A) Nourishing the Mind

The mind requires active intellectual stimulation to keep from getting bored and depressed.

Watching hours of television or reading fictional or non-fictional books certainly passes the time, but does little to stimulate brain activity, those are relatively passive activities, intellectually rated just slightly above sitting in a rocking chair.

What about your organizational, creative, intuitive, leadership, and problem-solving skills? How are you exercising them?

Brain cells wither from lack of use. You progressively suffer from forgetfulness, slowness of speech, and increasingly muddled thinking.

One inevitable fact of life is, what does not get used, nature takes away.

B) Nourishing the Body

The body requires active physical stimulation to keep bones and muscles from atrophying. Like an astronaut returning from a long gravity-free space jaunt, you will discover that your body grows progressively weaker when physical activities diminish.

The human body is designed to adapt to whatever environment and lifestyle you present to it.

If you choose to be a couch potato, watching endless hours of television, drinking beer, and snacking on unhealthy foods, expect your body to grow fatter and weaker.

If you choose to spend part of each day walking, swimming, or golfing or playing tennis expect your body to grow leaner and stronger.

C) Nourishing the Soul

The soul is best described as the part of a human that houses hope, compassion, spontaneous laughter, love of life, and the will to live.

It is the moral, ethical and emotional nature of a person, as distinguished from that person’s rational mind.

Everyone needs to feed their soul, that part of themselves which defines who they are as a person.

It needs nourishment much like your physical body needs food for fuel. But what does a soul need to nourish it? The answer is, it varies by the individual’s character.

Compassionate people nourish their souls by helping the needy and volunteering for charity fund raising.

Achievement-driven people nourish their souls by the completion of a complex set of tasks.

Helpful, sharing people nourish their souls by teaching others new skills.

Soul food may also come from gardening, the feeling of being one with the earth and the miracle of creating life from nothing more than soil, water, and seed.

It may come from caring for abused and abandoned children at the local motherless homes.

It may come from church work and a feeling of closeness to God.

Nourishing the soul is a very personal act that touches you deeply, emotionally, and gives you inner peace.

D) Nourishing the Need for People

The last of the four elements of a balanced lifestyle relates to the human need for social interaction with the world around you.

It involves reaching out beyond your own household to people, organizations, and institutions in a social context.

The daily interaction with people and the social life that used to be provided by your former workplace has disappeared.

You need to find new people with whom to share your activities and projects.

The old adage “No man/woman is an island” reminds you that social contact is the most basic of human needs. Friends praise your accomplishments, listen to your troubles, and lend a helping hand when necessary. People also affirm your existence.

You may create the most useful and beautiful artifact in the world. But if no one is around to admire it, it becomes a shallow achievement.

Like a tree falling in the forest with no one there to see it, the event goes unnoticed. Change that situation. Get noticed.

Two people make a better card game than one. Four people make it a social event complete with beer, chips, groundnuts and refreshments and the promise of interaction beyond the card game.

Talk to people. Join a hobby group. Share your love of a favorite project, such as cooking, golfing, swimming, walking, reading, or traveling to exotic places.

Your retirement years may be a period of time that lasts as long as your working years.
How you spend your days will determine your quality of life. With a little planning, some creative thinking, and some risk-taking, it just may contain some of the happiest and most rewarding moments you have yet to experience.