Meet Lolo (grandpa). Take a guess at how old he is. Lolo still plays violin, metalsmithing, and goes diving as a fisherman. He just turned 100 years old this April.

Meeting My First Centenarian

Lolo is the first centenarian that I’ve ever met, and I have always been fascinated with the “secrets of longevity”. I watched amazed as he drank a glass of water with absolutely steady hands. He even walks without a cane. It’s a wish of mine to live to be 100 and since it’s my birthday today, I thought I’d share the inspiring story of lolo instead.

Even though lolo doesn’t speak any English, I was able to understand a bit by listening extra carefully and asking my boyfriend to translate. I learned that he fought in the Vietnam war and wrestled with a bullet, which just barely grazed his head, brushing death yet leaving unscratched. He’s built his own working violin, specially handcrafted for his big hands. He still plays to this day, and can still doodle a tune by ear.

Cayenne Pepper

With a sparkle in his eye, lolo took the cayenne pepper in his mouth and said it “tastes just like candy!” Cayenne pepper has many health and healing benefits, and is even a key ingredient in the Master Cleanse detox diet. Lolo happens to eat them regularly, straight from the source, like it were candy. It’s no doubt that it has helped him live a long, healthy life. Some of the many benefits of cayenne pepper include cancer prevention, heart health, cleaning out toxins, and increasing metabolism.

Muscle Memory and Brain Function

If you don’t use it, you lose it. As Gold Medal Bodies free manifesto points out, we are training our bodies every day, whether we realize it or not. We train ourselves into being couch potatoes, which will lead to older and unfit bodies as we age. If you’re an active Filipino fisherman diver, and violinist, like lolo, these functions won’t be loss, or won’t decline nearly as much as we age.

As a violinist myself, learning how to play a musical instrument, or a new song, is great for muscle memory exercise and building more neuroplasticity in the brain, which is needed to keep our minds and bodies agile. I’ve always dreamt about continuing the violin craft in my old age so I don’t lose hand functions and although lolo is slower and clumsier in his old age, he can still carry a tune amazingly well.

Learning new things, in all ages of life, keeps mind and spirit youthful. Lolo built his own violin with his own hands. When asked who taught him how to do it, he said he learned on his own through observation, trial and error, and seeing what works.

Spiritual Community

I first met lolo at the chapel in a southern province of Luzon, Philippines; about 3 hours away from Manila. He was celebrating his birthday in an abundant feast of litson (roasted pig), various Filipino delicacies, and lots of cake. As I began to familiarize myself with this community, I realized that having faith and most importantly, a deep sense of community, is important in a happy and long lasting life.

The provincial community practices a Filipino indigenous spirituality called Babaylan. I don’t know much about this cultural aspect of my ancestral history, but it is still being practiced today. A Babaylan is a priestess woman leader who is considered a healer, shaman and medium towards the spiritual dimension. Their rituals involve invoking the spirits and it is a mother earth spirituality that they practice, preferring a simplistic and minimalistic chapel without pews or chairs, which is a direct rejection of the Spanish colonization and spread of Catholicism, although most members still consider themselves Catholic “and beyond”.

Lolo is lucky to have such a vibrant community who looks after him and takes care of him. With a little cayenne pepper, violin jam sessions, friends and a life full of learning, it’s no secret that longevity naturally follows. As I celebrate my 28th birthday and look forward to many more to come, I am reminded of the simplicities of a truly fulfilling life.

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.