Carsins Run at Eva Mar

Title: Living Well - Fall 2018
Time: 30 min 0 sec

Description:

Proudly sponsored by Carsins Run at Eva Mar, our show features Bill Seccurro's advice on staying active and engaged during retirement, information on downsizing, the importance of our spiritual health, how Tai Chi can help with your balance, and growing your own microgreens.

Transcript:

Harford County is a great place to live and now it's been recognized as a great place to retire I'm Suchet president CEO of Carson's whatever Marv Harford County's first and only continuing care retirement community we are proud to sponsor living well making the most of your senior years because we recognize that living well is ageless [Music] welcome to this edition of living well making the most of your senior years I'm your host Terry Troy hey I'm here at Brad's Farm Market where you can get fresh fruits and vegetables their own meats and enjoy events to celebrate the agricultural bounty of every season on today's show we're going to tackle downsizing and figure out what to do with all that extra space now that the kids have moved out of the house we'll get some expert advice on how to check in on our spiritual help that's just as important as our physical and mental health we'll get you started on some Tai Chi sharing some basics so you can enjoy the benefits of this very popular form of exercise and we'll find out how to give our salads and sandwiches a nutritional shot in the arm by adding microgreens but first let's find out how we can discover or rediscover our passion by putting our time and energy where our interests lie and making our neighborhoods and communities stronger I've been involved in community and charitable activities my entire adult life I found it to be quite rewarding and I want to share some of that with you today in hopes that you'll get involved in some of these activities I think it's important in your retirement to stay active to stay engaged and to contribute all of these things play into volunteerism and you can find a group that fits your interests you can find a group that fits the ideals that you have in terms of charitable giving you can find a group within Harford County that will improve the life for everyone when you're thinking about getting involved think about some of the activities that support children that support elderly people that support the poor and the homeless think about where your interests lie think about for example can I volunteer in a school can I volunteer in the library can I volunteer at the upper Chesapeake Medical Center find those places where your interests lie and then see if there's an opportunity for you to devote your talents your skills your knowledge to those endeavors when you retire you have the opportunity to decide what you want to do no one's telling you what to do when to report to work when to go home from work but you have the opportunity to decide what you really are interested and passionate about I've always been interested in education I've also been interested in economic development for Harford County and I've spent many hours in much time working to improve the conditions in Harford County I think it's important when you're thinking about what you want to do in retirement don't just sit around and watch television don't just sit around and say oh I'm too busy you know don't come up with the next excuse when somebody asks you to get involved you know try to find your way into that there are lots and lots of organizations in Harford County one that quickly comes to mind to me that's a just a terrific worthy cause is the arc of northern Maryland the arc is of those nonprofit foundations that provides assistance to challenged adults and they deserve our help they deserve our support others that I have personal interest in are the muscular dystrophy association and a multiple sclerosis society now those are on a national level but yet they provide local help to local people and citizens in Harford County who need their out finally I would say that through rotary which I've been a member of the Bel Air Rotary Club for over 30 years we have eradicated or just about eradicated polio in our lifetime one of the things that I'm most proud of is there's a scholarship in my name at the Harford County Chamber of Commerce that's warded annually to a student who wants to become a teacher I try to attend that event every year for the awarding of the scholarship to meet the student and to encourage them to become the best teacher they can become the benefits of being involved in volunteer work are many especially there are the self gratifying benefits that you can enjoy the knowledge that you've helped someone the knowledge that you've benefited someone that knowledge that you've benefited your commune but then there's also the satisfaction that you get from seeing someone's face someone smiling when they've been helped by the charitable work that you have done or contributed to I used to frequently say Harford County was the best place to live work and do business and I still believe that it is my wife and I have decided that we are going to stay in Harford County we are not leaving Harford County this is our home this is our home and we want it to be the best place that it can be to do that we need to tap the resources of volunteers we need to have people dedicate some of their time talent and treasure to volunteering to groups to helping improve everybody's life from the smallest child to the oldest and elderly adults we need to make sure that everybody has a strong quality of life and I think volunteering is the simplest best way to accomplish that if you're interested in volunteering and don't know where to begin I would suggest that you contact a Harford County office on Aging the Harford County Office of Community Services both of those agencies have lists the foundations and nonprofit organizations that are looking for volunteer but also in the day of google google searching is the easiest way to finding the information that you're looking for so if you're thinking about getting up off the couch and getting involved now's your opportunity you'll love it and you will not ever regret it living well is proudly sponsored by Carson's run Harford counties first and only independent living retirement community with a full continuum of care for me Harford County will always be home my favorite spots the waterfront views and happy grace catching a game at Ripken Stadium biking and hiking the trails or relaxing with great food local wines or a brew join me and create your memories in Harford County welcome back to Living Well making the most of your senior years once the kids have flown the coop many of us are considering downsizing moving to a smaller easier to care for place it's a big decision so we're asking the experts for some sound advice [Music] downsizing can be confusing and stressful but it can also be super liberating and fun hi I'm Linda rich and this is my husband Bob and we are a realtor team who specializes in working with seniors who are thinking about downsizing the best way to start the downsizing process is to come up with a plan from soup to nuts you want to make sure that you've got everything lined up a great way to start that is to find a realtor who specializes in working with seniors they are going to be someone who can help you guide you through the process and will offer you valuable resources that you will be using often some of the things that you can do to start the downsizing process and get beyond the emotions of it is start in an easy area a room that's not emotional the laundry room the garage that way you can start the process and see what it's like to get things in boxes see what's like to get things in bags that are going to the trash to Goodwill things that you want to keep then if you're moving from a four bedroom to a two bedroom that's easy there's two bedrooms that you can get rid of immediately because you're not going to be able to bring that furniture with you one of the most challenging aspects of downsizing is the emotional aspect you're working with a lifetime of items personal mementos and just things that you're now deciding to pare down to the most essentials or the few special items that you want to take with you and maybe you are giving away pieces to family members making those decisions can be very difficult downsizing can be stressful but there are things you can do to ease the stress of the downsize one of the first things you want to make sure is to account for time time is going to be very very important this is not a project that's going to be able to be accomplished in a weekend or two it could take upwards of a month you want to make sure that you've set everything up to make for success that you have boxes and bags everything ready to go try and find things to do too get fun invite the family over it'll give you an opportunity to bond with your family grandchildren when you talk about the heirlooms that you're taking off the shelves and putting into boxes maybe they say this is really important to me and they want to take it with them it's a wonderful way to help you downsize another great thing that you can do that's a lot of fun is to have the opposite of a housewarming party have a house moving party and instead of your guests bringing gifts to you they get to take things from your house with them and that way they can remember the party they can remember you and they can remember all the wonderful times that they had at your home let's talk about staging station is probably the most critical part of selling your home the goal of staging is to shine the best light on your house so that prospective buyers offer the most amount of money and in the quickest amount of time Linda is right about staging it is probably the most important thing that you can do to sell your house one of the things that I like to talk to people about is how do we make your home into a house they talk about location location location well in your case declutter declutter declutter you want to take down all of the things that make your house a home the pictures of your grandchildren all the things on the refrigerator with the magnets those are fantastic keepsakes for you but we want to make sure that the person who's coming in to view your house can see it as their home so by cleaning out getting neutral colors on the walls making sure that you're putting your houses best foot forward will assure that your house will sell as quickly and for the highest price possible here are a few more staging tips one of the most important things that will happen when your house has shown is Wiley realtor is opening your front door the prospective buyer is no doubtedly evaluating the curb appeal of your house and the condition of the shutters the siding and the paint on your front door so you want to make sure those things are clean freshly scraped and painted and looking really appealing as soon as someone comes through your door they may go right to the dining room and it would be super inviting to see the table set for a family dinner we also know that kitchen and baths are the biggest selling point in a house to make sure that those spaces are very clean and decluttered nice clean kitchen counters and bathroom counter tops go a long way and lastly be sure to put away those valuables and prescriptions there are a lot of advantages to using a realtor that specializes in helping seniors downsize one of the designations or the only designation that you get for that is an S re s seniors real estate specialist we have gone through and made sure that we've taken courses to understand the emotions the practicals everything that's involved with helping seniors downsize and transition to their next point in life so having a qualified realtor helping you through the process is really going to once again make everything easy as possible so take the confusion and stress out of the downsizing process utilize the professionals the experts the resources that we've just talked about and look forward to the liberating phase that you are about to embark on [Music] and once you've downsized it doesn't mean you have to give up your love for gardening let's check in with our Master Gardener on a great way to wrap up your nutrition by growing microgreens have you had a fancy sandwich recently at a restaurant and on top of it for some zesty greens and maybe you wondered what they were probably they were microgreens these are so easy to go anybody can do it at home and it's a lot cheaper than buying them at a grocery store let me show you how easy all you need is an old clamshell that you've recycled from the salad bar at the grocery store you will have to go to the store and purchase some potting mix fill your container with about an inch deep of potting mix then you have to purchase some microgreens from a seed store or you can use other seeds which I'll show you level your soil out and then spread your microgreens on the top it is nice to cover them a little bit with some potting mix so I'm heavy because you want to note next to each other Pat them in the soil you're gonna water them in with your watering can you haven't put any drainage holes because that's not necessary this whole process is going to be completed within two weeks of time moisten it up close it up put it in a sunny windowsill in the kitchen and as soon as they start to grow you're ready to eat theirs here's my sample these will germinate in three to five days in a sunny windowsill you just take scissors and snip them off or you can pull them off individually and just eat the top portion off I bet you're wondering what kind of plants are these they come in all different kinds sometimes their radishes there's different color flower broccoli all kinds of mixes are in the micro green seed mix you might even have some leftover seeds at home like some cilantro or basil or old radishes you can do the same thing just them into a shallow container with some potting mix let them grow and cut them while they're real small they're full of nutrition and you'll be healthier for it so maybe you've got some more gardening questions stop by and visit us at the street office where the AG Center is located or you can give us a call and find the Master Gardeners we're teaching classes throughout the county love to help looking for something to do check out live at Harford Community College a new resource that provides info about all cultural and community events on campus and one convenient location HCC offers a wide variety of events from national touring acts to jazz magic ballet art and history exhibits lectures and more a new interactive web site can be searched by date location and event type information is also available on and visit us online today living well is proudly sponsored by Carson's run Harford County's first and only independent living retirement community with a full continuum of care in case you haven't heard Taichi is great for balance and concentration and focus and really easy on your joints let's learn some of the basics so we can get on board with Taichi welcome back dr. Val Collins here again and today's fitness focus is balanced through Taichi balance is something that's a challenge from infancy to aging and sometimes in between due to conditions like neuropathy of the feet from diabetes sometimes from a shift in the center of gravity from obesity and pregnancy maybe it's vertigo or an issue with the inner ear sometimes it's just plain clumsiness while everyone can benefit from the balance of Tai Chi so let's get started you want to be rooted and grounded in your feet just like a tree and flexible at the top you want to have flat feet or perhaps just flat comfortable shoes as we shift in the balance you want to make sure that you're rooted and grounded and that your knees are soft so let's be rooted and grounded in the right leg and slightly lift the left now you decide how high and how long and we're gonna take a step forward so without leaning or falling forward go ahead and shift and bring the heel down and move forward staying upright in the body but having a soft knee get grounded and again with purposeful movement you want to lift and come forward and place the foot down notice that the toe is at a 45-degree angle let's step back because movements in life are forward backward and sideways so we're gonna try to move backwards don't get nervous go ahead and start to shift by getting rooted on the right and lifting on the left you decide how long and how high you can challenge that as you go as you move back you're gonna ball heel down and again soften that front knee get grounded on that leg and then shift back again as you know you can also stumbled to the side so we're gonna shift our focus over to the left first start by turning your toes in that direction then go ahead and lift come forward heel toe down and noticed that I soften the knee to come in that direction let's try it on the other side go ahead and lift and replace that leg turn the right foot out shift your focus over to the right lift and come forward on that side once you're rooted and grounded on the Left go ahead and bring that leg right back in why don't we add the challenge of an arm movement something for you to grow toward go ahead and shift the toes to the side and as we lift just sweep that arm up step forward and push and as we come back shift it and sweep it in again you can do the same thing on the other side well thanks for joining us today we hope that these movements help you practice them a couple of times a week and we promise you'll start to feel some strength around the hips in the core and you'll have a more balanced life we hope to see you again have a great day [Music] you milassas must think that physical health is the only thing we have to pay attention to in our lives well let's consider our spiritual health and how to make sure we're exercising our spiritual muscles for a healthier and happier life [Music] to me the first place to assess one's own spiritual health is their own perspective of themselves how do they feel about themselves do they feel comfortable enough can they can they appreciate the imperfections of their life can they be filled with a sense of gratitude and a sense of appreciation are they engaging in a way that's meaningful for them strengthening our spiritual health requires a commitment of time and energy it requires a sense of knowing who I am a mindful awareness of what I need where my passions where do I desire to be and therefore when I understand that then being able to go out and make those connections so people who are seeking the God of their of their world you know making those connections to faith-based communities people who are looking for like-minded people you know discovering this group that meets here people who are maybe inclined to do a lot more reading spending some time reading and exploring those issues that they really have a passion or interest for the gift of spiritual health is putting it into practice which requires me to be in relationship with myself with others and if I believe with God that requires a place of being vulnerable and in today's society that's a very difficult place for many people to feel is being vulnerable and I recommend always that people just take little bits little baby steps do an activity for a short period of time see how it works see how it feels for you and find those activities search be inquisitive being be passionate go out there and try to find those things that will nurture you based on what you need so when we look at spiritual wellness what I evaluate as a chaplain is somebody's connectedness are they connected to themselves to others to life what I'm looking for is their connection with love with hope how they interpret the world in a way that they find meaning and purpose when people are challenged by meaning and purpose what I look for is is where is the struggle I see things like anger lack of forgiveness guilt regret and we explore those issues to understand what's driving that sometimes people make decisions that ultimately are the wrong choices for them and they discovered that in some very uncomfortable and difficult situation and they need to look back and reconcile that and that's regret if they are spiritually held they are on a path toward spiritual wellness the gift is by integrating who they were then and who they are now to realize that they probably were doing the best they were doing then and there for what purpose does regret have well maybe it has a wisdom built into that so therefore if I can forgive myself and free myself of that which I've caused to lead to regret whatever that statement is can I love myself enough then to allow wisdom to come in learn from that and be able to move on but regret can hold people back it's an incredibly strong emotion that may really cripple people moving forward in their life so one of the challenges of life is change and with change one needs to adapt when one is unable to adapt the one struggles with that change in a very profound way it leads one to experience loss and from loss comes grief and mourning so when you look at loss and the associated grief and mourning that's a whole life spectrum and those loss issues that we experience are all throughout our life toddlers who make transitions children who make transitions in school life transitions for parents as children grow up children's life experienced as losing parents or other relatives transitions of the home finance jobs relationships all of that through the entire continuum is all change and with that it's associated loss when we look at the human nature of who we are we consider ourselves body soul spirit mind emotions that soul the essence of who we are inside of this shell that we call a body wants to express itself to the world wants to communicate to the world the I and me wants to know who I am who you are and beyond us what's happening in the bigger context even in the language of God and the existential that is our spiritual journey spiritual health is the way we feed and nurture that and the very positive very rewarding self loving and loving to others way when I talk about faith journey what I'm talking about is is a perspective about life that may incorporate a religion or a philosophy I encourage everyone to journey to go out and discover who they are and the potential of who they can be the future isn't written but living life I believe the fullness of it no matter what our limitations are we could be healthy fully functional out in the world as that's defined by others or we could be incapacitated by illness but nonetheless wherever we are we have the potential to become something much richer and fill with wisdom a greater lover a greater carer maybe a better prayer person whatever it is but wherever that passion is inside to continue to nurture that heart's desire thanks for joining us on this edition of living well until next time I'm Terry Troy a reminding you to make the most of your senior years Living Well is proudly sponsored by Carson's run Harford County's first and only independent living retirement community with a full continuum of care [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Music]