Read on to discover how watching the following seven films can guide you to be more present, more open, wilder, more fulfilled, and much, much more.<\/p>\n
Peaceful Warrior<\/a> (2006) is a biographical drama based on the semi-autobiographical novel Way of the Peaceful Warrior<\/em>.<\/p>\n The film is a truly inspiring, motivating, and empowering story featuring Dan Millman (Scott Mechlowicz), a university student and world champion gymnast who has achieved a lot but lacks deep fulfillment. Millman has an encounter with a mysterious man nicknamed “Socrates” (Nick Nolte) that leads him to discover an enlightened way of life. Dan learns how to balance a calm mind with a relaxed body and a peaceful soul through many different practices such as:<\/p>\n Yes Man<\/a> is based on a memoir by British author and comedian Danny Wallace. The story centers on Carl (Jim Carrey), who decides to change his life by saying ‘yes’ to everything. This promise leads him to a series of unexpected, comical adventures.<\/p>\n Saying “yes” to life’s opportunities changes Carl’s personal and professional life in many positive ways in the space of twelve months, such as overcoming depression, feeling immeasurably happier, being more confident, earning two promotions, finding love again, and helping other people to feel more optimistic.<\/p>\n However, saying “yes” leads to some bad experiences too, which is why I suggest that you do say “yes” to more opportunities than perhaps you do at present, but that you do so with skill, in moderation, and using your common sense.<\/p>\n Someone who could be described as a true “Yes Man” is the late Christopher McCandless, who Emile Hirsch plays in the film, Into the Wild<\/a>, based on the bestselling biography of the same name by Jon Krakauer.<\/p>\n Both the book and the film adaptation written, directed, and co-produced by Sean Penn, tell the true story of a young man from an affluent family who gives up his possessions, savings, and hitchhikes to Alaska to experience the freedom and simple beauty of the wilderness. Along the way, he meets a series of characters that change his life and whose lives are changed by him in return.<\/p>\n In short, we learn how experiencing the awe, wonder, mystery, freedom, and simple beauties of nature is good for our whole being, especially when enjoyed with significant others.<\/p>\n Eat Pray Love<\/em><\/a> (2010) is the true story of successful Writer Elizabeth “Liz” Gilbert, a woman unhappy with her spouse, house, and job, and how she travels to Italy, India, and Bali in search of good food, spirituality, and new love.<\/p>\n Given the success that the real-life Liz has gone on to have, I would argue that the book\/film teaches us that our holistic health is the first and foremost way to work on all the other areas of our lives. So it pays to invest some of our thought, time, energy, and even our money in developing our mind, body, and soul.<\/p>\n For example: for the mind, Liz learns Italian before and during her time in Italy. For the body, she walks, cycles, sails, and swims; and, for the soul, she practices being grateful for the people and things in her life, open and honest prayer, audible recitation of scripture, and silent meditation.<\/p>\n The documentary Heal<\/a> is a feel-good documentary that takes us on a scientific and spiritual journey where we discover that our thoughts, beliefs, values, emotions, and mindfulness level have a significant impact on our health and our ability to heal.<\/p>\n Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru<\/em><\/a> (2016), featuring the life and business strategist Tony Robbins, is another feel-good documentary that reminds us that in addition to focusing on all that we want to achieve in our professional lives, we must focus on what makes us feel deeply fulfilled in our personal lives because otherwise, we may well end up materially wealthy but also mentally, physically and emotionally bankrupt.<\/p>\n The Bucket List<\/em> <\/a>(2007) is the short and sweet story of two poorly men, Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman), and how they bring joy to one another towards the ends of their lives. The two men go from being strangers to being best friends and make the most of their time together despite their poor physical health. Their portrayal should give you a reason to be grateful for good health and the opportunities you can create to live and age healthily.<\/p>\n Practicing the seven films’ life lessons above can help you integrate your mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health to feel greater love, joy, and peace. All of this can help make a positive and potentially lasting qualitative difference in your life.<\/p>\n How to feel greater love, joy, and peace<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2021","category-spring-summer-2021-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11187"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11481,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11187\/revisions\/11481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/51aXNWFVvSL._SL250_.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPeaceful Warrior<\/em> (2006): The power of here and now<\/h3>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/514WbypAg1L._SL250_.jpg\")
<\/a>Yes Man<\/em> (2008): Say “Yes” to life<\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/51HabBOgNEL._SL250_.jpg\")
<\/a>Into the Wild (2007): The natural way to good health<\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/510MjT4Y4CL._SL250_.jpg\")
<\/a>Eat Pray Love<\/em> (2010): A holistic approach to health<\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/41JsbwVfZ1L._SL250_.jpg\")
Heal<\/em> (2017): Your health is your wealth<\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/51jphzP48HL._SL250_.jpg\")
Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru<\/em> (2016): Make your life a masterpiece<\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/41MvNzkhn2L._SL250_.jpg\")
The Bucket List<\/em> (2007): Get busy living<\/h3>\nDawud Gurevitch is a life coach and author of May the Source Be with You: A Filmic Guide to Change Your Life<\/em><\/a>, available on Amazon.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"