Most of us are familiar with goals and goal-making. For many of us, setting goals is an integral part of achievement and success. As we age, new goals begin or older ones are reviewed through a mid-life career change, personal or family issues, ill-health, divorce, bereavement and so on.

Many people swear by setting goals, but for some, it’s a challenge to maintain continued enthusiasm and motivation.

We’ve all set one goal or another at the beginning of the New Year, haven’t we? We’ve followed it, but somehow – without any idea why – we find that the motivation often dips and dies. And guess what – the goal dies along with it.

Dreaming Our Lives into Being

Dreams, however, reach deeper into our psyche. They are with us right from birth, activating something far beyond our everyday life.

If we choose to birth our dreams into everyday reality, we’ll have no problem maintaining our motivation. In my experience, when we do that we are also tapping into a passion, which means we will achieve all we set out to do.

There’s an added bonus too, because we’ll exude vitality along the way.

Imaginary Friends

During childhood many of us enjoyed living in our dream world, accessing all sorts of what parents might call ‘imaginary friends.’ I had a friend who was with me from the age of three until I was around six years of age. He was a young monk in a monastery high up in the Tibetan Himalayas. I met him in ‘my everyday reality’ 50 years later. You can read my story here.

As an adult, it can be helpful to access our dreams and ground them in our everyday world. Dreams give us access to vitality and passion, integral to living and ageing well.

They teach us how to listen to the inside of our beautiful mind as opposed to continue living in what can be a demanding and full-on, 24/7 technological world.

Living Your Childhood Dreams

I came across a lovely gentleman on Facebook recently. At 84 he is now living out his childhood dream. He loved drawing as a youngster; however, his parents had other ideas.

They encouraged him away from art and creativity and toward a career in engineering. He said, “I’ve been an engineer all my life, but inside I’m an artist.”

If you measure a successful life by material means, he was successful. However, when asked was he happy throughout his working life, the answer was in the negative.

He yearned for the creativity and freedom an artist enjoys. Of course, he dabbled a bit as a hobby. But for him, that wasn’t enough. Yet in his words: “I couldn’t disappoint my family by following my heart.”

At the age of 74 he re-activated his love for art by teaching himself how to paint. His incredible eye for detail served him well, with his copies of grand masters receiving high praise.

This man exudes vitality because he found the true meaning of his life. At 84 he is a respected artist, although for him, age is merely a number. In his mind he is in touch with something much more significant than himself.

Of course, he is! He is fulfilling his childhood dream! Consequently, his mindset, behaviour and outlook on life are full of fun, freedom and fulfilment. Not a bad accolade to live by, don’t you agree?

When Did You Stop Dreaming?

Contrary to what you might think, our world isn’t frozen in time, nor is life linear. In the world of dreams it’s common to receive flashbacks of events from our dim and distant past.

Dreams have a habit of bringing forward events that seem jumbled up, like long lost and forgotten hazy childhood days where we had not a care in our mind.

Events occur into and out of existence. Our conscious memories only remember a minimal amount of all and everything we have experienced.

The shamans from the indigenous cultures, when asked to cure a member of the community of their ills, say: “When did you stop dreaming?”

The shamans know that when we stop dreaming, singing, dancing, sharing stories using our imagination – in other words, being playful and creative and having fun – we’ve stopped living the authentic life as a human being.

Instead, we’ve restricted our freedom, shutting down our heart and mind to anything other than day-by-day routine.

Just imagine what might happen if you turned your attention inside your own beautiful mind, listened to your dreams and acted upon them!

Do you dream? Do you listen to your dreams? I’m curious to hear your thoughts, so please join the conversation!

Covid-19 might have ruined 2020 but that doesn’t mean that 2021 has to be a bad year. A new year gives you an incentive to start new healthy habits that can lead to a better and happier aging. But what activities should boomers be incorporating into their New Year’s resolution according to the latest research on brain health?

The Science Behind New Activities

You might be asking yourself, “Why should I care about brain health and incorporating new habits around it?” Well, incorporating new activities and habits can lead us to healthy aging and longevity.

More and more evidence shows that age-related cognitive decline can begin long before retirement. In particular, the early signs of Alzheimer’s can manifest in our brain more than 10 years before we start to show symptoms.

Tiny, hard, insoluble pebbles made up of a protein called beta-amyloid build up and are distributed within our brain, affecting our ability to reason and remember. There are still no effective drugs to stop this process, so the best way to fight against this is by taking an integrated approach to your overall health.

Optimizing your activities and habits in the areas of sleep, stress, exercise, diet, and cognitive activity has been shown to significantly decrease the risk of cognitive decline in at-risk older adults.

Sleep

One easy resolution you can incorporate in 2021 is to create a regular sleep schedule. We know sleep is good for us, but why is that? And why do we have to create a routine around it? Well, many people are sleep deprived and don’t get enough of the benefits of a good night’s sleep.

During sleep, we rehearse and replay our memories, and we literally clean out our brain. When we doze off, neurotoxic proteins like beta-amyloid are cleared from our brain thanks to a network of vessels called the Glymphatic system. The Glymphatic system does most of its garbage disposal at night.

The removal of these toxins reduces risk of cognitive decline and improves memory! Setting a bedtime each evening and creating a ritual with no screens an hour before bed is one simple way to keep our minds sharp.

Diet

You might’ve heard of fad diets like keto and paleo. But one healthy resolution that doesn’t involve completely cutting out carbs or sugar is to follow the Mediterranean diet. This delicious sounding diet involves high consumption of foods you probably already like: vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, cereals, and monounsaturated fatty acids (e.g., olive oil).

It also involves a moderate consumption of fish and dairy, like cheese, and lower consumption of red meat and saturated fats. In a study that tracked aging adults following the Mediterranean diet, participants’ risk of getting Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia decreased by 45%-48%!

So, go ahead and indulge with veggies, fruits, cereal, fish, nuts, chocolate, and cheese too. Not only is it a delicious way to start your new year, but also a great combination of nutrients for your noggin in the long run. Just eat all the colours of the rainbow!

Physical Activity

Did you know that exercising is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions? And there’s a good reason for that. At any age, we feel the rush of endorphins after physical activity and feel good. But as we age, exercise becomes more beneficial for our mental health and general brain function. It actually makes our brains bigger and thicker by creating more neurons.

On average, we create about 30,000 new neurons a week, but with exercise, we can generate two to three times more! These new baby neurons go to work, creating new memories, and reduce the risk of dementia and depression!

You don’t have to incorporate terribly strenuous physical activities to begin to reduce the risk of brain diseases. Committing to at least one 20-minute walk outside in nature every day is just about as good as one tough Pilates class a day. Whatever activity you choose, sticking to it can reduce your risk of cognitive decline.

Brain Training

Recalling thoughts can be a lot harder than it used to be, and it can take you a lot longer to think of what you had for breakfast than it used to. But what if I told you that brain exercises can help you remember things faster and better?

In the Advanced Cognitive Training in Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) study, participants were given brain exercises to boost their reaction time and processing speed. We have more brain plasticity than we give ourselves credit for, and most people were able to react more quickly after training.

Not only did subjects boost their processing speed, it turned out that they improved their memory, and they also decreased their future risk of dementia. Over 10 years after the training program, study participants’ risk of dementia was reduced by almost half!

Taking up sports like ping pong or badminton is one way to boost your processing speed. Brain training can be scary and intimidating but making it a new year goal to just have fun with it will keep your wits in tip-top shape.

New Year, New Brain

The new year is a great opportunity to make small changes in your sleep, diet, exercise, and brain activities. Incorporating these can improve your overall brain health and decrease the risks associated with aging.

Creating a sleep routine, following a healthy diet, walking outside every day, and doing things to boost brain speed are all easy resolutions you can incorporate into your day to decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s and boost cognitive functionality.

Making New Year’s resolutions is easy. But sticking to them can be difficult. Sometimes all it takes is some support and accountability to fully commit. That’s why we created the Synaptitude brain health program.

Synaptitude can help prepare personalized strategies for you on how to optimize your sleep, diet, exercise, stress, and memory and track your progress. To learn more about the program, check out our brain health lifestyle assessment.

What’s on your New Year’s resolution? Have you included brain exercises for optimal brain health? What brain advancement programs have you researched? Have you tried any of them and what were the results? Please share with our community!

Under normal circumstances, my skin is like Teflon. As long as I stick to a consistent routine and avoid an Oreo-heavy diet (Double Stuf for life!) when I’m stressed, breakouts don’t typically assault my face. However, social distancing (not to mention the pesky mask-ne issue) is stress-inducing on a whole other level. Now, remembering to do something as simple as put on deodorant every day feels like a lot of effort to be quite honest. However, I’ve yet to forget using The Ordinary Niod product that has been my secret weapon for months and continues to keep my skin in check — despite the fact that I’ve basically abandoned the rest of my usual skincare routine.

Niod shouldn’t be confused with The Ordinary‘s more popular range of affordable products even though both are owned by Deciem and the latter is certainly worth the hype. The Ordinary Squalane Cleanser is a go-to for gentle cleansing and the Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% serum handles dark spots. But Niod is the brand that actually became a permanent part of my routine—a rare moment for someone who gets bored easily.

So what is Niod exactly? Think of it as the dream brand for people who love to nerd out over ingredients and do extensive research before investing in a product. The chemists behind-the-scenes describe it (and The Ordinary) like this:

“NIOD offers non-invasive options in dermal science and aims to provide next-generation, non-inflammatory active ingredients, and complexes that focus on the long term health and quality of the skin,” says the NIOD is for those who are deeply educated in skincare or those who are committed to a plan for better aging and overall skin health.

The Ordinary offers familiar, effective clinical technologies. It exists to communicate with integrity and bring to market effective, more familiar technologies at honorable prices. It takes pride in honesty, fights innovation stagnancy in the industry and indirectly celebrates the depth of innovation our brands, Hylamide and NIOD, continue to bring to the category.”

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Deciem.

Long story short, here’s how it went down. I test-drove a couple of Niod products for a total of six weeks, hoping to maximize overall benefits: the Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex, Copper Amino Isolate Serum and Copper Amino Isolate Lipid 1% (CAIL).

Courtesy of Author.

I don’t know if it’s the smell, the blue tint or the irresistible gooeyness, but the CAIL specifically gives me life. Whenever I apply a pea-size amount to my skin, the most beautiful, non-oily sheen instantly appears. Alternating it with my retinol and moisturizer every other night has also made managing my eczema way easier.

My brows may be a mess, but you can’t deny the glow!

Courtesy of Author.

Courtesy of Author.

The formula itself is kind of mindblowing because the ingredients are patented and/or upgraded versions of common skin savers, including peptides and algae. (Also, I was today-years-old when I discovered vetiver, used most often in fragrance, can help with skin firmness too.)

Again, I’m slowly adjusting to a new normal that includes working from home every day and having full-blown conversations with my cat since everyone else is six feet away. My skin has paid the price for a routine that seems to change by the day or not happen, period. But sticking with this magic ointment through it all has kept my skin from hitting rock bottom. If you can only try one thing from Niod (because I know that price tag isn’t cheap), make it the Copper Amino Isolate Lipid and prepare to be amazed.

If you’re on a tight budget, the Copper Amino Isolate Serum is a worthy alternative and of course, The Ordinary range is always there when splurging simply isn’t on the table.

Twice a year, Bath & Body Works pulls out all the stops and discounts holiday and everyday favorites up to 75 percent off, which new discounts throughout the week. The Bath & Body Works Semi-Annual sale for holiday 2020 is no different—actually, it might be even better. We’ve got the details on all the goods so you can game-plan your shopping trip.

Of course, deals will be online as well as in-store so if you feel safer shopping from your couch, you can still stock up on Bath & Body Works favorites. Now’s the chance to score the beloved holiday fragrances before they’re gone (until next year), as well as throwbacks including Secret Wonderland, Honeysuckle and Sensual Amber brought back just for this sale. Christmas body care will be just $4.95 and select Christmas 3-Wick Candles will be $11.95.

Source: Instagram

For the best of the best deals, you’ll want to dig for those 75 percent off products. These include body care, candles, hand soaps and tons of non-holiday items you’ll want to use all-year round. You’ll even be able to find some best-selling fall body scare scents and ones you haven’t smelled for months. It’s basically like a rummage sale where you never know exactly what you’ll find.

The sale begins Saturday, December 26. If you’re shopping in store, don’t forget your face mask and hand sanitizer and maybe even consider going on off hours to avoid the crowds. Or, there’s always delivery! As much as we want to shop and treat ourselves this year (we deserve it), we also have to stay safe too. Set your iCal and get ready to get your haul on. Then, have big New Year zoom with friends to share exactly what you got.

“How do I start this journey of self-care and self-love, after spending a life focused on others?”

This comment was on a recent article of mine for Sixty and Me and resonated so much that I promised to respond. So many women reach this age and are suddenly widowed or divorced (by choice or not). Or moved to a new place late in life.

When we arrive at the magical Six-Oh, many things have shifted. Empty nests, sometimes empty beds, offspring and grands scattered to the four winds, often friends have passed, and some friendships pass into memory.

This article is for those of you who have indicated that you have no clue who you are, nor where you fit, and what on earth to do with that, now that your role as family matron/caregiver/banker (okay, that never stops) has come to and end. Or appears to.

The Transformation Begins

If you chose to marry, have kids, and raise a family, your middle years might have been so jammed and crammed that you ached for a little “me” time.

How swiftly all that gets forgotten when suddenly, circumstances collaborate to hand you that very thing: alone time.

Perhaps a little too much of it.

It can feel as though you’ve been set out on a empty ocean, in a craft you have no clue how to skipper.

Of course you’re scared.

But at the same time, this transition into the most extraordinary years of our lives is full of magic. It begins with where we focus.

In any journey, you and I have to push off from the dock. Usually, we can come home.

When we age, and we enter the time of greatest transition, there is no returning to those familiar spaces. The signposts change or disappear altogether. This is why it takes such courage to move forward.

Which means, if we are going to go journeying, we have to untie from the dock and push off.

You Are Already the Skipper

The disorientation that happens at first is the compulsion to take care of. Usually, anyone but ourselves. Without kids or grands or hubby or sister or the business, suddenly we can feel adrift, because it feels as though nobody needs us.

Someone does indeed need you. That person looks back at you from the mirror every single morning. It can feel a bit terrifying when you realize that all that time you wanted for you, now you have it. How on earth to fill it? Especially if you buy the societal message that to take care of ourselves is selfish?

Well, if we don’t, kindly, who will?

By this I mean, if you and I don’t tend to our exercise, diet, societal, and emotional needs, nobody else will. Sure, we might date or marry someone. Ultimately, it is our obligation to take care of ourselves, particularly if you and I have allowed ourselves to slip a bit while caring far too much for others and putting critical self-care to the side.

Where on earth do you start? First, assume you already know everything you need to know. You do. You’ve spent your first six-plus decades learning those skills. Now put them to work.

Moving into Your New Future

This year I left my home in Colorado after 50 years and moved to Eugene. The move itself was the culmination of a thousand big and small things. Giving things way, donating, selling. If you’ve ever managed a big move, you know how it goes.

Same thing here. Think of it as uncluttering you.

If you use the advice from an article by Psychology Today as a guide, these steps will serve you well:

Determine What Things You Value the Most About Your Life

Rather than ask what everyone else wants to eat, what do YOU want to eat? What do YOU want to watch or read or listen to? Where do YOU want to travel when it’s safe to do so?

Decide What Commitments Are Most Important to You

First, to yourself, then, in descending order, determine what to commit to: your dog, cat, kids (maybe in that order) …?

Assess the Way You Use Your Time

What a terrific opportunity to ask what you want to do with your time. Just… YOU. Including nothing.

Get Rid of Clutter in Every Area of Your Life

This goes for old values, old ideas, attitudes, angers and irritations, and attachments and bad habits that are not useful to you. Clutter in your mind, heart, and soul. Stories about you and your value that badly need rewriting or outright deleting. Your value isn’t being decided by your (husband, family, church, etc.).

Spend More Time with the People That Matter to You

First, yourself. What a time to get to know the rhythm and flow of your thoughts and emotions. How you change during the day. How you prefer to sleep (or stay up all night). Then, if you’re starting anew, what kinds of folks do you want in your world?

Make Time to Be Alone

If you are alone, be fully present. Enjoy the sweet silences, the quiet, birdsong, waves, distant chatter, wind chimes. Explore the textures of quiet. Remember when this was something you yearned for. And now you have it.

I would add this: You are worth feeding well, exercising with love, and giving yourself a brand new way to keep yourself happily preoccupied, as well as surrounded by good friends. Those are the four primary pillars of aging vibrantly.

Let the dock disappear. Concentrate on that beckoning horizon. You might find yourself happily tossing that emotional ballast so that the wind can fill your sails.

This is your time.

I hope you enjoy the sweet breezes in your hair, the sun on your skin, and the smile creasing your cheeks.

What have you learned as you’ve settled into your 60s and beyond? What tips and tools can you offer those who are recently single, newly moved, and in need of a little guidance? How has faith in yourself helped you along the way? Please share with the rest of us.