A Retirement Plan for Your Mind

I had the honor of speaking to a community group this week, in a program offered by one of our local community colleges called Seniors Active in Learning. I spoke and sang about health care in America, and we had a lively discussion about some of the issues in our system, including the reimbursement system, the role of consumerism, influence and threat of malpractice, and most important, in my view, the growing transactional nature of health care delivery that threatens the inherent fundamental relationship between patient and provider. I’ve given this talk many times and it generally is well-received, as it was the other day. But, I was astounded by the engagement of the audience of retirees, who remained for nearly an hour after the presentation, asking questions that challenged and delighted me. It was a lesson in how to spend at least a portion of one’s retirement, something of great interest to me these days. There are many ways to continue lifelong learning these days, online and in-person, so for those of you in or approaching retirement, check out your local colleges or look online for something to expand your mind and keep you thinking. That’s as important as yoga or yogurt, I think.