Five Secrets for the New Year

I just finished John Izzo's book, "The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die" and I think it's a good choice to provide some perspective for New Year's resolutions.

This book contains a very interesting collections of anecdotes and insights from hundreds of interviews Izzo has conducted with "elders" in various cultures around the world (ages ranged from 59 to 105). He distilled what he learned from these interviews into the "Five Secrets" that these elders deemed essential to a happy life. For those of you who crave the list, the five secrets are:

1. Be true to yourself
2. Leave no regrets
3. Become love
4. Live the moment
5. Give more than you take

A simple list of the Five Secrets is useful, but the "why" really comes out in the stories Izzo shares in this book. I learned a lot of subtleties about the five secrets through the stories in each section.

Powerful perspective from others - and some questions of my own

Izzo went down the path toward this book because he wanted to learn how to have the most fulfiling life possible. His father died at age 36, and Izzo's sense of urgency about his own life increased as a result. This study process got him to spend a lot of time with old people and he found that different cultures place different amounts of value on the old in their societies. Izzo found many cultures where the elders are held in very high regard, and regularly consulted about weighty matters - for example, he cites a Romanian saying, "The house that does not have an old person in it must buy one."

He also observes that the US culture, for one, tends to focus more on the ideas of the young, and relegates elders to nursing homes and retirement communities. I think his observation is an interesting one and, while his statements about this may be exaggerated a bit, it's worth considering whether we are systematically dismissing the value of the old people in our society - and figuring out how each of us, individually, can embrace the value of our elders more often.

As cool as Izzo's ideas are, one thing bothered me after reading this book: Most of the "elder honoring" cultures Izzo mentions (Romania, Tanzania, etc.) are not exactly dominating the world's stage for political, economic, or social contributions. Why not? What else is needed? And is there a way to accelerate world contributions by better engaging elders in our activities and decisions?

Start the New Year with some new ideas

There is a lot to think about in this book, and I think it provides an excellent backdrop for reviewing your life's priorities and purpose. If you're thinking about New Year's resolutions this would be a good book to read before you put pen to paper - it's an easy read for such a deep message, and the stories will be good for you no matter what..

Comments

[Angela Maiers]

Dwayne, Each year I go through the same ritual-make multiple resolutions, try them out for a few weeks, and then go back to my old habits frustrated and angry with myself. Sounds like this would be a great book for me-this will be my first read for the new year. Thanks for the great review.

[Steve Sherlock]

Dwayne, stopping by to wish you and yours a happy new year!

[Matthew Cornell]

Thanks for the helpful write-up, Dwayne. When I had my daughter (now 7YO) I got hit on the head with #2 pretty hard. The others are good as well. Does seem like one of those books with lots of pages, a small number of concepts, and therefore hard to scan in an hour (my new requirement). In general prose-style writing is harder, and requires a bigger reading commitment...

[jen_chan, writer SureFireWealth.com]

Honestly, I don't really think that these five are secrets to the world. But I have to admit that the world needs to re-discover them somehow. You're right. A list is not enough. The stories behind the list is what really make it effective.

[Ariane Benefit]

Hi Dwayne!

Interesting observation that countries that "value" (or perhaps "overvalue") elders aren't as progressive or wealthy. That made me think of a few things.

- Perhaps valuing elders, just because they are older, isn't wise. Some elders have learned a lot and have a lot of wisdom to share. Others may be closeminded, bitter, and no wiser then they were when they young. It's not the age, it's how you've lived and what you've learned.

- I think saying "we don't value our wise elders" is a little too easy to say and adds nothing of value. Just because many are in nursing homes, it doesn't mean we don't value them. There are usually very good reasons. Both my grandmothers were in nursing homes and were seriously ill. One with alzheimers. But we still valued them. In fact, they got better care than they would have elsewhere by untrained, stressed out family members.

Thanks for bringing up this topic! (p.s.) I'm going over to your JJL post and commenting in more depth on this : )