Mr. Savvy

I got to meet a gentleman a few weeks ago and I name him Mr. Savvy. He’s a well-respected businessman, in his mid-60s, nicely groomed, in classy style yet pairing with smartwatch and tablet.
幾週前，我有幸遇到一位紳士，我暫時稱他為 Mr. Savvy吧。他是一位備受尊敬的商人，年約六十出頭，儀表得體、穿著優雅，同時追得緊貼電子產物，搭配智能手錶和平板電腦。

Attending the lunch meeting purely due to what my gut told me to and it was quite amusing. I ended up having a good time chatting, taking away a full bag of valuable knowledge, clarity, as well as advice from him.  I was amazed by how quick and up-to-date he was. He shared the life experience that created an unstoppable mindset, led him treating every single day as his last day, that allows him finding a way to utilize and fulfil each "last day" every single day.  Be selfish ( he originally meant:  "égoïste" which I interpreted as self-love in this case ) and places himself first is the way to self-care, resulting in “Be In The Moment”.
這次午餐會議完全是憑直覺而去，過程頗為有趣。我最後與他暢談之餘，更收穫豐富，當中有知識、清晰思路，以及寶貴建議。令我驚嘆的是他思維敏捷、資訊掌握非常到位。他分享的生命經驗，塑造了誰也阻擋不住的心態，使他每天都以「最後一天」來對待，並找到方法去活好每一個「最後一天」。他提到，要「自私」（他原意為法文的 égoïste，在這裡我理解為自愛），把自己放在第一位，這是自我照顧的方式，進而達到「活在當下」。

Be In The Moment

“Be In The Moment” sounds cliche, a difficult ritual to practice, and unsure what the beep has to do with anti-aging, especially when you’re in your 30s - 40s, however, it’s a quite evidence-based statement. Many studies, including Harvard as well as Yale University, have shown that a positive being and positive self-perception of age are the keys to make an impact on a slower aging process.
「活在當下」聽起來似乎老生常談，也是一個難以實踐的態度，尤其對三十至四十歲的人而言，似乎與抗衰老無關。然而，這其實是一個有根據的說法。多項研究，包括哈佛與耶魯大學都指出，保持積極的心態與對年齡的正向認知，是減緩衰老的重要因素。

Besides being aware of what you put in and on the body, your thought is often the first component of a homeostatic control system.  It plays an important role as it triggers hormone secretion and cell response, in order to affect the function of the skin as well as body ( your appearance too! ).
除了留意你吃進身體與塗在身上的事物，你的思維往往是身體內穩態控制系統的第一個環節。它會觸發荷爾蒙分泌與細胞反應，進而影響皮膚及身體功能（包括外觀！）。

It seems "Be in the moment" helps to reduce stress over the unknown and lower the stress hormone secretion.  Furthermore, aging isn't a one-day thing, chronic disease and aging take 20 years to form before appearing on the surface, it’s vital to start young on prepping pre-aging, menopause, and post-menopause.
「活在當下」有助減少對未知的焦慮，降低壓力荷爾蒙分泌。此外，衰老並非一日形成，慢性病與老化需時二十年才會表現於外，因此從年輕開始預備「前衰老期」、更年期及更年期後的保養至關重要。

Be Selfish | Put Yourself First

There is a substantial amount of unexpected events happen in our daily lives. Heavy weighted stress on both shoulders has become a daily must-have. I sometimes fall into the researcher’s tale ( which means when I research on Sleep, I ended up being sleep-deprived; I promote slow living, I ended up burying myself in more workload. )
日常生活中，總有大量意外事件發生。沉重壓力成了每日必備。偶爾我也會陷入研究者的悖論：研究睡眠卻導致失眠；提倡慢活，卻把自己埋在更多工作中。

Self-love definitely is essential in life.  It’s delightful having a reminder from a wiser, smarter, well-connected, experienced ( but not older at heart ) person to pull your thoughts back on track.  Learn to be aware of your surrounding, use meditation as a tool is also great for helping to take the moment on reflecting the mind.
自愛確實是人生不可或缺的一環。能從一位更智慧、聰明、經驗豐富（但內心不老）的前輩得到提醒，將思緒拉回正軌，實在令人欣喜。學會察覺周遭，用冥想作為工具，也非常有助於反思與感受當下。

Perhaps I’ll learn more from Mr. Savvy next time.
或許，下次我會從 Mr. Savvy 那裡學到更多。

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Research Reference

Longevity Increased by Positive Self-Perceptions of Aging

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This article was originally published in February 2020

此文章最初刊登於 2020 年 2 月。