The Secret to Longevity

David Begnaud from CBS News interviewed a 102-year-old woman called Beatrice Stever who is one of the most delightful people I’ve ever seen interviewed. She radiated pure joy and spunk.

His first question was, “What is your secret to longevity?”

She answered, “I never paid attention to age, never. I drove until I was 98. You roll with the punches – that is the key.”

David then asked, “Any secrets?” She then responded, “The secret to me is attitude and gratitude.” She said it three times!

Then David said, “We live in a world where some people work out seven times a day and they think that is the secret to longevity or they only eat plant-based foods. Did you do any of that or you ate what you wanted and did what you wanted?”

With laughter oozing out of her she said, “Give me a hot dog right now and I will eat it! You have to see the good things. Do not have tunnel vision.”

She then described an experience she had in a restaurant bathroom with a woman where she invited her to see, really see the wallpaper. Her message was to take the time to really be present for even the so-called mundane things in life.

The part of the interview that most touched me, which is one of the core things that I share with the world, was when she said, “When you have trouble, when you have pain, when you have illness, you become friends with that illness. You become friends with the pain. And when you are friends, you don’t hurt each other.”

That needs to be said again: “When you have trouble, when you have pain, when you have illness, you become friends with that illness. You become friends with the pain. And when you are friends, you don’t hurt each other.”

So, the invitation is to become alert to trouble, pain and illness coming into your life today.  And hold the intention, that rather than fighting with it you say, “Hello. It is okay that you are here.” Why is that so important? Because when you say hello and give it space to be, you are not resisting it, causing it to stay longer than it needs to and there is a greater chance of you recognizing the gifts that always come with challenges.

If you want to see the whole interview, and I really invite you to do so because she is pure delight. You can listen to it by clicking HERE. You don’t need to have an Instagram account. Click the upper right corner of the popup to get out of signing up. If you can’t hear it, hover over the video and turn on the sound in the lower right corner.

If it still won’t run for you, here is the link to the YouTube version https://youtu.be/cjDxnNs8Ra4 There were three stories David shared that day, and she is the third which starts somewhere around four minutes.

If this topic of befriending your pain resonated with you and you’d like to explore it further, I invite you to listen to my upcoming radio show on Dreamvisions 7 Radio: Does Pain have to be so Painful? It will air on Thursday, February 20th and 27th at 5am and 5pm HERE. After the 27th, it will be available on demand, along with every other radio show I’ve ever done HERE. Please feel free to explore my catalog and listen to topics that call to you.

Offerings:

Free Live Call with Mary:

I’m excited to announce the details and share the link for the next Free Live Call: How To Be Empowered in this Time of Chaos! We will be meeting on Tuesday, March 11th at 5:30 pm PST for an hour and a half. We will continue to meet every two months, so keep an eye out for future events!

Here is a snippet of what we will be talking about:

So many heartaches happening on our planet…. Wars, wildfires that consume whole cities, aggressive politicians, and all the while the earth is crying for help. How can we not get lost in reactions? How can we become a part of the healing that is at the heart of all of this chaos? Join Mary in discovering it is possible to, as Stephen Levine would say, “Keep your heart open in hell.” And it is possible to make a difference in this challenging time.

Don’t forget if you can’t make it on the day, you can still participate by sending your questions and enjoying the recording after the call at your convenience. I hope to see you there!

Click HERE to learn more and register!