New York Times Bestselling Author Ilchi Lee Shows You How In His New Book I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years
New York Times Bestselling Author Ilchi Lee Shows You How In His New Book I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years
"Planning for a fulfilling old age should be as normal as planning a career path or contributing to a retirement fund. Old age is the future that awaits everyone, and how you live now will have a tremendous effect on your final decades of life,” writes Ilchi Lee, a world renowned philosopher and educator, in his new book I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years (Best Life Media, December 2017).
As the title suggests, Lee believes that anyone can live a long, productive, and healthy life, but they must consciously choose to do so.
“To design the second half of your life so it is healthy, happy and overflowing with joy and a sense of fulfillment, you must have a purpose or goal that gives that time meaning,” explains Lee. The first step is figuring out what you really want, what is important to you. Those who wish to age well must connect with their true selves and find new sources of happiness.
Yet, as Lee points out, very few people have goals or planned activities for their lives after the 70s or 80s, beyond simply staying alive. As a result, many people are entering the era of longevity without any mental preparation, and they will face the challenge of 20 to 40 years of inactivity. “This is a problem that transcends the level of the individual – it is a national problem and beyond that, a global issue,” writes Lee.
The solutions that Lee presents in I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years focus on the body, mind, and spirit.
“This book provides the precise formula you need to follow if you do indeed want to live as fully as possible, as healthfully as possible, for as long as possible.”
–Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom
BEING ACTIVE IS THE MOST ESSENTIAL
For the body, Lee encourages people to get up and move, explaining that being healthy means relying less on prescription drugs and medical treatments, and more on self-care and exercise. In his book, Lee includes instructions for one-minute workouts, and for Longevity Walking and Belly Button Healing – special techniques that he’s developed to promote mental and physical health, improve sleep and mood, enhance energy levels, and alleviate pain. He is adamant that being active is essential if you wish to live 120 years.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT CREATING SOMETHING NEW
When it comes to improving the mind as people age, Lee presents much wise guidance in I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years. He discusses, for example, the joy of creation, saying it is never too late to feel good about creating something new. “Each and every moment we go on living our lives is an opportunity for creation. Carrying out something we feel is needed in our daily lives, improving something that feels uncomfortable, attempting something we’ve never tried before, taking a new approach to something – these are all acts of creation,” writes Lee. And creation means action. Again, Lee encourages readers to get up and make things happen. Longevity is not about sitting back and letting the years pass. It’s a time to be fully engaged in life.
PURSUE A LIFE OF COMPLETION
Much of I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years is devoted to the significance of spiritual growth in people’s later years, whether in the form of oneness with nature, meditation, or other practices. What is most important, says Lee, is attaining a sense of completion, a feeling of unity with the divine or with the Source of the cosmos. Completion “is about the world of consciousness, a sense that allows us to feel what is going on inside us. It is a feeling of fulfillment filing our hearts, like pride, satisfaction, oneness, and peace . . . A life of completion is one that allows us in the moment of death to look back on our lives, to feel satisfaction, and fulfillment, and to close our eyes in peace and happiness,” he writes.
Throughout I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years, Ilchi Lee encourages readers to enjoy new experiences, build relationships, become active helping others, take pleasure in the wonders of nature, and seek self-knowledge. These are all keys to living a long and fruitful life. Yet there is also a bigger theme underlying much of what Lee writes about.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ilchi Lee is a visionary, educator, and a New York Times bestselling author. He has penned more than 40 books including his most recent title, I’ve Decided to Live 120 Years: The Ancient Secret to Longevity, Vitality, and Life Transformation. He founded the mind-body practices of Body & Brain Yoga and Brain Education and established the Earth Citizen Movement. Learn more at Live120YearsBook.com.