by Gail Kavanagh

Created on: August 11, 2009

The senior years need not mean the end of active life - physically or mentally. Walking, gardening and playing with the grandkids can help you stay fit and young at heart well into the third age, but what about mental fitness? These days it is more important than ever to keep yourself mentally fit, and one way to achieve this is with daily writing exercises.

A daily journal is a good way to start. Any blank page book and any pen will do, but if black pages and silver glitter pens are more motivating to you than ruled lines and a ballpoint, then go for it. Your journal is the one place where you can be utterly free to express yourself in any way you want. So use felt pens, gen pens or fine ink pens, whatever inspires you to write.

What can you write about? Seniors who have lived long and varied lives have so much to write about, that it can be hard choosing one or the other subject. Make a prompt jar out of a clean empty jam jar. On small slips of paper, write various prompt words - such as memory, dream, first job, first car and so on - and put them in the jar. When you are stuck, dip your hand in the jar and pull out a prompt.

Writing your life story is another way seniors can enrich not only their own lives but those of their descendants. Everyone is a witness to history and your memories can provide a vital insight into the past, and the way things have changed. Your descendants will be fascinated by your view of history.

But why stop at notebooks and journals? While these are handy and portable, the electronic age offers seniors even more ways to keep mentally active by writing on a daily basis. It is very easy to set up a blog these days, and costs nothing. But at your fingertips you will have a way to share your thoughts with friends and family members even if they are far away. Your blog may even become popular enough to net you a wide readership. You will never know until you try.

In these times of financial hardship, your tips and ways of managing through hard times are even more valuable now. If you know how to eat well on a small budget, manage your life without credit card debt, or can make do and mend, start a blog helping people to live better for less. Your valuable experience can help others in so many ways. Staying involved and feeling useful are also ways in which seniors can enrich their own lives.

There are so many weays of communicating on the Internet tha seniors can even make a bit of extra money by sharing their valuable knowledge and memories by joining content sites like Helium. Content is simply any short article (about 400-500 words) that readers will find useful. One thing most seniors have in common is that over the decades they have solved many problems in practical, often innovative ways. Share this stored knowledge with others and keep yourself vitally engaged in life, and feeling productive by earning extra money.

Take it from a senior who knows - writing is a wonderful way to keep the brain active and the soul engaged in life.

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