Excellent Advice for Living and The Well-Lived Life

EXCELLENT ADVICE FOR LIVING by Kevin Kelly is subtitled “Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier” and seems geared to be a possible graduation present (my personal favorite in that category is still The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeff Zaslow; video link here). Kelly’s EXCELLENT ADVICE FOR LIVING, though, is full of short quotes and ideas – great inspiration or cause for reflection. This started as a project for his adult children when he turned 68 and has since blossomed into a book with several hundred suggestions. Here are a couple of quick examples: “When you are young, have friends who are older; when you are old, have friends who are younger.” OR “The first step is usually to complete the last step. You can’t unload into a full dish rack.” Having read and recommended The Inevitable by Kelly, I was surprised at how very little text exists to bind the “bits of wisdom” together in his latest offering; he seems to be indulging a stream of consciousness and readers could also enjoy browsing for thoughts at random moments. EXCELLENT ADVICE FOR LIVING received a starred review from Kirkus (“people will keep stealing it out of your bathroom”). Enjoy!

In contrast, THE WELL-LIVED LIFE by Gladys McGarey shares only “Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age” and is written by a 102-Year-Old Doctor. Her advice begins with “You are here for a reason” about finding and staying oriented to your life’s purpose. Subsequent sections look at the importance of movement (spiritual, mental, and physical) and “Love is the most powerful medicine.” McGarey also notes the importance of building a meaningful community, something that government officials here and abroad are increasingly stressing. As an educator, I truly appreciated her fifth secret: “Everything is your teacher” (as she says, deep learning comes from setbacks). Finally, she recommends “spend your energy wildly” where she writes about embracing life and feeling motivated every day. Anecdotes from her patients and her own long life (like another centenarian, Sister Jean, shared in Wake Up with Purpose!) are interspersed. McGarey also includes small contemplative exercises related to each secret and hopes that they become habits for readers. Clearly, she believes in the value of shifting perspective and the suggestions offered reflect her advocacy for holistic medicine. Creating a doctor-patient relationship with yourself may be difficult for some readers to accept, but McGarey says, this sentence summarizes her life’s work: “To be truly alive, we must find the life force within ourselves and direct our energy toward it.”