Assisted Living San Francisco Bay Area, Ca

March 7, 2009

The Chateau of Pleasant Hill, California is a senior living community that offers assisted living, Alzheimer’s care, dementia care, home care and a whole host of senior care services.

Ruby MacDonald writes a monthly column in the Senior Insights Newsletter and it has become a favorite amongst the elderly residents who say that Ruby’s positive words and inspirations make them feel wonderful.

Ruby’s word for the day:

EMPOWERED LIVING   by  Ruby MacDonald                                                     

HOW WELL ARE YOU . . .   HEARING ?                                                                                          

Empowered living includes the use of our very important five senses. “Hearing” is one of those senses. It’s one fifth. For those who cannot hear, one-fifth of their senses are impaired.
I do not take hearing for granted because my hearing became impaired around midlife. I speak from experience when I say that not being able to hear easily causes many problems and changes in lifestyle. For instance, do you hesitate answering the phone? Or do you only use the phone when it’s an absolute necessity? Has your social life receded and slowly turned you into an introvert? Do you stay away from social gatherings because you can’t hear in a crowd?

Rush Limbaugh, the nationally syndicated radio talk show host, experienced a rapid loss of hearing and within three months he was deaf in one ear and had an 80% loss in the other. He could no longer understand radio, TV, or the voices of call-in listeners. He has a severe bi-laterial sensorineural hearing loss due to an autoimmune inner ear disease. AIED causes less than 1% of all cases of sensorineural hearing loss; most cases are due to aging, noise exposure, or inherited hearing loss and develop very gradually. Most patients respond to early treatment of steroids and benefit from the use of hearing aids; some need cochlear implants.

Today there is little or no excuse for anyone to be hearing impaired even though statistics show that most people with  hearing loss do nothing about it! A healthy, positive approach is to take charge of your hearing healthcare and find a way to hear as well as possible again. Nothing can be done until you admit you have a hearing loss.

Which type are you?  Do you consider your hearing “good enough” to get by on?”  It doesn’t matter that you force everyone to repeat nearly everything they say? Or, do you want to hear as well as possible?  I hope you cherish the latter and want to enjoy hearing to the fullest.

Here are a few empowering secrets to hearing: Wear hearing aids in one or both ears. Lipreading is helpful as a third hearing aid. There are telephone and TV amplifiers. Ask people to look at you and speak more slowly. In a group, always sit by a wall to block sounds.

Find a good audiologist, one recommended by a friend rather than selected at random from the phone book. They will evaluate your hearing and hearing needs

AGELESS – Senior Insight

November 5, 2008

AGELESS – REALITY OR MYTH?

By: Ruby MacDonald

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. – unknown

For the last few decades I’ve been teaching people how to think in a way that keeps them feeling ageless. And now, suddenly my friends and I have all become seniors. And that’s a good thing! Being a senior demands that we learn to flow with the tide or we shall drown in the sea of life. Some of my friends who are not yet seniors are also struggling in the waters of change as an only child, or children, swim away from the warm sands of home to find their new adventures. Then the parents must learn to walk the beach alone. My older friends experience the death of a loved one, divorce, illness, moving to a new community to be near adult children, and the list of changes we must face are endless. We’ve always gone through changes at every age but somehow in these golden years, the waters we wade in seem deeper.

Most of the major changes create high stress levels. However, change is the name of the game of life. Whether we can adjust to the many changes is what determines whether or not we will become “aged” or “ageless.” Given the choice, becoming and staying AGELESS is the ideal goal. Too many of us seem to reach a certain age and then never again venture into the oceans of life. Yet the ocean still beacons to us to jump in and swim.

Of course, circumstances change over the years and our health may in reality slow us down or even stop us from being as active as we once were. However, what we do with our attitude about any circumstance is totally up to each of us. Fortunately there are many who never see any limitations to living a full life. One of my favorite people who exhibited strength and courage was Christopher Reeves who not only fought to live life as fully as he could, but also helped others while doing so. He could have given up, felt sorry for himself and created misery for all those who loved him, but he displayed courage and determination instead.

Helen Keller, being both blind and deaf had more to overcome than most of us, but she said that, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” She didn’t include an age limit in her statement, and we should not set age limits to our quest for adventure. She knew that her character would be formed and strengthened by surmounting the difficulties she faced.

WE ARE THE MASTER, EVEN IN OUR WEAKEST AND MOST ABANDONED STATE – James Allen

There are so many advantages to being a senior. Yet we seldom hear the positive side. Let me name a few. By this time we don’t care anymore what people say or think about us. We’ve earned the right to be us and we don’t have to meet the expectations of others. We can simply relax and be. We don’t have to “do” unless we want to. As someone wisely said, we are not human do-ings, we are “human be-ings.” But we often forget to take the time to simply BE. Seniors have more time to BE.

Another advantage of being an AGELESS Senior is that we can “BE” an inspiration to others. We can help drown the old myth that being a senior is the end of life and that we can’t keep doing many of the enjoyable things we’ve always done. The only thing that stops us is fear and an attitude that shouts that we can’t or shouldn’t at “our age.” To become or stay AGELESS, you’ve got to want it – you’ve got to have the passion – if you are to change.

Lasting changes need a strong foundation on which to thrive. Just as the oceans rest on firm bed- rock, our strength comes from being firmly centered in a Higher Power. To become or remain  AGELESS in today’s world requires a vigilant guard against the myths of aging that surround and nag at us.  In the end, it’s up to each one of us to decide whether we will be “aged” and let the last precious years of life slip by, or be AGELESS, ignore the number of years of we’ve lived, and find new adventures to pursue so that life is exciting and stimulating. The choice is ours. January first is an excellent time to commit to an AGELESS ATTITUDE, renewing that commitment every single morning. What would you like to be doing right now that you’ve allowed your age and attitude to stop you?

“HOLD FAST TO an ageless attitude FOR IF the spirit dies, LIFE is nothing more than a boat at sea that cannot navigate the oceans of life; it is at the mercy of the wind and waves.” – Ruby MacDonald