格拉迪斯·麦加里博士(Gladys McGarey)93岁时,在一个星期天的早晨从一个非常逼真的梦中醒来。
她又回到了9岁,住在印度丛林中的帐篷里(印度是她土生土长的地方)。在清晨的时候,她从帐篷里走出来,调皮地看了看周围,看是否有人在看她。当四下无人时,她以最快的速度跑了起来,然后爬上了一棵芒果树。一爬到树顶,她就开始唱歌。歌词记不清楚了,但麦加里知道歌词的内容非常有趣。
现年102岁的麦加里在接受《财富》杂志采访时表示:“我想唱什么老歌就唱什么老歌,而且很开心。”她回忆起自己做了一件不同寻常的事——因为在她成长的过程中,礼拜天这天都要唱特定的圣歌,也要举行家庭仪式。但她一直在唱她自己喜欢的歌。
“我在唱歌,在我醒来的同时我笑了起来。”麦加里说。
麦加里被称为整体医学之母,她是美国整体医学委员会的联合创始人,并开了一家诊所,运营时间长达60多年。她还撰写了几本关于治疗和预防医学科学的书籍,如今还在继续工作(作为一名咨询医生),大约每周看诊一次。
尽管她在事业上取得了成功,但她并不觉得自己总是能够表达清楚自己的想法。
“直到93岁,我才真正找到自己的声音。”她回忆说,由于她有阅读障碍,她在小学时写作业很吃力,被称为“班上的笨蛋”。
但她的梦提醒她,站在树顶呐喊永远都不晚——或者就她的情况而言,写下人生的智慧永远都不晚。
在她100岁的时候,她开始写《充实的生活》(The Well-Lived Life),这本书即将出版。在书中,麦加里探讨了如何寻找目标,并分享了健康和幸福生活的六大秘诀。
以下是来自她充实生活的几句至理名言。
寻找目标
作为一名精神矍铄的百岁老人,麦加里经常回答有关她长寿秘诀的问题。她的儿子开玩笑说,他的母亲至今仍有一个十年计划。麦加里说,她对学习和融入周围世界的热情要归功于她的使命感。
目标通常被定义为意图,也是我们采取行动背后的原因。如果有什么东西能够推动我们前进,我们会发现我们所做的事情更有意义——无论是一份职业、一套价值观、一个充满激情的项目、有意义的人际关系,还是一种生活方式。
她说:“这就是找出你能做什么,你的灵魂在告诉你什么。你必须这么做。”
幸运的是,寻找目标并不需要花很多年时间,而且这里所说的目标不仅仅是一个要在待办事项清单上打勾的目标。它可以是让你感觉自己活在当下的日常活动,也可以是当我们放慢脚步时在工作之外找到的快乐时刻。我们生活中的人际关系或副业可以给我们带来兴奋感。这个答案远没有你们想的那么遥远。麦加里说,这就是在感觉自己步入正轨时相信自己的直觉。
“寻找你能做的事情,而不是你不能做的事情。”她说,这对每个人来说都不一样。“我们的身体是我们的老师……如果我们注意到它的存在,我们就能学到东西。”这是真的——当我们从事我们喜欢的活动时,我们的大脑会通过释放多巴胺或满足感来奖励我们。
麦加里最近得知了她曾孙的油管(Youtube)频道,令她惊讶的是,该频道已经吸引了数千名粉丝。这让他很开心,麦加里说,寻找任何能点亮你生命,让你热血沸腾的东西——即使是“古怪的东西”。
麦加里说:“如果你认为一切都已经完成了,人们已经完成了所有需要做的事情或其他什么,你就不会找到目标。”她可能是幸运的人之一,她一直都知道自己的目标是当好医生,帮助患者康复。
然而,在她的一生中,她也面临着巨大的变化——无论这些变化是好是坏——这些变化改变了她的目标,但也教会了她如何顺应潮流。
愿意做出改变
麦加里一直将她母亲的座右铭作为自己的行动指南:将就。虽然这听起来很简单,但也包含了帮助人们接受改变的手段。
她说:“这是一种放下你当下的所思所想,去到另一个地方,并融入另一个地方的能力。我认为在地球上生活的所有人都会发现自己曾陷入僵局。”
作为六个孩子的母亲,麦加里说,当出现变化时,很难不活在当下,也很难不去适应这些变化。无论是她的孩子需要某样东西,还是病人遇到紧急情况,她都别无选择,只能改变方向。她无法面面俱到,不得不接受她会让他人失望,包括她的孩子。
她说:“我知道,有些时候当他们希望我陪在他们身边,但我却无法陪在他们身边时,他们会感到不安。那又怎样?我当时的确无法陪在他们身边。”
她学会了接受自己的时间和注意力是有限的这一事实。
欢笑和倾听
“生活、欢笑、爱”这陈腐的励志口号对麦加里来说却再真实不过了。她活着的目的就是因爱而笑,因同情而倾听。她建议人们放慢脚步,倾听他人,并多开怀大笑。
她说:“充满爱意的笑是幸福和喜悦的。带着爱意去倾听他人才更能理解他人。”
每天运动
麦加里每天走3800步(一步不差,她会在手机上追踪自己的步数)。她经常骑着她所谓的“成人三轮车”,在院子里绕一圈,然后进城。
当你喜欢某项活动时,一直坚持下来是大有裨益的——这是健身专家们的共识。
“我做我能做的事情和我想做的事情。”麦加里说。
关注梦境,并保证充足的睡眠
无论是比喻地还是事实上,麦加里一生都在关注她的梦境,并用它们来理清思绪,保持动力。由于她能保证9个小时的睡眠时间,她在关灯后能捕捉到许多逼真的梦。
能够找到让她兴奋的东西有助于她追寻自己的目标,并坚持下来。
麦加里听从了梦境给的提示,比如那个小女孩爬上芒果树,希望她的曲子能传到有需要的人的耳朵里——就像她自己关于衰老和寻找快乐的信息可以传给有需要的人一样。(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
格拉迪斯·麦加里博士(Gladys McGarey)93岁时,在一个星期天的早晨从一个非常逼真的梦中醒来。
她又回到了9岁,住在印度丛林中的帐篷里(印度是她土生土长的地方)。在清晨的时候,她从帐篷里走出来,调皮地看了看周围,看是否有人在看她。当四下无人时,她以最快的速度跑了起来,然后爬上了一棵芒果树。一爬到树顶,她就开始唱歌。歌词记不清楚了,但麦加里知道歌词的内容非常有趣。
现年102岁的麦加里在接受《财富》杂志采访时表示:“我想唱什么老歌就唱什么老歌,而且很开心。”她回忆起自己做了一件不同寻常的事——因为在她成长的过程中,礼拜天这天都要唱特定的圣歌,也要举行家庭仪式。但她一直在唱她自己喜欢的歌。
“我在唱歌,在我醒来的同时我笑了起来。”麦加里说。
麦加里被称为整体医学之母,她是美国整体医学委员会的联合创始人,并开了一家诊所,运营时间长达60多年。她还撰写了几本关于治疗和预防医学科学的书籍,如今还在继续工作(作为一名咨询医生),大约每周看诊一次。
尽管她在事业上取得了成功,但她并不觉得自己总是能够表达清楚自己的想法。
“直到93岁,我才真正找到自己的声音。”她回忆说,由于她有阅读障碍,她在小学时写作业很吃力,被称为“班上的笨蛋”。
但她的梦提醒她,站在树顶呐喊永远都不晚——或者就她的情况而言,写下人生的智慧永远都不晚。
在她100岁的时候,她开始写《充实的生活》(The Well-Lived Life),这本书即将出版。在书中,麦加里探讨了如何寻找目标,并分享了健康和幸福生活的六大秘诀。
以下是来自她充实生活的几句至理名言。
寻找目标
作为一名精神矍铄的百岁老人,麦加里经常回答有关她长寿秘诀的问题。她的儿子开玩笑说,他的母亲至今仍有一个十年计划。麦加里说,她对学习和融入周围世界的热情要归功于她的使命感。
目标通常被定义为意图,也是我们采取行动背后的原因。如果有什么东西能够推动我们前进,我们会发现我们所做的事情更有意义——无论是一份职业、一套价值观、一个充满激情的项目、有意义的人际关系,还是一种生活方式。
她说:“这就是找出你能做什么,你的灵魂在告诉你什么。你必须这么做。”
幸运的是,寻找目标并不需要花很多年时间,而且这里所说的目标不仅仅是一个要在待办事项清单上打勾的目标。它可以是让你感觉自己活在当下的日常活动,也可以是当我们放慢脚步时在工作之外找到的快乐时刻。我们生活中的人际关系或副业可以给我们带来兴奋感。这个答案远没有你们想的那么遥远。麦加里说,这就是在感觉自己步入正轨时相信自己的直觉。
“寻找你能做的事情,而不是你不能做的事情。”她说,这对每个人来说都不一样。“我们的身体是我们的老师……如果我们注意到它的存在,我们就能学到东西。”这是真的——当我们从事我们喜欢的活动时,我们的大脑会通过释放多巴胺或满足感来奖励我们。
麦加里最近得知了她曾孙的油管(Youtube)频道,令她惊讶的是,该频道已经吸引了数千名粉丝。这让他很开心,麦加里说,寻找任何能点亮你生命,让你热血沸腾的东西——即使是“古怪的东西”。
麦加里说:“如果你认为一切都已经完成了,人们已经完成了所有需要做的事情或其他什么,你就不会找到目标。”她可能是幸运的人之一,她一直都知道自己的目标是当好医生,帮助患者康复。
然而,在她的一生中,她也面临着巨大的变化——无论这些变化是好是坏——这些变化改变了她的目标,但也教会了她如何顺应潮流。
愿意做出改变
麦加里一直将她母亲的座右铭作为自己的行动指南:将就。虽然这听起来很简单,但也包含了帮助人们接受改变的手段。
她说:“这是一种放下你当下的所思所想,去到另一个地方,并融入另一个地方的能力。我认为在地球上生活的所有人都会发现自己曾陷入僵局。”
作为六个孩子的母亲,麦加里说,当出现变化时,很难不活在当下,也很难不去适应这些变化。无论是她的孩子需要某样东西,还是病人遇到紧急情况,她都别无选择,只能改变方向。她无法面面俱到,不得不接受她会让他人失望,包括她的孩子。
她说:“我知道,有些时候当他们希望我陪在他们身边,但我却无法陪在他们身边时,他们会感到不安。那又怎样?我当时的确无法陪在他们身边。”
她学会了接受自己的时间和注意力是有限的这一事实。
欢笑和倾听
“生活、欢笑、爱”这陈腐的励志口号对麦加里来说却再真实不过了。她活着的目的就是因爱而笑,因同情而倾听。她建议人们放慢脚步,倾听他人,并多开怀大笑。
她说:“充满爱意的笑是幸福和喜悦的。带着爱意去倾听他人才更能理解他人。”
每天运动
麦加里每天走3800步(一步不差,她会在手机上追踪自己的步数)。她经常骑着她所谓的“成人三轮车”,在院子里绕一圈,然后进城。
当你喜欢某项活动时,一直坚持下来是大有裨益的——这是健身专家们的共识。
“我做我能做的事情和我想做的事情。”麦加里说。
关注梦境,并保证充足的睡眠
无论是比喻地还是事实上,麦加里一生都在关注她的梦境,并用它们来理清思绪,保持动力。由于她能保证9个小时的睡眠时间,她在关灯后能捕捉到许多逼真的梦。
能够找到让她兴奋的东西有助于她追寻自己的目标,并坚持下来。
麦加里听从了梦境给的提示,比如那个小女孩爬上芒果树,希望她的曲子能传到有需要的人的耳朵里——就像她自己关于衰老和寻找快乐的信息可以传给有需要的人一样。(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
When Dr. Gladys McGarey was 93, she awoke from a vivid dream one Sunday morning.
She was nine again, living in a tent in the jungle in India, where she grew up. She emerged from her tent in the early morning, looking mischievously to see if anyone was watching. When the coast was clear, she ran as fast as her legs allowed and climbed a mango tree. Once she got to the top, she sang. The song lyrics are hazy, but McGarey knew she was belting something fun.
“I’m singing any old thing that I want to sing, and having a great time,” McGarey, who is now 102, tells Fortune. She recalls doing something out of the ordinary—because Sundays growing up consisted of specific hymns and rituals with her family. But she kept singing her own favorites.
“I was singing, and I was laughing at the same time as I woke up,” McGarey says.
Called the mother of holistic medicine, McGarey co-founded the American Board of Holistic Medicine and ran a medical practice for over 60 years. She’s also authored a handful of books on the science of healing and preventative medicine and continues to work today as a consulting doctor seeing patients about once a week.
Despite her career success, she didn’t feel like she could always express herself.
“I didn’t really find my voice until I was 93,” she says, recalling how she struggled to write in elementary school and was called the “class dummy,” due to her dyslexia.
But her dream reminded her it’s never too late to shout from the tree tops—or in her case, write her wisdom from the heart.
At age 100, she began writing her forthcoming book, The Well-Lived Life. In it, McGarey explores how to find and cultivate purpose, and shares six secrets to health and happiness.
Here are a few words of wisdom from her well-lived life.
Find purpose
As an active centenarian, McGarey often fields questions about the secret to her longevity. Her son jokes about how his mother has a ten-year plan to this day. McGarey says her passion for learning and staying engaged with the world around her is thanks to her sense of purpose.
Conventionally defined as an intention, a purpose is the reason behind our actions. If something propels us forward, we find more meaning in what we do—whether a career, a set of values, a passion project, meaningful connections, or a way of life.
“It’s that kind of finding out what it is that you can do and what your soul is telling you,” she says. “You have got to do it.”
Fortunately, it doesn’t need to take years to find your purpose, and it’s not merely a goal to check off the to-do list. It can lie in everyday activities that make you feel present or the small moments of joy we find outside work when we slow down. The connections in our life or a side-hustle can bring us a sense of excitement. And the answer is closer than many would think. It’s about trusting your gut when something feels right, McGarey says.
“Look for what you can do, not what you can’t do,” she says, which looks different for everyone. “Our bodies are our teachers … if we pay attention to it, we learn lessons.” It’s true—when we engage in activities we enjoy, our brain rewards us with a release of dopamine or a rush of contentment.
McGarey recently learned about her great-grandson’s Youtube channel, which has amassed thousands of subscribers to her amazement. It makes him happy, and McGarey says to search for whatever lights your candle, and gets the juices flowing—even if it’s “wackadoodle.”
“If you’re thinking that everything is done, that people have done everything that needs to be done or whatever, you won’t find it,” McGarey says, who may be one of the lucky ones having always known her purpose was to help people through the healing process as a physician.
However, she also faced immense change throughout her life—both for better and for worse—which changed her purpose, but taught her how to move with the tide.
Be willing to pivot
McGarey lives by her mother’s motto: make do. While simple at the outset, it holds the tools to help people accept pivots.
“It’s that kind of ability to drop what you are thinking and move to the other place and be there at that other place,” she says. “I don’t think there are any people who have traveled this earth who haven’t found themselves in places when they’ve been stuck for a while.”
As a mother of six, McGarey says it was hard not to be in the moment and make do when changes arose. Whether it was something her kids needed or if a patient faced an emergency at work, she had no choice but to change course. She couldn’t do it all and had to accept she would disappoint people along the way, including her children.
“I know there were times when they were upset about me not being there when they would want me to be there,” she says. “But so what? I wasn’t.”
She learned to accept that her time and attention is limited.
Laugh and listen
The cliche motivational slogan “live, laugh, love,” rings true for McGarey. She has led a life aimed at laughing out of love, and listening out of empathy. She advises people to slow down, listen to others, and laugh more.
“Laughter with love is happiness and joy,” she says. “Listening with love is understanding.”
Move every day
The author walks a precise 3,800 steps a day, which she tracks on her phone. She routinely rides her “adult tricycle,” as she calls it, around her yard and into town.
Maintaining a consistent movement routine helps when you enjoy the activity—something fitness experts agree on.
“I do things that I can do, that I want to do,” McGarey says.
Pay attention to dreams and get enough sleep
Both figuratively and literally, McGarey has paid attention to her dreams throughout her life and used them to calm her brain and stay motivated. Thanks to her nine hours of sleep, she catches many vivid dreams when the lights turn off.
And being able to find something that excites her has helped her chase and follow a purpose.
McGarey listens to the cues from her dreams, such as that little girl climbing up the mango tree, in hopes of her tune landing on the ears of someone who needs to hear it—much like her own message about aging and finding joy.