Aging: It's all in the mindset

When the Beatle invasion rolled onto our shores in 1964 the world was about to change. The generation of the 1960s, famous for self-discovery, hippies, Woodstock, is now the older generation. It happens to everyone. Time passes and we age. Accepting that change is coming can lead to a nimble mindset. That is if you decide to be proactive and lead! Simply put, accepting the new normal is … well, normal!

The new normal began in the early 1960s, when MIT’s J.C.R. Licklider popularized the idea of an intergalactic network of computers, dubbed the ARPAnet. On October 29, 1969, ARPAnet delivered its first message. The word LOGIN crashed the network, with only the first two letters being received at Stanford. My, have times changed! The hippies of the 60s led us all to the World Wide Web of the 90s.

Without an accepting mindset, WWW is just a typo!

Transformation is part of all of our lives. We all benefit from the passions and dreams of others. Together, we all can assist each other. Acceptance involves networking. Without it we have no innovation or personal growth.

New can be challenging, too. It can be exasperating, intimidating, and yet, at the same time, wonderful. When the barriers of entry are lowered, creative destruction seems to occur almost daily. We grow with resilience and that is squarely built by adapting an accepting and positive mindset.

We all control only what is happening within our own mind. Arthur Fletcher, the former head of the United Negro College fund coined the phrase “a mind is a terrible thing to waste.” That slogan has been inspiring people since 1972 by encouraging individuals of all beliefs to be accepting and tolerant. Positive interpersonal change occurs through the acceptance of the new normal.

To become the leaders we all can become it will take love and acceptance. It will require an open mind to cooperation and collaboration. To build stronger communities and networks we must embrace each other’s differences. It was through the change of the 60s, the longer hair of four young men from Liverpool, that the invasion of change began.

Try these:

• Take a new class or course

• Introduce yourself to a stranger • Volunteer at an elementary school •

Share a random act of kindness

• Call an old friend

Tom Matt is the host of the “Tom Matt Show,” a radio talk show syndicated in Michigan on the Michigan Talk Network. He can be heard locally Saturday mornings on the ‘Big Talker’ WJIM 1240 AM. For more info please visit www.boomersrock.us