2. I share with you one of my favorite BOXING DAYtunes – by a local San Diego Group – Blink 182.
When it comes to your KABOOMER wellness – it is always good to recall these BLINK lyrics:
“Reignite like fireflies, like an atom bomb
At all hours…”
As we bid adieu to 2020 – here’s my challenge to you . . . REIGNITE to Thrive and Strive!
3. Compliments of San Diego County’s Aging and Independence group, and Kim Gallo – please take these noble GRAPES to heart and action for your Roarin’ Twenty decade:
G – Gratitude
R – Relax
A – Appreciate
P – Pleasure
E – Exercise and
S – Socialize.
As Ms. Gallo offers,
aim to keep perspective and to introduce healthy
and balanced thoughts throughout the day.
…Regardless of how we feel in any
given moment, we can make the choice to take action that
aligns with our values. For example, if health is something you value, there may be small steps you can take to look after
your health in regard to exercise, diet, sleep, or alcohol use…”
On this ultimate Sunday in a most unusual year – GRAPES is a darned good homily.
Should you not find a FEELING FIT or Silver Sneakers Hui nearby – >
do START YOUR OWN group to help you party past 90!
Greetings for wintry wonders as we (finally) bid adieu to a most abnormal year!
Are you wondering what my blog title – Julmust Lagom – means? If you are not of Scandinavian descent – you might think that I misplaced or lost my marbles.
Julmust is Sweden’s Christmas “Coke.”
Lagom is an awesome Swedish word with real meaning for us KABOOMERS:
Now, as you get it “just right” – enjoy GLOGG (the Swedish mulled wine), and/or try a Swedish “snapsvisor” drinking tune – for non-fermented Julmusts, or schnapps[snap], aquavit, or another Svenska adult beverage to warm your cheeks as our thermometers dip.
Advisory – if Eggnog is your Christmas warm-up of choice: remember the added sugar, raw eggs, and total KCAL when something with proof is added! Moderate and portion control – please…
I love Sweden – that northern exposure nation known for its:
I admired Sweden when her small patrol gunboats ushered “my” USN Frigate a little further beyond territorial limits. I admired the Swedes for their “Whiskey on the Rocks” denial of a Soviet Submarine in the Cold War that we boomers endured.
I truly love what Friluftsliv entails for the outdoor-oriented lifestyles of many people in this Scandinavian country!
“Friluftsliv isn’t competitive; it’s simply a chance to get outside and enjoy nature—winter or summer, day or night, rain or shine, mud, sleet, or snow.” Amen.
Sure, there isn’t a single factor in population mortality studies. Yet this Koach believes that lifestyle IS a longevity factor! Three+ years of living longer and better is another thousand rises-and-shines to make this world a better place- Right?
Call to Action: Go Get your outdoor-oriented, balanced low-fuss bonus of a THOUSAND days!
Swedes aren’t perfect (just check on the fate of the warship VASA). Yet, they love nature, excel in winter activities, and have Christmas customs which are near and dear to this Scotch-English admirer. Doesn’t Helan Gar sound more festive than “chug-a-lug” or “bottoms-up?” I’m not promoting big-headed binge drinking in the 212 days of XMAS. Rather, I am suggesting that singing and convivial party tunes are good for our mindsets, de-stressing, and constitutions… Note to self – Helen Gar my 4 oz low-calorie Eggnog as I check for coal in my stocking this Friday 🙂
Yes, Buts are verboten. We are blessed with cold-weather clothing that can be very affordable. Yes, AND winter moves are great moves. KABOOM.
Some of us, like me, have a slighter higher Neanderthal code in us – honest! There are indeed some downsides to our slightly higher Neanderthal roots (like being prone to depression). Speaking of age-and health-sapping depression – – – Swedes of Boomer Age have lower depression rates than do we Americans. Right! A lower incidence of depression, according to statista.com and NiH.gov sources, despite much longer winter nights in Scandinavia. One common note about elder depression in our comparative countries: Women are more prone to depression than us men. Oy.
Credit: healthline.com
Here’s to your”just right” Lagom in the healthy seasons ahead!
If I can help your balance, pace, and fuss-not lifestyle levels as you begin your Nuevo Ano – please Call me – Maybe.
Test WP40 to #41259, or Join our KABOOMER LAgom movement by completing this form:
Thinking of December sixteenths in history – I can pinpoint two extraordinary anniversaries that still impact our topsy-turvy world…
Brewer patriots had their Boston Tea Party in 1773. We know what those rebel yells led to!
The Battle of the Bulge began on this date in 1944 around the quaint town of Bastogne, Belgium. When life was precarious for our fabled, yet outmanned and outgunned 101st Airborne, General A. McAuliffe offered one of the mojo mottos of all time – “Surrender? NUTS!”
That, as we look in our rearview mirrors, is history. Now, a rhetorical query time . . .
Is there a Better time spot to start our own EXTRAordinary history channels?
Think of these pandemic Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Festivus days as best ever times to establish the important differences between ordinary and extraordinary performance.
If not me, who? If not now, when?
Recall how I differentiated between two notional Baby Boomers – Decent Deb and Great George in KABOOMER.
Sure, Decent Deb did her minimum and hoped for better days. Great George stretched for a little bit EXTRA to stay EXTRAordinary.
George’s Gym or Fitness Age is far lower than his calendar age. And that can be exciting personal history.
Many of us can stretch out to build our extraordinary physical banker portfolios too! Trust your Koach.
Listento your Koach, too, finding discretionary time to invest in an information-rich podcast or two. We could be seeing an added DECADE of your personal history – and a quality-filled history – as your Physical Bank Portfolio grows. KABOOM.
This podcast is also available on other major podcast portals – Apple, Google Play…
My analog calendar advises me that we’ve got just eight days and a wake-up until Christmas 2020. What better time will there be to write your non-fiction greatness?
Be a KABOOMER EXTRAordinaire! Strive to be a Great George. Find your “NUTS” chutzpah like McAuliffe did. Yes, You Can!
Right you are, KABOOMERS. I’m following our last Right Stuff tribute to Chuck Yeager with this accolade for another larger than life hero – Louis “Unbroken” Zamperini.
Both Louis and Chuck were flyboys in World War II. Both inspired many on their stamininety journeys until each slipped the “surly bonds of earth” for the last time at age 97.
Laura Hillenbrand wrote about Zamperini’s odyssey (as a 1936 Olympian and POW) in her 2010 bestselling book – UNBROKEN. Angelina Joline then directed a 2014 movie of the same name. Do listen to both the director and the actor who played Zamperini as they speak of soul, selfless sacrifice, and community support in challenging times.
Zamperini was NOT born exceptional, according to Joline. And, Louie offered that his youth days were “average, rotten” until he found his calling as a distance runner. Then, he becameexceptional in strength, human spirit, and will on tracks of life, in 47 days at sea, and then in despicable prison camps.
We are in a different war than these 2 studs endured. Yet ours is still very much a deadly war. An extended battle in which inner resolve and never quit mindsets can help us to win – together. We KABOOMERS can unite behind these compelling words of Louie Zamperini in our own CoVID conflict:
“If you can take it – – – YOU can make it.”
In this abnormal year, I join many with stints of Zoom fatigue, four-walls of temporary isolation, and communal concerns for our communities – small businesses, at-risk populations, mask wearers, and those who choose not to don them. Perhaps we can discover more human spirit, will, and strength to keep on keepin’ on.
Perhaps these two Greatest Generation stalwarts – Yeager and Zamperini – can help others like you and me MAKE IT to our finish lines.
As we approach the 12-day countdown to The TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS – I suggest that KABOOMERS read or watch both:
THE RIGHT STUFF and
UNBROKEN.
My Navy SEAL buddies whisper that the only easy day was yesterday. Do dwell on that UNeasy warrior pearl as you order these two awesome reads. Or search for them on streaming video. And while shopping, you might even consider another gift that keeps on giving:
I’ll exit this blog stage with this provocative headline of writer and psychologist, Alison Gopnik, in the 8/29/2020 weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal:
“A GOOD LIFE DOESN’T MEAN AN EASY ONE.”
Amen! She closes her MIND & MATTER column with this,
“the unexpected, even the tragic, can have transformative power.
As a great Leonard Cohen song says, it’s the cracks that let the light come in.”
Let’s do our exceptional, darndest to find transformative power and richness in these unexpected and tragic days. We CAN MAKE IT – together.
With unbroken hope and strength…
Koach Dave
ps – Text WP40 to #41259 to get pretty regular tips and tricks to MAKE IT in your GOOD LIFE.
Are you still awed, as I am – thirty-nine years after the release of an epic FLY BOY film – The Right Stuff ?
I so admire those first 15 years of Project Mercury missions, and the film’s central figure who DID NOT LACK IT. I thought that actor Sam Shephard played Chuck Yeager well. Ed Haris was a superb John Glenn. Randy Quaid was great as Gordo Cooper. [One of my favorite actors in this epic movie was legendary USC and NFL lineman Anthony Munoz who played a hospital orderly “Gonzales.”]
But wait, the Antelope Valley barkeeper named “Fred” in The Right Stuff was played by none other than Charles Chuck Yeager! Cute, in an artistic way, like Rembrandt adding himself to THE BLACK WATCH painting.
“Fred” in real life was an awe-shucks West Virginian, a WWII fighter ace, and bellwether test pilot. Everyone who knew Charles Yeager called him Chuck. He knew what art and science, plus good fortune, could do to keep a test pilot from “auguring in.”
Chuck passed last week at age 97, triggering uncounted eulogies and testaments for his exceptional life and parties before and past ninety. He was still flying high-performance jet aircraft at Medicare and Social Security Ages. Wowza.
What does this term “RIGHT STUFF” – made popular by social writer Tom Wolfe – mean for us as KABOOMERS?”
That New Journalist and author, Tom Wolfe, offered that The Right Stuff is an:
“inexpressible blend of confidence, skill, and machismo…a man could never know with confidence that he possessed it. He could only demonstrate—through .. a split-second miscalculation—his lack of it.”
One of our original Mercury astronauts, Wally Schirra, advised that “it’s something you can’t buy.” Note: I was lucky to meet and socialize briefly with Wally Schirra. He definitely didn’t LACK it!
Here’s your Koach’s stance on something you can’t buy.
KABOOMERS have confidence and skill (we can skip the machismo unless we add machisma to honor ladies who don’t lack it either)!
We don’t have to travel at Mach 1 with broken ribs to show what we don’t lack. Chuck did – in the experimental aircraft which he called Glamorous Glennis:
We don’t miscalculate our training.
We don’t underestimate our personal powers of PHYSICAL BANKING to live longer and to live better.
KABOOMERS make their own blended sonic booms by moving to sweat, pushing and pulling “right stuff”, and being kid-like in our pursuit of new barriers to exceed.
If you’d like to give someone a Gift that keeps on Giving– you just might find that KABOOMER
can help that someone gain and sustain an”inexpressible blend of confidence, skill, and machismo” {or machisma.}.
Stay safe, even after you receive both COVID-19 vaccinations.
KABOOM.
/s/
Koach Dave
ps: With your forbearance, I nominate Chuck “Fred” Yeager to be a KABOOMER emeritus.
As one who peeks at the Heavens and who occasionally clicks on astrology weblinks, I offer this rare occurrence as a feel-good Transformation. Thanks to wellandgood.com and wanderlust.com for enlightening me about this Conjunction junction!
“What’s especially interesting about this Conjunction is that it’s unfolding in an air sign, more specifically Aquarius. …This means that the underlying themes of the Aquarius Great Conjunction will be resilience, liberation, and replacing toxic systems with healthier, inclusive, and unifying alternatives,” Lettman says.
She predicts the Great Conjunction of 2020 will bring about karma-rooted developments; innovations in science, medicine, and technology; and a general step away from rigid perspectives and favor of forming our own paths.”
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What’s NOT to like about the positive prospects for us KABOOMERs in this very rare Age of Aquarius? KABOOM for “Your Vision!”
With a shameless promotion, perhaps a KABOOMER almanac could be that ruminated and digested Book to which Francis Bacon referred:
“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.”
As we approach this astrological, dawning Age of Aquarius, why not form your own path with a healthier lifestyle?
Or, purchase a digestible Gift that Keeps on Giving for an acquaintance or family member. KABOOMER is available at Amazon.com in paperback, Kindle, and audio versions.
Barnes and Noble fans can click herefor great Holiday deals on KABOOMER:
As we anticipate a new dawning, Let Nothing You dismay!
As always – you are welcomed to Join the KABOOMER Movement by texting WP40 to # 41259. You’ll receiver regular tips and hacks to help you on your Aquarian quest.
Or , contact Koach Dave to help you build your Physical Bank in this Age of Aquarius!
With luck, skill, and timing – many of us can and will keep our hearts glowing!
Here’s a public service reminder for pain avoidance to help us calibrate Physical Banking steps to take both seriously and whimsically this Holiday season:
Credit: Harvard Health
Motion is Good Medicine!
Good folks at Harvard Health say so, as do I as your Koach. No matter how cold and dark your days and night may appear, you can mitigate or avoid creaky joints with judicious and habitual movements.
Laugh often as part of your Immunity Boosts!
And, you definitely want to avoid #COVIDIOTS – right?
Move your joints through their best ranges of motion to stay limbered up for whatever physically distanced festivities you can muster!
KABOOM!
Consider me “on-call” for these Holidays to help you in your Most Wonderful Times of the Year!
Credit: 
Credit: 
Credit: healthline.com
Credit: Harvard Health
