People Who Genuinely Appreciate Life In Their 70s Usually Adopt These 5 Subtle Habits, Says Psychology
Don't let limiting beliefs hold you back as you age.
Daniel Lara | Unsplash Could limiting thoughts and beliefs determine your life path? Can you learn how to change your thoughts and ultimately change the direction of your life? The answer is yes. Ask yourself this question: "Am I causing the effects in my life?"
Social worker and activist Star Rose Bond has an incredible story of not only surviving but thriving against all odds. A child of chronic instability, including alcoholism, poverty, and abuse, she wound up incarcerated and later on the streets.
Those experiences led to her focus on what was holding her back. The answer? Her own limiting thoughts and beliefs. Today, she is a licensed psychotherapist, speaker, and personal coach with a graduate degree from Columbia. As a trauma expert, she shows others how to turn their lives around by changing their thought patterns and the core beliefs that hold them back as they age into their golden years.
People who genuinely appreciate life in their 70s usually adopt these five subtle habits, says psychology:
1. Own your choices
When Star was struggling to relaunch her life, she knew that the only thing she had control of was the relationship between her and herself. This realization happened when she was still young.
As she matured, it allowed her to take accountability for her actions — and her future. In order to change courses in your own life, start with the relationship between you and yourself. Be willing to own up to your role in your life choices. Only then can you create and cultivate change.
2. Stop blaming everything and everyone else
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It’s time to stop relying on everything — and everyone — else outside of yourself to define you. In the end, you are responsible for your actions — and reactions.
When you stop blaming where you are in life on outside influences, a shift happens. Over time, what’s happening on your inside gets reflected in what’s happening on the outside.
And that’s when transformation begins. Blaming acts as a roadblock to self-improvement, preventing individuals from learning from their mistakes and developing emotional resilience. Research has concluded that taking responsibility fosters a deeper understanding of your role in situations and empowers you to proactively address challenges.
3. Recognize your place in the world
It’s important to note that while our life story does sometimes lead to resilience and empowerment, not everyone has the resources to get there. This means that in some cases, outside influences can impact your journey. Star was a poor person with an uphill climb, but she had one privilege some others don’t — she’s white.
While earning her graduate degree at Columbia University, she was a single mom living on food stamps. One day, she was in a classroom discussing social services and their impact on low-income participants — her very own circumstance.
Sitting next to her classmates, many groomed for the Ivy League, she listened as they tried to discuss a topic they had no firsthand experience with. Their responses shaped her journey and helped her deal with some of the self-limiting beliefs she was holding onto.
Today, Star has been studying race, gender, and class for the last 15 years, and she recognizes her place in our society. Her advice is to recognize your place, too. Be humble and listen to the voices that don’t look like you or come from where you come from. Open both your heart and your mind to their stories.
We all still have so much to learn. It’s a continuous conversation, but holding that space will guide you on your journey while honoring others. 2024 research found that this involves understanding personal connections to places, acknowledging social roles and expectations, and navigating cultural nuances. Developing this awareness can lead to a range of positive outcomes, including a stronger sense of self and improved relationships.
4. Don’t let negative thoughts become reality
Think about this statement: Your reality tomorrow is what you’re thinking today. Negative thoughts can become your reality if you let them. But you can change your thoughts. Be willing to interrupt the ones that no longer serve you. That’s resilience and empowerment.
Commit to the constant conversation with yourself. In this way, you can bring awareness into your everyday experience so that when you think of a negative thought or repetitive self-criticism, you can intercept it and pivot in a more positive direction.
Perceptions are constructed by the mind, not always accurately reflecting objective reality. Researchers from Stanford University found that by practicing techniques like cognitive defusion, individuals can reduce the impact of negative thoughts, enhance self-awareness, and make choices based on their values rather than being controlled by their inner critics.
5. Explore your beliefs
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We all have a handful of core beliefs, some of which are negative. Do any of these find their way into your thought pattern? "I’m not enough." "I’m not worthy." "No one is going to love me."
These are just a few of the destructive beliefs we can hold inside. However, once you recognize them, you can implement exercises and practices that intercept those bad beliefs and change the course of your neurobiology.
That’s because your neurobiology is linked to your beliefs and thoughts. When you work to cultivate a new biological landscape, you can alter your brain. By taking the right steps today, you can change your thought patterns and core beliefs that are holding you back and alter your trajectory for the better.
Hilary DeCesare is the Founder and CEO of The ReLaunch Co. She’s appeared on ABC’s The Secret Millionaire and on major news outlets such as CBS, ABC, Fox, and Huffington Post.
