Read Online Live Long, Die Short by Roger Landry - Free Book Online Page A

order to be healthy; the effects of this “normal” lifestyle are far more destructive than we previously thought. And we’ve learned that the interaction of the multiple lifestyle factors—the physical, mental, social, and spiritual—is complex, a positive health multiplier, and absolutely necessary for our health and successful aging.
The symphony of health
    No longer can we fool ourselves into thinking we are healthy and doing what we need to do to age well when, in reality, we are merely going through the motions. Spending twenty minutes on an exercise bicycle (while reading a magazine) followed by overeating at our next meal; sitting and staring at a television screen for hours; regularly using drive-throughs, escalators, elevators; having others do all our physical work; eating one meal a day in order to lose weight; convincing ourselves that we are engaged in life because we multitask, cram more and more into a day, are so busy that we’re always thinking of the next task, and have little time for small talk; “knowing” more because we have more answers with the help of our smart-phones or the Internet; having 342 “friends” whom we never look in the eye, or touch, or cry with when they experience a loss; recycling yet driving a large SUV and frequently leaving the lights in our homes on; defining our purpose in terms of what we want rather than what we need—all these“normal” behaviors, I believe, do not meet, and in many cases are inconsistent with, the basic needs for our health handed down from our ancestors and encoded in our DNA.
    I believe we must think of our health, our state of well-being, as a symphony, a thing of beauty. We are the maestro; our bodies, the orchestra; our health and aging, the music. If we are to create our own well-being—i.e., to meet all of the core requirements of authentic health—then we must be the conductor of our complex, highly integrated bodies.
    The maestro must conduct in such a way that both the subtle and robust qualities of brass, percussion, strings, and woodwinds can contribute to the symphony, yet he cannot allow errant notes to mar the integrity of the piece. He must make space for all instruments to express and enhance the others, listening and staying alert to how all are blending, knowing when one needs emphasis.
    As conductors of our lives, we must listen and attend to our physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual selves; we must live a life that allows coordinated expression of all we are, yet we must ensure that all its parts are in tune. We must be ever vigilant for the cacophony of self-induced stress or the overexpression of one component at the expense of the others. When we do this, and all components of the magnificent organism that is us are blended in symphonic harmony, there is an “Ode to Joy”: health, vitality, and a life enriched. We age in an authentic and noble way. We are the maestro. We create a masterpiece.
    My good friend Maestro David Dworkin tells me that, with each piece, the conductor has a responsibility to bring the very best of himself to the effort: energy, experience, creativity, spirituality; that each time the baton comes down, he is bringing the music alive as if it were being played for the first time. Perhaps this is why symphony conductors typically live long and robust lives and why we, as conductors of our lives, have the power to make our lives so much more.
    Maestro Dworkin’s own life defies traditional belief. Nearly eighty, his physical robustness rivals athletes decades younger. His intellectual curiosity and love of learning and creating are infectious. He thrives on the audiences he travels great distances to see, and to whom he offers Conductorcise®, a creation of his own that uses music to stimulate the conductor in all of us and to promote symphonies of physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual health in his audience. His passion for music and the effects it can have on humans at all stages