102-Year-Old Doctor Shares Her Secrets To Longevity As She Looks To The Future With Her 10-Year Plan

A 102-year-old doctor who is still working has shared her tips for living a long and fulfilling life as she continues to focus on the future with her 10-year plan.

Dr. Gladys McGarey, of Scottsdale, Arizona, is known as the mother of holistic medicine, a form of healing that takes into account the mind, body, and soul of the patient during treatment.

She co-founded the American Board of Holistic Medicine and ran a family practice for over 60 years. The mother of six continues to work as a consulting physician and writer.

McGarey turned 100 when she started writing her new book, The Life Well Lived: A 102-Year-Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Any Agewhich appeared last week.

She makes an effort to exercise daily, including reaching her daily step count and riding her tricycle. In her spare time she knits, listens to audiobooks and talks with friends.

As she opens the lid on her keys to longevity while promoting her latest book, FEMAIL has highlighted her best advice below.

Discover the purpose of your life

McGarey believes that one of the most important things you can do to live life to the fullest is to find your “juice” – your purpose for living.

In her book, she wrote how she discovered she was destined to become a doctor when she was only eight years old.

She grew up in India with her parents, who were medical missionaries, and for many years thought she was “stupid” because she struggled with dyslexia.

McGarey recalled how her father took her older brothers hunting one fateful day, leaving her and her younger siblings to help their mother in the medical tent.

A young man brought an injured elephant for treatment. Although her mother was not a veterinarian, she removed a bamboo sliver from the animal’s leg and irrigate the infection.

By assisting her mother that day, she realized she was destined to become a doctor.

“Each of us is here to connect with your unique gifts, this is what activates our desire to live,” she wrote. “Achieving this connection is not necessarily the point. The search counts for much more. The process of ‘finding our juice’ keeps us vital.’

McGarey is also a proponent of having a 10-year plan and looking to the future.

She said Insider that her current plan is to create a “living medicine” village where people of all ages can care for each other and practice wellness.

“A 10-year plan makes room for everything,” she explains in her book. “The range is far enough to keep our life force activated. But it’s close enough to reach it, dust ourselves off and re-plan.’

Know that there is a lesson in everything

McGarey has had her fair share of struggles over the years, including surviving cancer and grieving the death of her daughter.

She was nearly 70 when her 46-year-old husband and clinic partner, William McGarey, left her for another woman.

The author told Today that the painful experience was “a tremendous teacher” that helped her find her own voice and led her to start a new holistic medical practice with her daughter.

“Up until that point, I had depended on [his] support in the things I said. After that, I had to believe that what I said had power and was important,” she explained.

“When I could find my own voice, I wrote him a letter thanking him for giving me my freedom. Because until then I didn’t think my voice was strong enough.’

McGarey also takes clues from her dreams as she believes them to be the key to the Unconscious and advises others to do the same.

In her interview with Today, she explained that when she’s struggling with a decision, she asks for a dream before going to bed. She writes down the dream immediately after waking up and looks for messages from her subconscious.

Let go of everything that doesn’t serve you

McGarey combats unnecessary stress in her life by letting go of things or experiences that no longer serve her.

She explained in an interview with CNBC makes it that the happiest and healthiest people she knows understand the importance of letting go of what isn’t working in their lives.

“My mom taught me an easy way to let go of things that don’t matter. She would raise her hand gently for us, fingers held loosely, palm up. Then float it down and back and say, “It doesn’t matter,” she told the outlet.

McGarey adopted the same practice and has come to understand the meaning of the symbolic gesture.

“I realize it’s a great strength to know that when I see something coming my way, I can choose whether to take it in,” she said. ‘And if I don’t want something, I consciously give the energy back to where it came from.’

Keep moving

McGarey makes sure she keeps moving, literally and figuratively.

She is consistent with her daily fitness goals, which include walking 3,800 steps a day using her walker.

The Doctor also rides an adult tricycle around her yard and neighborhood. She recently shared footage of herself riding her bike Instagram page.

“I do things that I can, that I want to do,” she said Fortune.

When it comes to moving through life, she follows her mother’s motto: do.

“Look for what you can do, not what you can’t,” she said. “Our body is our teacher…when we pay attention to it, we learn lessons.”

Find what works for you

McGarey follows a daily routine, but she doesn’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all approach to life.

She told Insider that most days she wakes up and does a morning prayer before going downstairs and starting her day.

McGarey likes to eat a bowl of Raisin Bran and a glass of prune juice for breakfast, while lunch is typically a salad and soup.

However, she explained in her interview with Today that she eats whatever she wants to eat, including the occasional burger.

She does not smoke or drink alcohol, but she is not against the latter.

“I think wine is a wonderful thing for some people. It’s what works for you,” she said.

‘The individual person has to live their own individual life, so when you find what works for you, bless it and use it and work with it.”