The most important thing about turning 70: being scared or panicky can kill you

 So, learning to "not be scared" at least all the time is important if you want to live past 70.

How does one learn how not to be scared? I don't think anyone succeeds at this 100% of the time. However, meditation helps and prayer helps (both similar) because you concentrate on more positive things through both usually and this deeply affects your subconscious mind so you are less scared of things like Death and pain.

I was taught in the 1950s to sublimate pain. what this means is mostly you think about something else. Now, Sometimes this is a useful thing and sometimes it isn't I have to admit. But, when you have to do something to survive a situation if you cannot sublimate pain and move foward despite any pain sometimes you might not survive what you are facing at the time.

So, learning how to think about something else when something hurts is a useful skill. It was really important when I was rock climbing and jam cracking my fingers into the cracks of rocks places like Yosemite and it was really important when learning to be an electrician and climbing under houses with no place to crawl and spiders and getting hurt by nails sticking out under a house and things like this when I was 10 or 12 years old working summers with my father. So, learning to sublimate pain doesn't mean you get cut and bleed all over everything in your car or someone else's car or home or wherever. If you are bleeding all over the place you need to do something to stop bleeding. However, if you smash your little toe and it isn't bleeding or broken or you smash you finger and it isn't bleeding or broken sometimes it's just better to think about something else so you can stay alive and function because you are not always at home where there might be a lot of support for you in whatever is happening to you.

So, learning to not be afraid and learning not to panic are things that are really helpful in life over 40 or life over 70 simply because worrying kills as you get older. I'm not always successful either in not worrying about my children or grandchildren when they might be going through difficult times. This I find is the hardest for me to not worry.

But, if you want to be alive for them and useful to them as a parent or Grandparent then you need to be alive don't you? So, figuring out how not to worry so much helps you stay alive so you can help them when it  might be the most important to them. This way you continue to be useful not only to yourselves but to others as well.

By God's Grace