Life, Camera, Action! Everything You Need to Know about Living Well You Can Learn from the Movies

Noted Gerontologist, speaker and author Di Patterson highlights a wealth of life’s lessons for being happier and more fulfilled. Her sources are not professional treatises on aging and wisdom or academic papers. She takes her cue from … the movies.
There is a saying that some people grow wise with age, others just grow old. Di Patterson challenges this notion and, in a most enjoyable and entertaining way, suggests that we all have gained wisdom. She proves it by highlighting a range of life’s lessons from the movies.
Her sheer enthusiasm for films is infectious. Her unique view of movies as vehicles for everyday wisdom is refreshing and enjoyable.
Each of the book’s ten sections starts out with a “Tip” that is the focus of the films that follow. Each Success In Aging® tip is both useful, and something that serves us to be reminded of. No matter what your age or life experience, it is important to remember—and practice.
Twenty two films delightfully illustrate these keys to a happier life are briefly outlined, and Di’s description shows how the point is validated.
What Life, Camera, Action! presents is less about revelation or education and more about re-focusing on and recognizing what you very likely already know. It delightfully ignites enthusiasm for the wonderful stories you have seen on the silver screen. Just reading it encourages you to re-examine the lessons you have learned as you have traversed the journey of your years so life can be easier and just plain more fun!
Aging well—success in aging—is that activity we do that is birthed in our attitudes and spreads to our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual selves.
Being actively engaged with the things we can control—sound nutritional choices, good exercise habits, mental strengthening through new activities, dancing, laughter, volunteering, practicing friendship, and positive attitudes, to name a few—has been proven to make us more able to cope with the challenges that aging can and does bring.
So look for the movies that make you happy, bring you laughter and tears, challenge you to be your better self, and convey some wisdom you can give away to others after using it yourself.
When you do these things, you are truly being AgeWise.
Life, Camera, Action! is a deceptively small book that packs a very big punch for those who are willing to consider their lives—at any age— and be very well pleased with what they see.