At life's crossroads: looking for peace of mind

You’ve lived a long life, you have a few regrets … or not. You had crossroads along the way. Did you take the right direction? Did you make the right decisions? Maybe … or maybe not. Perhaps you are at crossroads now.

An American survey on regrets noted the most cited response was that people wished they had taken steps “to plan and prepare for their senior years” (USA Today July 16, 2014). Responses were: saving more money (45%), taking better care of my health (36%), making better investments (31%), keeping legal documents more organized (22%), and staying closer with family (21%). As people travel on the road of life, there are always crossroads – a stop in the road which gives time for a review of what has happened and what might happen in the future. Some say, “I should have done this or ….,” says Louis Primavera, a psychologist at Touro College in New York.

The survey by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, the National Council on Aging, UnitedHealthcare, and USA Today, included responses from 1,000 adults aged 60 years and older, with a comparison group of 1,027 adults aged 18-59 years (United States of Aging 2014).

The “number one thing” that people of all ages are looking for is peace of mind.

Carsten Wrosch, a psychology professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, who has been collecting “life regret” data since 2003 has found that life regrets are based around work, education, and relationship issues. “But what’s really surprising is that most regrets were from decades past.”

Regrets can become health problems if people don’t get the opportunity to right a wrong, or make other more productive or “peace of mind” decisions. Wrosch advised people to “let go of regrets and find something in life that is meaningful and can provide purposeful living.”

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog