Festival of Books 2k16: To Live and Thrive

By Kelly Kinas ‘16

While the weather was not the best this past weekend, the Festival of Books was a major success, at least from where I’m standing. At that point, I was walking around campus without an umbrella with a light shower making me slightly damp. There were families, school groups, couples, the old, the young, and everyone in between. It is so special that the University of Southern California gets to host such an important event. Even better, all of the students for USC get to experience this festival and listen in on the amazing talks happening throughout our campus. 

One talk I found incredibly interesting was To Live and Thrive: Insights into Living Long and Living Well. I know I’m mortal, I will have to die at some point but my interest in this talk specifically stemmed from my interest in constantly bettering my life. I was expecting “Eat healthier! Exercise!” and all that advice we hear all the time. That is not at all what the talk ended up being like. Here is a compilation of all the advice given at this panel discussion. It’s not what you expect at all. 

First thing’s first: I did not realize this beforehand but this talk was somewhat meant for an older audience. Those who have already lived a lovely life and want to continue it longer, into their 80s, 90s, and 100s. I was the youngest person in the audience by far. I saw one other person under 30. It was incredible to me because in the first question, the panel was discussing “a young man or woman” and their age was 40. I felt slightly out of place but then the advice started. 

To introduce the panel, the man on the far right of the picture is James Doty, a clinical professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University. Moving left is Maryalice Jordan-Marsh, a nurse psychologist who works at USC’s School of Social Work. The last panelist is Valter Longo, who is the director of the USC Longevity Institute. Moderating the discussion was Carmen A. Puliafito, an active clinician at the USC Eye Institute. These four people are experts on this subject and their advice has stuck with me ever since.

ADVICE:

• Service others
  
• Live life in moderation
  
• Search for wisdom rather than information
  
• Keep moving and make connections
  
• Make technology your friend
• Change your mental state

FUN FACTS:

• Compassion can decrease agents of inflammation
  
• You need to Play (find true meaning of your life outside of your work)
  
• You have to be strong and independent to live to 110. The will to live is important.
  
• Longer lives does not necessarily equate to healthy. Doctors and nurses are an extremely important part of this equation.
  

Something I already try to do in my everyday life is to be Mindful. Yes, I capitalized it for a reason. People may be rude to you. They might cut you off in traffic. That does not mean it has anything to do with you. You have the choice about where your mind goes. Don’t be reactive; be Mindful. 

We need to change human behavior. This is not something that will just happen. We all need to choose to exercise, to eat healthy, and be compassionate.

To paraphrase Dr. Doty, “Do yoga. Do meditation. Make love. All of these things are important practices in our lives to keep our minds sharp. 

Another really cool idea from this panel is that you need to be present and nonreactive in the moment. You must accept that you can’t change the past and you can’t control the future, so you just need to be present in the moment and be mindful on what you are doing and why you’re doing that.

This is something I specifically needed to hear on Saturday. I constantly plan way too far ahead for my own good. If something is a possibility, I plan out my course of actions and imagine circumstances for months ahead of time. I constantly need to remind myself that I cannot control the future. These fictional plans aren’t necessary.

ALSO:

If you’re interested in Mindfulness but don’t really know how to do it or how to start, the Office of Wellness and Health Promotion is here to help! They are on the second floor of the Health Center on University Park campus and they have mindfulness workshops, free yoga classes, therapy dogs, adult coloring books, hot chocolate, candy, pretty much everything. They have student workers who are trained to help answer questions and they also have Wellness activists who can come and teach a mindful mediation workshop with your student org or just be there to talk and learn how to be mindful. OWHP is a great resource when discussing mindfulness and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!!

While this panel discussion was probably not targeted towards my age group, I’m glad I went and listened in on their conversation. They’re worried about the obesity epidemic. They’re worried about children not be present in the moment. They want every person to live long and live well. 

You must live altruistically and have a strong community backing you. Those people are the people who live longer and happier. You need to be able to adapt to new technology and make it your friend. Be present in the moment with your loved ones. Don’t worry about the past or try to control the future. Eat well. Exercise. But it’s the mental state you are in that will decide whether you make it to 100.

As said before, you have to want to live to live until 110 and that takes great mental toughness. 

Maybe living until 110 isn’t all of our goals. But I can say confidently, that living well is. From what the panel said, these tips and tricks will help all of us to be happier and healthier for longer. Who would’ve thought?

Fight on!