Mental Fitness
By Barbara (Bobbie) Purvis
I recently took up the challenge of teaching my parents (who are in their 80s) how to use an iPad. Simple…right? Prior to this, I could not get them to use a computer, so e-mail was totally out of the question. The computer was too confusing – there were too many buttons and programs, and “stuff” you had to know like “updates” and “security” to use a computer – according to them. So for their anniversary this year, my brothers and I decided to take a gamble and try this grand experiment to see if they might be able to “make friends with” if not “master” the use of an iPad.
I got the iPad, registered it to my account, set it up to share a pool of cellular data (since they have no computer and no Internet or WiFi at their house). Then I selected content that I thought might be engaging to them and encourage them to actually use the device.
They recently completed their first training session. We started with the basics: how to turn it on and off; how to put it to sleep and wake it up, how to charge the battery, etc. I faced questions like, “What is WiFi?” and “Why are we using Cellular Data?”
Finally, we tackled the inevitable task of learning to use a “touch” screen. Teaching them was quite fascinating and a learning lesson for me, too, because it helped me see that our “mental fitness,” the way we tend to THINK ABOUT THINGS and view the world has a BIG impact on and is as IMPORTANT to our health as PHYSICAL fitness.
I had to practice some “deep breathing” during this training session to broaden my outlook and remember that they grew up in a world where buttons were to be “PRESSED” or “MASHED” firmly – where the goal was to make it “CLICK” to know you had achieved your goal. And here I was asking them to go on faith that a light touch, a swipe, a flick, or a pinch is all it would take to control the iPad.
They deserve a LOT of credit because they never gave up – especially after they began to discover what some of the Apps could do. Slowly, with time their outlook changed and they realized that they were NOT too old, and the equipment was NOT too complicated, that it would just take a little TIME and PRACTICE. Getting the timing right to “double click” a button was the hardest thing for them, but my bet is that they will have mastered it by the time I go back for their next lesson. In fact, I got a text from my brother saying he had just received his first email from my Mom and text from my Dad.
So as I look for ways to change my life for the better, I have been encouraged to not only make the necessary physical changes like practicing Tai Chi and Qigong, now I am more consciously aware that my MENTAL ATTITUDE can HELP or HINDER my efforts. So instead of wanting to “do” Tai Chi, I think more along the lines of “absorbing” the art – meaning that all of the changes that promote good health – strengthening tendons, improving balance and coordination, relieving stress and becoming overall more physically limber, flexible or pliable while realigning the body will mean nothing if I don’t also change my way of thinking, too.
–-Barbara (Bobbie) Purvis is a retired Air Force Broadcast Journalist