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If you plan to age, prepare yourself — it's later than you think. The challenge of aging well should be taken seriously, but not grimly! Whatever your age, it's never too soon, or too late, to learn and apply the fine art of aging well, really well. Discover what aspects of aging can't be changed and improve the rest that can. Mold your own realities with REAL wellness, Ardell-style.

The 69 tips — one for each year of the author's life — are thought-provoking, challenging, eye-opening, manageable and fun to read. And all provide practical guidance for intelligently designing your own life-style evolution.
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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Wellness and the Pursuit of Happiness

Sunday October 8, 2000

There are many paths to happiness, but most (like sex, drugs and rock and roll) lead elsewhere. It is quite an art not to get lost following varied paths through the years in search of happiness. We learn a lot from trials and errors throughout the journey. In time, many of us conclude that happiness is not a destination at all, but a way of traveling. If we are fortunate and somewhat wise, we discover that feelings of happiness occur regularly, though they can't be possessed without renewal and good works.

From a wellness perspective, we might ask, "how can we experience more happiness as part of a healthful, fulfilling existence?"

One key, I believe, is found in the wellness dimension of meaning and purpose. While all areas of wellness or artful self-management are equally important, this one seems "more equal," to borrow from Orwell. In my view, a continuing quest for meaning would do more people more good insofar as realizing happiness than public policies that result in more medical spending. Of course you would never suspect such a thing listening to the presidential candidates!

Yes, exercise and fitness are critical to optimal health and how you nourish yourself most of the time does matter —greatly. For purposes of the bottom line of life satisfaction, good health and a daily sense of joy, pleasure or "happiness," however, the quest for meaning is the way to go. Try to gain some positive excitement about who you are, why you're here, what you do, how you are viewed (especially by yourself) and periods of happiness will follow.

Dr. Larch had it right in the John Irving novel "Cider House Rules" when he ritually admonished his orphan charges to "be of use," a variant of Frankl's call in "Man's Search for Meaning" to be of service. Happiness follows good works appreciated by yourself, it does not ensue (for long) from attempts to secure it directly as we are told by Irving Yalom in his masterwork "Existential Psychotherapy."

I believe a satisfactory sense of meaningful work and a purposeful life are prerequisites for a continuing sense of happiness in life. My research (presented in The Book of Wellness: A Secular Approach to Spirituality, Meaning and Purpose) led me to the view that the single best way people find happiness in life is to discover and reinvent meaning on a daily basis. You can do this throughout your life by following your passions. Find a way to apply your passion(s) daily or to engage in a mission you love. Do that and you might not have to "work" another day in your life. You will be transfixed, involved, committed and otherwise bound to a life quest -- and your sense of meaning, purpose and therefore "happiness" will be secured.

Tomorrow I'll offer a series of specific tips to boost your chances for added times of genuine happiness.

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