BOOMER TALK, a column by Angelena Craig, published in The Newburyport (MA) Daily News, 
 July 2020​

As the deadline to submit this month's Boomer Talk column approached, I found myself stymied. What might I write that was new or interesting, inspiring, educational, motivating, and/or uplifting, all the qualities I hope for in producing this once a month, ten year column for the readers of the Newburyport Daily News? I started and stopped my writing assignment over and over again. But nothing of value came forth. Had I said everything I wanted to say before in past essays, and all that was left was just a repeat…same old, same old?


I knew what i did not want to talk about…the dismal economy, the upcoming, contentious elections, police reform and injustice, the Sahara dust cloud, the threat of rising waters, hurricane season coming at us, the daily pandemic numbers, our choices in facial masks. All that has been covered by me and everyone else and the topics of our daily conversations do not vary very much.


Like so many of us, I have been struggling to feel positive in the face of the constant chaos swirling around. I know better than to give way to negative thinking, that which takes me down destructive pathways and always leads to discouragement and a sense of hopelessness.


"Think positive", I tell myself, knowing full well my thoughts can determine my mood, my energy level and my physical health. The mind/body connection has been scientifically shown to exist and I would do anything, as an aging Boomer, to maintain good health.


In desperation for a renewed sense of the positive, I turned to the teachers of "The Law of Attraction", one of the several universal, metaphysical laws (like the more familiar "Law of Cause and Effect"). lt basically means you attract to you what you regularly think about and believe and reminds us that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into our lives. According to Jack Canfield, author of "Chicken Soup for the Soul", whatever it is you focus on, think about, read about and talk about intensely, you are going to attract more of into your life. He reminds us to envision the future we desire. Create the life of our dreams. See it, feel it, believe it's possible for us, and that we deserve it.


Now, I was feeling better. I can mind my mind. I can be aware of my thoughts and change them, pivoting away if they are going in the wrong direction. I can choose to give up the worrying over what might happen. I can watch and then let go of the stressors that then show up in the body. I can turn my mind toward something happier. I can imagine a more satisfying and pleasurable life,
According to the Abraham-Hicks teachings in the book, "Ask and It Is Given", it takes only 17 seconds of holding pure thought and then you set in motion manifestation of what it is you desire.


For instance, if you want more financial abundance coming into your life, you envision it, feel how it feels to have that happen, think of what it will mean to you. By thinking only positive thoughts and hold them for 17 seconds then you set in motion the possibility of it happening. I don't know how they came up with the number 17 but you might try it; you have nothing to lose. And the rule goes on to say if you hold the pure thought for a total of 68 seconds (17X4) you are more likely to draw the manifestation to you.


This metaphysical approach may be a bit much for most of us, too "far out".
But, perhaps a more comfortable practice is adopting another of the spiritual laws "The Law of Gratitude" which tell us the more we are in a state of gratitude, the more we will attract things to be grateful for. The more we count our blessings, we end up having more. Equally notable is the part of this law that says. "If we focus on what we don't have, we will never have enough".


I now feel better about publishing this essay and sharing information which makes sense to me. I can put my personal challenges in better perspective. Obeying The Law of Attraction gives me something positive to hold onto and is helping to guide me out of the dark tunnel, while reaching toward the light.

    
     For those who believe a new year can bring change, moving from 2017 to 2018 will be welcomed, since most of us agree that this past year has been extraordinarily tumultuous and challenging, to say the least.
       We’ve seen more of Mother Nature’s roar, with terrible destruction in so many places in our own country and abroad. Some of us have experienced only minor inconveniences like short-term power outages, while countless others have witnessed, directly, entire areas extinguished by hurricanes, flooding or fires.
       When you add onto this the extreme political and economic divisions within our nation, it seems “never the twain shall meet,” unity of these United States seems unlikely, and we probably will not see any kind of major change in 2018.
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Having a sense of security is a quality we humans consider crucial for our well-being.  We want to know we are physically safe, financially secure and our close relationships will never go away. We want to count on things at least staying the same as they have been or, even better, improving.

At this time in our history, many Americans are feeling anxious when we consider the state of our union. The idea of pledging allegiance to the flag, crossing our hearts while stating our commitment to “one nation, undivided and with liberty and justice for all” seems a distant dream of our fore fathers.

Each passimg day brings us the world, national and local news, causing us to feel unbalanced and, let’s face it, worried. Perhaps, as never before, we feel on shakey ground, uncertain about the instability in Washington. Will it get as serious as an impeachment?  Are we moving further into the next war?  With budget cuts will our health care and the education of our children be compromised? Will we lose our hard-won freedoms? How about our life savings? Could the stock market plunge?  With climate change, will the rising tides and severe acts of nature (just seen in Texas) threaten our very homes?
                                                                                                                                     

​As boomers, we have heard much from those in the anti-aging industry who want us to believe that if only we use certain products or buy their services, we can stop, or at least dramatically slow down, the aging process.
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There are many false promises, but there is also quite a bit of truth in the statement, “If we take good care of ourselves by eating well, exercising often and relaxing the mind, we can avoid many of the challenges of getting old.”
Is it possible to shift our perspective away from anti-aging to pro-aging? Maybe that’s asking too much, but we can decide to go with, rather than resist, the arrival of those milestone years like 70 or 80 or 90. We in the boomer generation never thought we would get old, but “here we are,” at least by the age indicated on our birth certificate. The oldest of our generation can now be called septuagenarians.

Aging isn’t just a biological process, it is also very much a cultural one. Unfortunately, our culture mostly considers getting old as a not-so-desirable time of life. Not too many of us would choose to be 70 or more, especially if we could remain in our prime, staying at 40 or maybe 50 years old. 
Our culture decides when we are “old.” I remember years ago when my Uncle Phil, known for his candor, looked closely at my face and told me, “Yup, you’ve got only a few more good years left.” I also recall an earlier time when I was seen as a “miss,” as in “May I help you, miss?”
Later, I was reclassified and was now called “ma’am.” I never liked to be called that name. It did not sound respectful to me. But it did give me pause, showing me that even though I still felt young inside, others were perceiving me as a person moving over the hill and down the inevitable decline.