I spend a lot of time reading—frankly, as much time as I can sequester for it. I’ve read several of Seneca’s letters, randomly over the years. A while back I bought this delightful edition from Chicago Press and I’m beginning at the beginning. (There are marks in the book where I’ve already used it for referring to some of the letters.) What knowledge are you putting into your mind?
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How can older adults reclaim movement as a joyful, empowering part of life despite pervasive cultural narratives about aging?
Letting go of perfectionism opens the door to playfulness and self-compassion.
If I can be more compassionate toward myself, I can let go of this addiction to competence and just let myself try, and suck. So yeah, I have come to embrace the idea that if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly and playfully.
~ David Wilson (48:45)
This conversation with David Wilson explores how movement intersects with aging, self-perception, and cultural narratives. David begins by addressing how deeply internalized ageist beliefs affect people’s willingness to move, take up space, and try new things. The discussion challenges the idea that aging necessitates physical decline, emphasizing instead that variety in movement and awareness of personal stories can lead to growth and transformation at any age. David also critiques societal pressures that promote fear-based motivation, and he encourages a shift toward framing movement as a present-moment gift.
The conversation moves through practical barriers and misconceptions that keep people inactive, such as rigid goals, perfectionism, and the belief that certain types of exercise are required. It emphasizes meeting oneself where one is, using personal values rather than fixed goals as guides. The importance of self-compassion, playfulness, and the willingness to “do things badly” is highlighted as a more sustainable path toward movement. There’s also a critique of mainstream fitness messaging, which often excludes older populations by failing to address their actual lived experiences.
Takeaways
Internalized ageism — Movement hesitancy is often rooted in lifelong exposure to ageist narratives absorbed from a very young age.
Misconceptions about aging — Many decline-related assumptions are not due to age itself but to reduced movement and lifestyle limitations.
Curiosity over goals — Letting go of rigid, timeline-based goals makes space for exploration and deeper engagement with movement.
Compassionate self-awareness — Bringing compassion into one’s personal practice enables growth without harsh self-judgment.
Playfulness as practice — Play offers a route to joy and learning, especially valuable when countering addiction to competence.
Movement generalism — A broad, varied movement practice supports better adaptability and long-term capability.
Fear-based fitness culture — Much mainstream messaging about aging and exercise motivates through fear instead of empowerment.
Efficiency of the body — The body conserves resources by shedding unused capabilities, so maintaining movement variety is crucial.
Accessible movement — Movement does not require equipment, special clothing, or gym memberships—it can be integrated into daily life.
Time as a barrier — A perceived lack of time is the most common excuse for not moving, yet even minutes of activity show measurable benefits.
Specificity of training — Effective physical preparation must match the demands of real environments rather than generic or repetitive exercise.
Gratitude for the body — Pausing to appreciate the body’s enduring support helps reframe limitations and fosters a more engaged relationship with movement.
Imagination of aging — How one envisions growing older strongly influences present decisions about health and movement.
Practice as identity — How we treat ourselves in movement mirrors how we show up in the world and in relationships.
Resources
OldsCoolMoves website — David Wilson’s web site offering online courses and information.
Five Minute Movement — A series of short guided sequences emphasizing movement variety.
Ageism Unmasked — Tracy Gendron’s book exploring the deep roots and effects of ageism.
This Chair Rocks — Ashton Applewhite’s book offering another perspective on ageism and cultural narratives about aging.
Road Scholar — A nonprofit focused on travel and education for older adults.
(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)
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Reading time: About 3 minutes, 600 words.
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This issue is https://7forsunday.com/85
Work ethic. The value in labor is not that it’s hard. The combination of our minds and our might, our values and our ideals, is what raises labor from simply effort expended, to purposes transcendent.
What people don’t realize is that if you’re buried in your email inbox instead of doing your most important work, you are just as distracted as if you went on Facebook or Instagram or whatever. Anything that is not what you planned to do is by definition a distraction.
~ Seliria from, Stop Trying to Make Hard Work Easy
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Distraction and business are available everywhere and at all times. Fortunately, there are always other choices too.
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You tell me flatly that you are too tired to do anything outside your programme at night. In reply to which I tell you flatly that if your ordinary day’s work is thus exhausting, then the balance of your life is wrong and must be adjusted. A man’s powers ought not to be monopolized by his ordinary day’s work.
~ Arnold Bennett
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When we consider consciousness, a number of questions naturally arise. Why did consciousness develop? What is consciousness good for? If consciousness developed to help us plan and act for the future, why is consciousness so difficult to control? Why is mindfulness so hard? And for that matter, if our actions are under our conscious control, why is dieting (and resisting other urges) so difficult for most of us?
Why does it appear that we are observers, peering out through our eyes at the world while sitting in the proverbial Cartesian theater? Why do we speak, in William James’s words, of a “stream of consciousness”? Can we perform complicated activities (such as driving) without being consciously aware of it?
Are animals conscious (and if so, which ones)? Are there developmental, neurologic, or psychiatric disorders that are actually disorders of consciousness?
There have, of course, been many answers to these questions over the last 2500 years. We hope to provide new answers to these and a number of related questions in this paper.
~ Andrew Budson, et al from, Consciousness as a Memory System
A longer pull-quote than usual for me. But it’s from a 30,000 word article. o_O
That list of questions reads like the Table of Contents from the Owners Manual that my body didn’t come with. It’s a big deal that there might be an answer to just one of them, let alone the claim in the last sentence, “We hope to provide new answers to these and a number of related questions.”
Having now read some of those plausible answers to those questions—including rebuttals and improvements to some others’ answers to those questions—my take away is: Oddly, I am now less interested in those questions.
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The idea of the painter and the sculptor is undoubtedly that perfect and excellent example of the mind, by imitation of which imagined form all things are represented which fall under human sight.
~ John Dryden
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Normally, we think of these difficulties and frustrations as something wrong with us, the other person, or the world. With this kind of view, every failure is another reason to feel bad about ourselves. Every frustration with someone else is a reason to shut down to them or lash out at them. Everything wrong with the world is another reason to feel discouraged.
~ Leo Babauta from, Everything is a Practice
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I recently read a discription of one’s mindset that used the term “expansive.” Having a “growth mindset,” or a “positive attitude,” are other turns of phrase in the same vein. Thinking expansively leads you to find opportunities. For 6+ years I’ve been tinkering on the Movers Mindset project, and a legitimate question comes up: What is the mindset of a mover?
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The first thing you need to know is that individuals have far more power than ever before in history. […] The second thing you need to know is that the only thing holding you back from becoming the kind of person who changes things is this: Lack of faith. Faith that you can do it. Faith that it’s worth doing. Faith that failure won’t destroy you.
~ Seth Godin
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The first thing you need to know is that individuals have far more power than ever before in history. […] The second thing you need to know is that the only thing holding you back from becoming the kind of person who changes things is this: Lack of faith. Faith that you can do it. Faith that it’s worth doing. Faith that failure won’t destroy you.
~ Seth Godin
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I continue to enjoy the Movers Mindset project for many reasons. In recent months, I’ve been stepping back from the body of work and I keep having the same thought: I think this is really great, but I feel there should be something more useful as a result of all the work. (Useful specifically for me, I mean.) I’m convinced that there are lessons that I’ve missed, or not managed to hold onto; Insights that can only be seen from a perspective that is not within one particular conversation.
So I’ve been tinkering on creating, well, something. I don’t know what it is yet, or how to describe it either. But I have faith that it’s worth trying to create something which enables something new to be extracted from all the conversations I’ve captured.
Some days, I have far more questions than answers to share.
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The information universe tempts you with mildly pleasant but ultimately numbing diversions. The only way to stay fully alive is to dive down to your obsessions six fathoms deep. Down there it’s possible to make progress toward fulfilling your terrifying longing, which is the experience that produces the joy.
~ David Brooks from, The Art of Focus
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I’m not sure I’d call the longing I seek, “terrifying.” But “longing” certainly fits. This idea of finding something that pulls you so strongly as a way to brush away attempted distraction fits closely with the old platitude to, “have a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside you.”
I used to think of my attention as a flashlight; as a thing I needed to narrow by focusing—narrow to illuminate a smaller area with increased brightness. I’ve always found, though I spent years in denial—you know that river in Africa?—that the more I tried to force my attention onto things, the more I felt anxious and uncomfortable. Somewhere around episodes 8, 9 or 10 of John Vervaeke’s Awakening from the Meaning Crisis there’s a discussion of what exactly is your attention. Hint: It’s not like a flashlight that you can intentionally point, and then having pointed it your mind will focus on that target.
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(Part 5 of 5 in series, Travel Gear)
I sometimes call this the “M’urgency” kit as it covers both emergency and urgency situations. After the small convenience bag, this is my most-used, ready-to-go item.
First off, you have to decide wether you need a full, commercial, medical kit. If, like me, your primary concern is the common items you need, then I recommend going the route described here. There’s an unavoidable trade-off between size/weight and preparedness which you have to evaluate for yourself.
Deciding what to include was difficult. I began by searching the internet for emergency kits, but all of them had way too much stuff. On the other hand, I could create two separate kits: A micro-sized kit of a few ounces, and a larger one for more serious traveling. In the end, I settled on the kit described here as the best of both worlds. It is worth its weight in gold. Any time I have a bag, this kit is inside.
I’m a huge believer in having things pre-packed. “Containerizing” everything does use some additional space and weight, but it’s worth it if you can find the perfect size containers. For this kit, you want a sturdy container that will resist crushing, since this kit is going to take tons of abuse; It will be thrown around, leaned on, jostled and stuffed in/out of bags countless times before that one day when you need it.
My kit began with a clear-plastic “art box” — unfortunately, I’m not sure where this box came from. In my first iterations, I used this box, held closed with some rubber bands. One day I realized that this box would fit inside a zippered-bag I had laying around. The bag was an ’80s cassette-tape case, which I literally had from the ’80s for storing cassettes. I tossed the cassettes and the internal hard plastic organizer, and the art box fits easily but cannot open once zipped inside.
Eventually, the already tired case came apart and I had to buy a new one off eBay. You might have trouble finding these now because I bought most of them off eBay when I realized they were becoming rare. Since they are different colors, they are easy to find when rummaging in a backpack. (Another one of these bags will appear in a subsequent post.)
Clearly, this also requires some maintenance. What I usually do is any time I use something (say, I give someone some Advil) instead of refilling the pills, I toss ALL the pills and replace the stockpile to keep them fresh. Anything you keep in here can go out of date or dry up etc. and keeping this kit “fresh” is as important as creating it in the first place.
As I said at the top, I don’t expect you to build this exact kit. :) But I do hope that it has given you a few ideas for what you might want to keep on hand.
Those of us accustomed to making life livable by superimposing over its inherent chaos various control mechanisms — habit, routine, structure, discipline — are always haunted by the disquieting awareness that something essential is lost in the clutch of control, some effervescent liveliness and loveliness elemental to what makes life not merely livable but worth living.
~ Maria Popova from, Spontaneity and the Search for Meaning: Erich Fromm on the Wellspring of Individuality, Creativity, and Love
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I spend significant time swerving between the two extremes of schedule-and-organize “all the things,” and running around like a dog fascinated by everything. New item #1 on my list of 42 things (all numbered “1”)…
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new controls for data/privacy? Yeah! …if I want to uncheck 2,700+ chkboxes (there’s no ‘unck all’) BOO!
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You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.
~ “Benjamin Mee“
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Following “via negativa” may seem like a defensive and risk-averse way to live. But by focusing on what you don’t do, you actually put yourself in a position to be more aggressive with life. The man who has never been arrested, doesn’t have debt, and doesn’t have the drama that comes with bad relationships has more opportunities presented to him and more money, energy, and willpower to capitalize on those opportunities when they appear; the man who has gone though life making stupid mistakes, doesn’t. In other words, you’ll never get a chance to work on the “shalls” if your life’s been wrecked by ignoring the “shall nots.”
~ Brett McKay from, Via Negativa: Adding to Your Life By Subtracting
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Here’s a shot my dad took in 1968 when they were at Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. I have two galleries coming soon; the rest of their honeymoon photos, and the photos from our (Tracy and I) trip to Niagara Falls in 2011.
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