In her book What Makes a Good Life, American Gladys McGarey shares her life experience and describes six requirements for health and happiness. We spoke to the 102-year-old.
Gladys McGarey was born in the same year that the Treaty of Versailles came into force, around two years after the end of the First World War. Few cars roamed the streets, seat belts didn’t even exist as an idea, and for the first time in America, women were allowed to vote. Television sets were unthinkable in Germany for quite a while and inventions such as the internet, smartphones and Thermomix exceeded even the imagination of science fiction authors. The world was different when Gladys McGarey was born on November 30, 1920, 102 years is a long time.
Gladys McGarey: Accept life unconditionally
However, in order to receive the gifts of life, whether of time, miracles, or teachings, we do not depend solely on luck – at least that is the impression that Gladys McGarey conveys. After her childhood in India, where her parents worked in a medical aid organization, when her family returned to the USA in the 1930s, she not only experienced her first separation – from her perceived homeland – but also the suffering of the Great Depression in the American Southern States. Gladys, who followed the example of her parents and also became a doctor, suffered from cancer twice in her life. She survived the disease twice. At the age of almost 70, Gladys finally survived what she classifies as the most painful experience of her biography: her husband’s betrayal, who filed for divorce after 46 years of marriage in order to be free for a relationship with a colleague.
Gladys McGarey celebrates her 103rd birthday in November 2023. In her book What Makes a Good Life, the American shares her six secrets to health and happiness.
© Bill McGarey / PR
Even this very, very brief glimpse shows that Gladys McGarey has obviously suffered some deep wounds in her 102 years on this world. As she puts it, she would not go without a moment in her life story. Every single moment was dear and necessary to her – because it led to the next and that to the next, and ultimately every single experience brought her to where she is today. Where she is exactly right. According to the 102-year-old, one of the most important prerequisites for living a long, healthy, happy life is saying yes to life. And unconditionally.
The most valuable insight of the 102-year-old
What has helped the Sagittarius native to always accept their life in all its facets is what she cites as her most valuable insight or memory: “Love itself is the greatest healing power,” she says. “I felt this as a child, I used it in my work as a doctor, but it was only in retrospect that I understood that healing is about love.” According to her, in connection with other people we could recover from almost every pain, every wound and ultimately emerge from a phase of the illness even stronger and healthier than before. “Healing is about caring and concern. Being mindful of what people are going through and living through and being a part of this beautiful human community.”
Whether it’s an injury that other people have inflicted on us or ourselves. Whether it’s an injury that occurred without our doing or one that we paved the way for with a conscious decision. According to Gladys McGarey’s 102-year life experience, the best way we can recover and help one another is by loving and letting love. We could at least try to trust such an observation, which is based on 102 years of life experience.
In her book “What Makes a Good Life” Gladys McGarey shares the most important insights from her long, eventful life. In it she tells stories that she has experienced herself and describes experiences she had as a doctor with her patients.