Blue Zone author Dan Buettner Inspires Action

Let's face it, change can be difficult. And the older a person, the greater the resistance. During Dan Buettner's Blue Zone talk, words like nudging, shaping, shifting, and positive contagiousness were floated through the Spokane Convention Center. You can hear Buettner's talk via TED.com here. Besides about a 1000 Spokanites attending on a school night, civic leaders like Mayor David Condon, and Eastern Washington University President Mary Cullinan also spoke about room for improvement in the Norhtwest. After Dan's talk, I had a chance to meet him and ask him why he entered the field of longevity. Basically, the work found him while he was working for National Geographic.  His current focus is a program called Healthways which focuses on optimizing the health environment (built environment) instead of changing individual behaviors. Buettner's science-based and doable approach was backed up with statistics, making Healthways a viable option for Spokane - if we choose to get on board! Of the many concepts that Buettner presented, one really stuck with me, called ikigai. The Japanese word for purpose. Thank you Dan for following and listening to your ikigai. Here's Dan's website.