Who else to tell us how to live a good and fulfilling life than Japanese doctor Dr Shigeaki Hinohara who has lived such a life and penned “Living Long, Living Good”at the age of 101, passed away with respiratory failure on Tuesday 18 July 2017 at the age of 105.
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Have fun in our lives and be flexible
Dr Hinohara spoke about how when we are young, we can forget about food and sleep when we are having fun. He said that we should keep the attitude of having fun also in our adult lives and we don’t have to strictly follow rules about mealtimes or bedtime, believing that energy comes from feeling good, not eating well or sleeping a lot.
I believe what Dr Hinohara meant is to be creative and fun-loving and be flexible in how we live our lives. However, I still believe we should have a healthy and balance diet with lots of fresh ingredients, vegetables and fruits and having sufficient sleep, as this will makes our body feel good. Physically wellness will affect psychological wellness too. -
Keep a healthy weight
Dr Hinohara said that one thing he noticed about people who live long lives is that they are not overweight.
I believe this is true as when we are overweight, illness such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol are common ailments. Having too much weight also put strain on our knees and spine. When we have a healthy weight, we don’t have such sickness, and we feel lighter and physically more energetic. -
Keep active
Dr Hinohara liked to take the stairs. This is good advice as keeping active would help one to control the weight. Being on the move also gives you more energy as what research shows.
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Making contributions
Journalist Judit Kawaguchi shared that she believes Dr Hinohara believed that life is all about contribution and kept a busy schedule with the goal of helping other people. She felt that this is what drove Dr Hinohara to kept on working and kept him living until the old age of 105.
I do believe that this is true. We human beings want to make a difference, and the most fulfilled person is one who feels he has made the best use of his talents to make this world a better place. When we have something that we feel passionate about, it would drive us daily to keep working at what we believe in. -
Stop amassing material things
Dr Hinohara believed it is crazy to keep amassing material things as we do not know when we will leave this world and we cannot take the things with us.
Having lots of material things could restrict us both physically and mentally. Sometimes, I wonder why when we travel we can live out of our luggage but when we went home, we need so much stuff in our home. If you do notice, you only make use of 10% of your stuff most of the time. -
Share knowledge
Dr Hinohara gave up to 150 lectures a year, standing for 60 to 90 minutes. He could be speaking to adults or elementary children. He believed in sharing with kids so that they would grow up to be contributing members of society.
Research has shown that sharing would make you happier. Being able to share means that you are in a better situation. -
Have a role model
Dr Hinohara’s role model was his father. When Dr Hinohara encountered problems, he would think how his father would have resolved the situation.
Role models would influence, inspire and motivate us to become like them, or better them.
