[Fis] Happy 250th Fourth of July !!!

[Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov]

Yes, Eric. That's exactly the right attitude and what one needs to do when
suddenly trapped in an unpleasant physical situation. And still, all the
pains and suffering along the way are part of the experience you would
never have (and appreciate) at a young age. Recapitulating the past with a
positive mindset elevates us to a new stage of development. I am happy to
share all this with like minded folks. And I am thankful for this aging
which actually remains only a mindset, like the winter clothes you don't
wear in the summer. Move slowly, but keep walking ;-) Behaving like the
sloth animal does not mean you remain stuck in neuronal chaos. Thank you
for your wishes too. Chosing, accepting and dealing with challenges is our
human destiny forever.

Blessings,

Plamen


On Sat, Jul 4, 2026 at 12:56 PM OARF <eric.werner at oarf.org> wrote:

> Dear Friends,
>
> Thank you Plamen for this positive message!  One important caveat is that
> even if the body acts up in the ways it may as we get older, it is
> important to remember that the pains and discomforts and inabilities that
> may appear, are often reversible with the right attitude and exercise. It
> may not feel that way at the time, but with the. right method, your back to
> feeling good.
>
> I recently had an episode of back pain due to improper lifting of
> something.  I felt suddenly OLD, and understood what many may feel like as
> they age.  But though it looked pretty grim, I forced myself to do careful
> but consistent gentle exercises and  realized a steady improvement back to
> normal.  My will overcame my prejudice about what I was supposed to be able
> to do at my age.
>
> So attitude and confidence and not giving up is important when physically
> challenged.
>
> Most of you have exceptional brilliant minds and to keep your wonderful
> gift, mental exercise, as you probably know, is essential. And I don’t mean
> scrabble. So let you mind run, no matter what the calendar says about your
> supposed age. Your mental age is even more flexible than your physical
> age.  That includes starting a new conceptual foundation that no one has
> tried before. Why not? Go for it!
>
> -Eric
>
> ********
> Dr. Eric Werner
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.ericwerner.com__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!TX5WidqQQT6FBPAoe81Dp_3n1OR5HeMpMT3RC0kR83rH_xlo0qgmW4B6YA2DUVBIpaXmGfiqrrxh1FQafDSHRGSywd6d$ 
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Jul 4, 2026, at 10:48 AM, Plamen <plamen.l.simeonov at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 
>
> Dear American friends and all the FISers who have kept feeding their
> American spirit throughout the years,
>
>
> Happy anniversary of this great celebration to everyone who feels like
> being part of it!
> Cheers for the next 250 years and 3x that much!
>
> Here is something I wish to remind you - you certainly know it! - along
> with the article below I read this morning in Medium. I learned about
> this Harvard experiment perhaps a month ago from one of Joe Dispenza's
> interviews and realized that I have been doing so all the time since I got
> to know myself :-)
>
> So stay young, agile, striving and keep the American soul alive!
>
> Best,
>
> Plamen
>
> This Harvard Experiment Made The Elderly Feel Younger in Just One Week
> The unsettling Ellen Langer experiment that suggests ageing may be partly
> a mindset
> [image: Yogi]
>
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://medium.com/@abhiyogi?source=post_page---byline--2d808006f2cf---------------------------------------__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!S9805sHETv1ss6axGrvsqTb5YrgeEL1VmhKIwrL4WnrQx-hlu9CYl_8v2dDQPVAJsebbYe5zzgl8gr9MwA1d7Wy3B_aX$>
> Yogi
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://medium.com/@abhiyogi?source=post_page---byline--2d808006f2cf---------------------------------------__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!S9805sHETv1ss6axGrvsqTb5YrgeEL1VmhKIwrL4WnrQx-hlu9CYl_8v2dDQPVAJsebbYe5zzgl8gr9MwA1d7Wy3B_aX$>
> Follow
> 4 min read
> ·
> Jan 29, 2026
>
> 9.5K
>
> 130
>
> 3
> Press enter or click to view image in full size
> Picture taken by the Author
>
> We talk about ageing as if it is a one-way street. Wrinkles appear, joints
> complain, energy dips and we accept it all with a resigned shrug. *This
> is what ageing looks like*, we tell ourselves.
>
> But what if some of it isn’t ageing at all?
>
> What if it is habit? What if it is mindset?
>
> That question sits at the heart of one of the most fascinating
> psychological experiments of the 20th century conducted by Harvard
> psychologist *Ellen Langer*, often called *the mother of mindfulness*.
>
> Her work doesn’t promise immortality or miracle reversals. What it does is
> far more unsettling and far more hopeful. It suggests that *how old we
> feel may shape how old we become*.
> The Counter-Clockwise Experiment
>
> In 1979, Ellen Langer designed what later came to be known as the *“Counter-Clockwise”
> experiment*.
>
> She invited a group of men in their late 70s and early 80s to spend a week
> at a retreat. But this was no ordinary holiday. The retreat was carefully
> designed to look, sound, and feel like it was *1959, *twenty years
> earlier.
>
> The furniture matched the era. The newspapers were from 1959. The radio
> played music from that time. Television shows, conversations, and
> photographs reflected that year
>
> The men were asked to *live as if it were 1959*. They were told to speak
> in the present tense, discuss current events from that time, and behave as
> though they were their younger selves.
>
> What happened next surprised everyone.
> The Results That Made Scientists Uncomfortable
>
> After *just seven days*, there were measurable biological and physical
> improvements:
>
>    - Better posture
>    - Increased grip strength
>    - Improved hearing and vision
>    - Faster movement
>    - Enhanced memory and cognitive function
>
> No new medication.
> No special exercise program.
> No diet overhaul.
>
> Just a shift in *context, attention, and belief*. The body, it seemed,
> was listening to the mind.
> Why This Experiment Still Matters
>
> Ellen Langer wasn’t claiming that time can be reversed. She was pointing
> to something subtler and more unsettling: *we unknowingly participate in
> our own ageing.*
>
> We tell ourselves stories: “I’m too old to learn this.” “At my age, this
> is normal.” “What do you expect? I’m not young anymore.”
>
> Over time, these stories harden into rules.
> The body follows instructions remarkably well.
>
> Langer’s research suggests that *many age-related declines are amplified
> and sometimes triggered by expectation rather than biology **alone*.
> Ageing vs. Awareness
>
> One of Langer’s central ideas is *mindlessness, *the way we operate on
> autopilot, following labels and assumptions without questioning them.
>
> Age is one of the strongest labels we carry.
>
> Once we accept it, we limit our movement because we “might get hurt”, we
> excuse forgetfulness instead of challenging it, we outsource strength,
> independence, and curiosity to “the young”
>
> The Counter-Clockwise experiment didn’t make the men younger.
> It made them *more present, *more attentive, more engaged, more alive.
> This Hit Me Harder Than I Expected
>
> I first came across this experiment casually, the way one stumbles upon an
> article and expects nothing more than a mild “interesting.”
>
> Because I recognised myself in small, uncomfortable ways.
>
> The times I avoided learning something new because it felt “too late.”
> The moments I blamed fatigue on age rather than routine or mindset.
> The subtle narrowing of possibility that creeps in quietly, politely,
> almost invisibly.
>
> What if we’re not tired because we’re ageing but ageing because we’ve
> grown tired of being alert?
> Mindset Is Not Denial
>
> What happens if we replace:
>
>    - “I can’t” with “Let me try”
>    - “That’s normal at my age” with “Is it?”
>    - “I’m done” with “I’m curious”
>
> Small shifts.
> Big consequences.
> Feeling Younger Isn’t About Acting Young
>
> Langer’s experiment didn’t ask participants to dress younger or behave
> foolishly. It asked them to *engage* — mentally, socially, physically.
>
> Feeling younger, in this sense, isn’t about denial.
> It’s about *participation*.
> What This Means for Us, Right Now
>
> You don’t need a 1959 retreat to test this idea. Experiment this from
> TODAY. From NOW.
>
> Ask yourself:
> *What am I no longer doing because I decided — consciously or not — that
> it’s “too late”?*
>
> Then tell your mind you are at the age where you can do it. Stay in this
> mindset for a week and see what happens.
> The Real Takeaway
>
> The Ellen Langer experiment doesn’t promise youth. It offers something
> better — *agency*. It reminds us that while we can’t stop time, we can
> stop surrendering to it prematurely.
>
> Ageing is inevitable. *Ageing unconsciously is optional.*
>
> And sometimes, feeling younger begins not with turning back the clock but
> with paying attention to the moment you’re in.
>
> I enrolled myself for piano and singing lessons. I am planning to learn
> Spanish. *We are not limited by our age, we are limited by what we tell
> ourselves.*
>
> Thank you for reading.
>
> Thank you for reading.😊
>
> This article is published in Women Write Publication. A growing, strong
> community built by women for women. All thoughts are welcome.
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 10:56 PM Bernie Baars <baarsbjwhite at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Thank you, Plamen, and I believe you are definitely part of it also.
>> I'm an immigrant kid, but I've grown to appreciate this huge experiment
>> in human government.
>> So far, so good!
>> Bernie
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 12:39 PM Dr. Plamen L. Simeonov <
>> plamen.l.simeonov at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Happy anniversary of this great celebration to everyone who feels like
>>> being part of it!
>>> Cheers for the next 250 years and 3x that much!
>>>
>>> Best
>>>
>>> Plamen
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 8:50 PM Bernie Baars <baarsbjwhite at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>>>> From: Bernie Baars <baarsbjwhite at gmail.com>
>>>> Date: Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 6:16 AM
>>>> Subject: Happy 250th Fourth of July !!!
>>>> To: Bernie Baars <baarsbjwhite at gmail.com>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The US Constitution and Declaration are the two most successful of the
>>>> Western Enlightenment: John Locke, Voltaire and all those fellows and gals.
>>>> In EUrope the aristocracy was too powerful to allow rational change, and it
>>>> took the bloody French Revolution, followed by the Napoleonic Wars to
>>>> resolve the revolutionary fervors - which are still laying out.
>>>> We think of Europe s being "democratic" but the
>>>> EU is anything BUT democratic. Nobody votes for the EU, except the
>>>> undemocratic establishments. As a direct result, the EU keeps doing crazy
>>>> things like Net Zero, importation of millions of hostile warriors who will
>>>> not assimilate, and a foreign policy that has practically sunk the British
>>>> Navy. It's all crazy, ideological stuff far removed from reality.
>>>> We do have our suicidal ideological madness, too, but we are correcting
>>>> that aberration, I hope. We are still on a knife's edge, but there is hope.
>>>> The 250th Anniversary is a time to celebrate 250 years of fairly stable
>>>> Constitutional government, far longer than any dem/republican form of
>>>> government in the world.
>>>> And yet, half of our political class (the delusional half) is
>>>> determined to kill off the most successful and prosperous form of
>>>> government ever devised by crazy humans.
>>>> Look around the world, and you'll see mostly pathological forms of
>>>> government. Even Britain, the Mother Country,  has figured out ways to
>>>> sabotage its achievements. Maybe it is in human nature to live on the edge
>>>> of disaster.
>>>> So let us celebrate a very genuine achievement of 250 years of relative
>>>> peace and prosperity, A "light unto the nations" and always ready to
>>>> topple. We certainly have fanatical enemies both inward and outward.
>>>> In the 19th century some wit wrote that "God protects orphans, widows
>>>> and the United States." All kinds of weird and irrational stuff is
>>>> happening, and AI is now waiting to make things worse.
>>>> So pray for the Ship of State to make it through today's turmoil and
>>>> madness. Try to fix the Ship of State just like the old-time sailors,
>>>> always rushing back and forth to pump out bilge water and change the sails
>>>> to catch every favorable wind and tide.
>>>> And don't listen to the happy saboteurs who want to bring it all down.
>>>> And most of all, trust in our dumb luck, which has kept us afloat for 2
>>>> 1/2 centuries so far.
>>>> I don't know if we will make it through the next 100 years, but if we
>>>> do, it will be by remembering the Founders and their clever ship
>>>> construction.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 🇺🇲🇱🇺🇮🇱🥸🌐😭😛😨😵‍💫😎🤠🥸👿👺👽🙊👁️👄💅🙇🙋💁🙆🙅🤷🤦🙍🙎🧑‍🦼🧑‍🎓🧑‍💼🧑‍⚖️🧔💏🌹🍁🌈🌘🐻🦌🦩🐞👹💖🛌🧛🍪🍩🍯🎇✡️🔯🕎👁️‍🗨️🧑‍🧑‍🧒 '"HAPPY
>>>> FOURTH of JULY"anc  consider the alternatives!!!
>>>> Bernie
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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