Wrinkles Don’t Hurt: Daily Meditations on the Joy of Aging Mindfully explains how mindfulness works and offers inspirational messages and positive affirmations. We can read many inspiring books and forget them quickly. Because Wrinkles Don’t Hurt is a daily meditation book, it provides a daily reminder of how we can live our lives and age happier and healthier with a life of joy and purpose.

I discovered the practice of mindfulness 33 years ago, when I was 5 years sober, and I have practiced it every day since. As an alcoholism and addiction counselor and a licensed mental health therapist, I taught mindfulness to my clients with wonderful results. I now teach mindfulness to many people in recovery. These many years of experience inspired me to write this book.

The book shares positive quotes such as this one from Catharine Ponder: “Thoughts of your mind have made you what you are and thoughts of your mind will make you what you become from this day forward.” The book also offers affirmations to inspire us through the day. For example, “Breathing in to all the aches and pains of my body, I am releasing my tension. Breathing in to all the aches and pains of my body, I am softening my pain. Breathing in . . . breathing out . . . I am feeling better.”

When my first book The Journey Within: A Spiritual Path to Recovery was released by HCI, my publisher called to ask if I did public speaking. I said no. He asked if I would consider it, and I said no. He asked if I would call him back in two weeks and I didn’t. I was terrified of public speaking! I had some very embarrassing times as a child in school and vowed I would never speak in front of people again.

After listening to my negative self-talk such as “I’m not good enough” and “Who would want to hear me speak?” for over two months, I remembered, fortunately, that affirmations work. I wrote this affirmation: “I am a dynamite, confident, fearless, charismatic and motivating speaker.”

I didn’t believe one word of it and was embarrassed to tell anyone about it. The power of those words carried me through that engagement and many others until I have finally become relaxed and even enjoyed public speaking.

If you experience thoughts of fear or negativity, the thoughts of aging will trigger more of the same. Phrases such as: “I can’t get through this without a drink,” “I’m not good enough” and “I’ll never have enough” can turn into “I’m afraid that I won’t have anyone to take care of me when I am older.” “What if my money runs out when I am old?” “What if I have to live in a nursing home? What if I won’t have the energy to do the things I love?”

Wrinkles Don’t Hurt can help your clients become more mindful, learn to quiet their minds and listen to the positive thoughts they can instill in themselves. They can begin to see how words have the power to make them feel good or bad, confident or fearful, positive or negative. It has been scientifically proven that the words we tell ourselves can make us healthy, depressed or sick. Once they realize that how they feel is a direct result of how they talk to themselves, they have a new and powerful tool to change how they feel and then they have a choice.

The more often we catch ourselves in negative or self-destructive thoughts, the more we can actually lessen our automatic reactions that produce stress and suffering and increase positive reactions that produce joy, compassion, love and equanimity. It shows us we do not have to drink or drug to be happy.

Ruth Fishel, MEd, is an acclaimed author of inspirational books that have sold nearly one million copies, including Peace in the World, Peace in our Hearts, Time for Joy, The Journey Within, A Spiritual Path to Recovery and Change Almost Anything in 21 Days. Wrinkles Don’t Hurt: Daily Meditations on the Joy of Aging Mindfully with illustrations by Bonny Van de Kamp is her most recent book. She is a national retreat and workshop leader and meditation teacher. Visit her website at www.ruthfishel.com. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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sandi_d@q.com  - Wrinkles Don't Hurt   |65.101.40.xxx |2012-04-24 13:58:30 Can you tell me where to find this book? I am currently studying to be a substance abuse counselor, and find that this book may be very helpful to me and to use in my studies. Many Thanks, Sandra D'alessandro Reply 0   0

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