The Key to Successful Aging? Mindset is Everything Monday, August 9, 2021

As with many challenges in life, having the right mindset is the key to success. And so it is with the process of aging. Understanding the mindset of seniors—not just at a clinical level—is vital to providing the services they need and ensuring that they live the best lives possible. But how do you know what seniors really want? What are they thinking at a deeper level and how do we ask questions that get to these answers? In today’s episode, Deanne O’Rear-Cameron, a personal development consultant, aging-in-place specialist and senior advocate, relates how her many experiences in the senior and health care fields have helped gain valuable insights into both the mindset of seniors, as well as the mindset of the culture that cares for them. Deanne, who serves as chair of the Las Vegas Senior Citizens Advisory Board, as well posts on multiple other councils and organizations, talks about how to teach seniors (and the rest of us) through a distinctive process of repetitive education—but repetition that’s fun, not just the same old dry information and advice. Share, care, and ask a lot of questions of seniors—and if you’re not sure what the answers are, ask again. Deanne’s approach teaches seniors how to be proactive about their life, rather than reactive. Not being prepared for getting older in life creates anxiety, but we can use motivating solutions to address the inevitable challenges of aging. If you want to be a dancer at 90, Deanne says, you need to be active in your 50s and 60s. And even as you get older and less active, you can enjoy things in a different way. You can go there in your mind; where the mind goes, the body follows, she says. Aging in place should always include mindset among its guiding principles. Indeed, the best anti-aging tool we have is our mind.