Happiness for Old Folks

I'm glad you found @edsutton helpful. He is often a guiding light for those of us who "just can't do it all" anymore.
This week I am finding joy in the fact that, although I am slower and maybe not as strong as when I was younger I can learn new things (like learning all the details of using our year old camper from dumping the tanks 🤢to hooking it up) and do some old things (more slowly - like unpacking from 4 months away.) As for the camper, my husband is teaching me ways to manage the tasks safely with less strength. And the unpacking/putting away/road laundry that used to take me 48 hours will likely take about 5 days.
Another joy I have learned from my dear friends is finding suitable hobbies - instead of a huge quilt, I now make smaller pieces of art. And I found out that if you can still use your hands, even a little, you can draw and paint. Even my tremors can work to my advantage - on my shakiest days I do landscapes, flowers and birds - my squiggly lines fit nature very well.

It’s been a week and I’m still unpacking and doing laundry from a 4 week trip. Lol

Hi, Bluebird!
Thank you for your response.
It's a few months since I started this topic, and I'm still learning!
Loving, caring, listening, sharing and being happy is an endless study, and incredibly rewarding.

My friend Charles Foster was a wonderful example. He lost a lot of abilities over the last 10 years of his life, but lived to be 95 without complaining, always focusing on what he enjoyed. When he went fully blind he went to museums with friends and loved hearing them tell him they felt about the paintings!

I'm still learning from Hazel. When she likes something: meeting someone, going for a walk, or just out back to pee, supper, treats, corn on the cob, a frozen carrot, doing tricks, snuggling, ear rubs...her happiness in uninhibited. She really releases into her joy with all her heart and no embarrassment! I'm getting better at that, and recently had two occasions of the greatest joy of my life, struck by the wonder of two "everyday" things that I really like.
Hey, I can enjoy them every day if I take a moment to notice!

So true again! When I lived in my house I had 3 rescue dogs that I adopted after fostering them. Now having to live in an apartment for a few years, I realize I haven’t been truly happy without a dog. I hope I can eventually get a pet friendly apartment as even a bird would make me happy. I totally understand how walking with a dog is such a happy time. The post about your friend is very inspiring. Thank you!

At 71 years young, this I have learned: if my happiness is based on external circumstances it will always be fleeting. If my happiness I based on the sheer magic of being, nothing can dissipate it. So when something happens (our political state) to impede on my natural happiness, I have to work to remind myself that I am here to experience it all, and I am grateful that I am.

This was definitely an interesting read. However the mixing up of dog's names and happiness was confusing. The two topics do not mix. Personally I am finding it harder and harder to feel happy mostly due to the really awful and terrible things that are happening in this country. We appear to be losing our freedoms. That does not make me happy. Also I am looking at the end of my life, even though I am in reasonably good health. But I am 90 years old and closing in on 91. Mostly I feel grateful. Grateful that I have reached this great age and feel fine. I can live in my own home and have control of my own life. I drive which gives me a great deal of independence. Does gratefulness equate with happiness?

It's the name you use the most that they identify with. My last dog thought his name was "No!"

Dear Readers: What I'm writing here is my response to concerns Marilyn has expressed, concerns I agree with. If you don't agree, please allow Marilyn and me to communicate our thoughts, and to share them with others who feel similarly. A political argument would not be appropriate as I understand this forum.

Dear Marilyn,
I never felt that the United States was eternal, but I'll admit I was not ready to live through the collapse of our democracy. Even though perhaps I held a "rose colored glasses" view of democracy, it seemed the US was trying to offer some degree of sanity in a world much in need of sanity.
Now I am witnessing aspects of human behavior that I had hoped were declining and seeing what seems to be a dismantling of a governmental system that I felt was trying to look after the best interests of our fellow humans.
And if Social Security and Medicare are dismantled, my standard of living will be reduced significantly, especially if I live another decade.

So yes, that does not make me happy!
And frankly I'm glad that at most I have a few years to worry about. It's hard to imagine what it's like for younger friends and neighbors with children.

It also seems to me that there has been a change in the participation in Mayo Connect over this year, perhaps having to do with people feeling anxieties that they haven't expressed.

Like you, I am grateful to be in reasonably good health, and that we own our home and are debt free.
I'm especially grateful to own a few wooded acres in common with some neighbors, and that our neighbors are showing better interest in sharing the care of our woods.
And I'm grateful that we live by a state park and river that pass through our city.
Nature heals me every day.

So, for me, I do equate gratefulness with happiness.
Most of the happiness I feel occurs when I just pay attention to the beautiful daily things of life. When I see a dandelion I think how wonderful it is that I can see the color yellow. It is a miracle I experience every day!
When I study a piece of music I'm so happy that I can read music and have beautiful scores to study.
And similarly, I want to say: "Marilyn! Hello! I see you in your words and I am grateful for you and your thoughts!"
Thank you!
Ed

And I thank you for you.

I took have a grumpy neighbor talks to my husband, but won't even wave to me. I just ignore her, and keep on smiling.