Advice on Aging Well

From an advice column in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin:

Question: Can you give me a formula for having a satisfied and happy old age?

Answer: I’ve been looking for it, and will spare you my advice. Buthere is some authoritative advice from a book by a Harvard MedicalSchool professor, Muriel R. Gillick, The Denial of Aging: PerpetualYouth, Eternal Life, and Other Dangerous Fantasies (2006). Here’s howshe summarized the right approach: “We know something about what worksfrom a study carried out by the psychiatrist George Vaillant, whointerviewed 800 older individuals to try to figure out what allowedthem to find meaning and fulfillment as they aged. The most satisfiedold people he interviewed cared about and reached out to other people,to whatever extent they could. They accepted dependence, but maintainedhope and believed in doing things for themselves if they could. Theyretained a sense of humor, took pleasure in their past achievements,and remained curious about the world. Most important they retainedcontact and intimacy with old friends, continuously renewing theirrelationships.”