choices? 3. What change over time has there been in the way you see your own character & talents viz a viz the rest of the human circus? 4. Looking back, do you think you were smart, or not smart, about choosing a career and getting an education? Why, why not? 5. What do you now know about health, exercise & medicine in general, or your own situation in particular, that you wish an earlier version of you understood? 6. What have you learned about trust, and distrust, friendship and relationships that you would love to tell an earlier version of yourself? 7. How has the way you evaluate other people changed over time? 8. What did you once spend money on that you now think was pure waste? 9. At the end of World War II Australia had 8 million people, 97% English-Irish-Scots-Welsh. Now in 2024 it has 26 million people and 300+ source cultures. If you had some magic power to go back and steer Australia's development, would you bring it to where we are now? Why or why not? What would you change? 10. Climate change is seen by many younger people (and some older ones) as a huge threat to the future their own children might face. For some, that influences everything from their politics to the decision to have children. For my generation the crushing fear was nuclear Armageddon (the risk is still there). At age 20 I didn't really expect to have a 25th birthday. Looking back, how has your attitude to huge global risks like this changed? Why? 11. Part of the politics of many countries is lived through a rear vision mirror. There are dreams of past glory and resentment of the present. Political nationalism (in my view, a form of collective mental illness) feeds on this stuff. What are some present examples in international affairs? What are some cures? Extra reading & viewing Cheenu G Srinivasan (April 19, 2016) "Am I driving my life looking into the rear view mirror?" Linkedin @ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/am-i-driving-my-life-looking-rear-view-mirror-gowrikanthan/ Thor May (2020) "Reflections On Turning 75 (expanded)". Academia.edu @ https://www.academia.edu/44038894/Reflections_On_Turning_75_expanded _ [pdf] OR http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/ReflectionsOnTurning75.htm [Quote: "I want a big, red reset button. The world I met ain't like what I was told about.. (Yes, you are different. You charmingly met an alternate world and will disagree with everything to follow)"]. SoarTogether (23 Sept 2021) "The Rear View Mirror Life." @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Tsc_aPJwE ESN (n.d.) "Why Are We Waiting For Tomorrow to Start Living?" Erasmus Generation Blog @ https://blog.erasmusgeneration.org/why-are-we-waiting-tomorrow-start-living Dr Rangan Chatterjee (Jun 2024) " Life Is Short: 103-Year-Old Shares 5 Lessons For The Next 50 Years Of Your Life | Gladys McGarey." Youtube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA6r693-VPk [Quote: "At the age of 103, not only is today’s guest the oldest I’ve ever welcomed onto my podcast, but she’s also the oldest returning guest, too! Dr Gladys McGarey is the co-founder of the American Holistic Medical Association and the author of the fantastic book ‘The Well-Lived Life: A 103-Year-Old Doctor's Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age.’ She began her medical practice at a time when women couldn’t even own their own bank accounts, and over the past sixty years, she’s pioneered a new way of thinking about disease and health that’s transformed the way we imagine health care and self-care around the world ... Still thriving at 103, she embodies staying curious, adaptable and active. During our conversation, she shares her views on ageing, believing in ‘ageing into health’ rather than ‘anti-ageing.’ She also stresses the importance of doctors listening to - and loving - their patients but that it’s ultimately us who are responsible for our own healing.] ----------------- Life in the Rear View Mirror (c) Thor May 2024
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