by Emily Comedis

Created on: October 29, 2008

I think longevity should not only be discussed among adults, but for everyone including the youth. People should not wait to get older before thinking how to live longer. While people are young and busy with their studies, I suggest the following keys to keep longer life.

5. Keep your baggage light. Did you notice that when you travel, just because there is so much space to accommodate baggage, you grab almost everything you want to take with you, and run with them? Like travelling, if you live a life with heavy baggage, you will easily get tired, and will retire sooner. Check your baggage, and leave behind all those which are unnecessary.

Unnecessary baggage includes; guilt over past mistakes, regrets over failures, resentment, frustrations, and a lot more. No extra charge for carrying this kind of baggage. But they are really heavy. They make you tired along the way and may not even allow you to reach your destination. Yet, you don`t even need them.

A car with heavy baggage on it usually encounters flat tire, troubled engine, and empty fuel. Just like a car; heavy baggage in life gives us worries, exhausts us, and makes us sick.

Be mindful of your baggage. Carry instead forgiveness, courage, love, hope and faith. These are more important and much lighter to carry.

4. Build a debt-free wardrobe. Have you experienced buying commodities simply because they are on sales, even when you find no purpose for buying them? Keep them until they get spoiled, and soon throw them away? Have you experienced buying things above your earning capacity? These kinds of impulses can pin us to gigantic credits.

Keep a lifestyle which is compatible to your earnings. Decorate your wardrobe with savings instead of credits. It is lighter to carry savings than credits. Contentment may not satisfy all desires but it guarantees fulfillment.

3. Invest in nature. Nature is for free. Invest some of your time in nature. Get some time to walk on parks on your way home. Hike on a mountain with someone you want to know. Walk on the sea side, and listen to the music of the sea. Plant some trees, adopt a butterfly, and feed some birds.

2. Live life like those of the bees. Enjoy the companionship of other people. Dance and sing once in a while. Celebrate your success as well as the success of your friends, co-workers, and family. Do not be afraid to sing if you have never done it. If your friends laugh at your missing tune, laugh with them. They are happy that they are not alone. When you are lonely and sad, your friends surely love to listen. In fact they watch movies and TV dramas because they have no one to listen to. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his verse, "The Humble Bee," "Seeing only what is fair, sipping only what is sweet leave the chaff, take the wheat."

1. Reconcile with yourself. Sometimes you have all the time for others, but not for yourself. There are other times that you even scold yourself for a small mistake. When you feel some pain or sorrow, yourself is asking you to listen. The closest ally of yourself is no other but you. Take a retreat and spend time with God. After all, you and yourself share favorite solace- God.

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