At the start of a New Year, it’s easy to make a New Year’s Resolution. “This is the year I will lose 15 pounds.” “This is the year I will stop smoking.” “This is the year I will put my financial house in order.” However, for me, a resolution is forgotten as quickly as declared if there is no “why” behind it. I need a purpose and a reason, and I need to see the end game. For lasting results, I need the effort to be tied to a vision that fits some plan for change.
Many years ago, particularly because of a change in my personal life, I committed to a healthy lifestyle for all the apparent reasons. I was genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and had been smoking for several years. I started on a very low-fat diet and then down a path that took me through the activity de jour: racquetball, jogging, Feldenkrais, Kung Fu … and then finally yoga. These activities resulted in regular, small deposits to a fitness bank. Along the way I studied Kabbalah and meditation. Today, you can’t pick up a magazine or newspaper, or go online, without seeing something on mindfulness. Others around me watched, and, as expected, I took a great deal of kidding. But others who may not have verbalized it followed suit their own way. Most recently, many friends have entered classes with the yoga instructor my wife and I have become so fond of over very many years.
There are many components to a healthy lifestyle with the hopes that it results in healthy aging. Along with nutrition and activity, for me it’s a mindset that extends to my family and friends, my business, and my community.
Here are the core principles I follow for healthy living and healthy aging:
Care about what you put in your body
What you eat matters, and directly impacts energy level and health. After many years on a diet low in fat, and because of sensitivities I later learned about, I went gluten free. I’ve worked with a nutritionist to better understand what foods I should skip, and those I should try.
Keep moving and stretching
I’ve practiced yoga regularly for 17 years, in a small, semi-private class setting with an outstanding instructor. I have also engaged in regular aerobic exercise for 35 years along with meditation.
Community is key
I joined the Council for Jewish Elderly (CJE) SeniorLife’s Board of Directors 30 years ago, having now chaired or participated on many working committees. Since 1972, CJE SeniorLife has enhanced the lives of older adults and their families through a comprehensive network that includes housing, health care, community services, health and wellness education, life enrichment programs, and applied research.
As current chair of the Marketing Committee, I’ve helped to launch the CJE Academy. Its purpose is to offer thoughtful and important educational events to the broad Chicago affluent community focused on improving lifestyle and healthy aging. We’ve had a speaker from Tempus, a startup focusing on data-driven precision medicine and cancer. We’ve also had people speak on how heart and brain health are impacted by one’s physical, mental, emotional and social activities, how social connectivity affects aging, and how sleep patterns influence health and the importance of positive habits. I am proud of this work and invested in bringing education to a broader audience.
I’ve built my career, and our business, around this same mindset.
Goldstein Financial Group exists to serve clients and advisors with solutions that help people and families. By living internally what we offer externally, we don’t take for granted the trust placed in us to solve complex problems.
We believe through collaboration, not competition, our clients benefit most. If we can educate clients and their other advisors about tools or resources available that may help their situation, we always do. Often, we host luncheons for advisors and clients featuring guest speakers on various topics that may be of particular interest. For example, we’ve had an integrational medicine practitioner discuss the benefits of eating clean with clients and advisors.
For me, I love what I do because it directly aligns with my personal core values.
I would love to hear from you on what is important to you for healthy living and healthy aging. Send me an email at agoldstein@goldsteinfinancial.com.