The Benefits of Talking to Seniors
“Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they just don’t exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, and engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn’t just reshuffle the cards, it creates new cards.” – Theodore Zeldin
Benefits of a conversation with a Senior
A great conversation can leave one feeling heard and validated, insightful, inviting, comforted and informed all at once, especially when speaking to someone who is twice or triple your age or with decades of experience, knowledge and memories to draw on. When you experience talking to a senior on a one-on-one basis, you realize how little you know or have experienced.
Valuable gains from conversations with Seniors
We as families and caregivers can attest to the power of sharing stories and talking through memories with the seniors and loved ones we encounter or care for daily. In fact, making time to connect and share in a conversation with any senior can be one of the most enriching, rewarding and healthy things one can do. It can sometimes leave you with feelings of sadness, happiness, enriched and invigorated. One cannot overstate enough the profound impact that being social can have on our seniors.
As Aging Caring notes, “Talking constructively about the past can help reduce symptoms of depression and improve self-esteem and life satisfaction” in the elderly. They also note, “Structured reminiscence can be a valuable method of engaging with seniors” who have varying levels of cognitive dementia and other types of memory loss.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is, that sharing memories, telling stories and connecting on a personal level can make a senior feel happier and healthier, while also giving you incredible insights into your loved one’s past.
Try engaging with a senior today. They love to talk because they all have a story to tell. You also have a story to tell. The meeting of the minds is about life. So engage with a senior today – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually – thus empowering them to live a longer active, enriched lifestyle.
