Toni Gregory and Ping Valencia, past 50 and happy
By Larry Leviste
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:53:00 06/30/2008
Filed Under: People, Lifestyle & Leisure
MANILA, Philippines—Women past the age of 50 are amazing. They have the wealth of experience, the wisdom only time brings, and a zen-like detachment from life’s everyday struggles. They are admirable and their lives are now worth living and sharing.
They have reached a point in their lives when fear and doubt are replaced with tranquility and personal success.
Toni Gregory and Ping Valencia are old friends who cherish, even celebrate, each day as if it were an event. Toni is president and founder of Bridges@com ideas and strategies; Ping is management consultant and trainer in image building.
Both began their careers in advertising—Ping at J.Romero, as account manager, Toni in the creative department.
Toni built her career in hotel public relations while Ping taught at John Robert Powers Finishing School. Both are fierce originals.
At their golden age, they are intelligent, witty and sexy in their corporate appearance. Both agree that physical fitness should be commensurate to mental and emotional fitness.
And they unselfishly share words of wisdom as we probe into their collective pyches.
Toni’s beauty regimen—At night I use Shu Uemura’s Anti Wrinkle Eye Cream and Shiseido’s Moisturizing Cream after I gently wash my face with Dove’s Facial Foam.
Toni’s fitness routine—I wake up at 6 a.m. and walk around our village for 45 minutes daily. I used to do treadmill but it bored me. I’d rather do brisk walking to celebrate with my Lord the day He has given me. I meditate and visualize during this walk, taking in the sky and my surroundings. I am at peak with creative thoughts after this walk.
Toni’s mental exercises—In my 30s my husband (Toni is a widow now) introduced me to transcendental meditation, which gave me the foundation of breathing exercises for the brain.
Giving birth using the Lamaze method twice further taught me the importance of breathing properly to oxygenate the body. If you breathe the proper way, you can lessen stress, even pain. You can lose weight with breathing.
Mental and physical health go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. You might say I evolved with the times. Through life experiences, books, even movies, I’ve grown very aware that we have evolution going on within ourselves. I was always connecting, accepting revelations and having epiphanies. I started asking why not, instead of asking why, all the time. It certainly comes with age.
For instance my involvement with Brahma Kumaris helps me build discipline and realizations through Rahja Yoga. That’s meditation with your eyes open. That was 10 years ago. Also, I find laughter is a great releaser.
Toni’s life coaching—Expectations, I don’t put premium on that anymore. I found that you set yourself up for disappointments when you expect and demand too much from life. I realize we can do only so much.
I’m at a point where I don’t have too many doubts and fears. Instead, now I treat everything as God’s gifts, even the painful times because they serve a purpose, to strengthen you. I’ve learned we are here to be the grandest vision of ourselves to God and to realize that is our journey of whittling our needs and wants to very simple ones.
This comes with age, you go back to nature. To again look at life with a child’s nonjudgmental gaze.
At my age, men are putting up farms and inns. Women are into gardening, into cooking and it’s a return to basic values and intentions. Women my age should be into cocooning to find themselves.
Still some make the mistake of seeking a false self, altering their faces, bodies and lifestyles to copy those of others, even dressing alike. That’s where there can be a problem. When you care too much of what others say and do, you can get lost. Be like me, I’m adventurous.
Ping’s beauty regimen—I use Cetaphil Liquid Facial Cleanser. That’s all, my face is allergic to today’s beauty treatments. Can’t have facials. I’ve done my own makeup since my modeling days. I find parlors boring. I do use sunblock SPF45.
Ping’s fitness routine—I will walk any chance I get. Malls are great places to do a lot of walking. I go to the gym just for treadmill and elliptical cross training thrice a week. I will forgo air-conditioning to work up a sweat. It’s the natural way to detoxify and burn calories.
When I was younger I loved tennis. As a youngster I was into sports. I have a bucket list, 73 items and I’ve done 22. Most recent was singing before a live audience, it was exhilarating.
Ping’s mental exercises—One is lonely when one’s not happy with one’s self. I’m happiest when I experience being alone, in my solitude. I love walking barefoot in the rain. When I’m in a crowd, I feel the collective angst of the people around. I’m a firm believer of being in the right place at the right time in the right frame of mind. Being there to learn a particular life lesson, that’s certainly bound to happen when you are ready to receive your wonders from your God.
Tomorrow, I’m leaving for a 10-day cruise by myself, I’m celebrating my birthday alone but happy. It’s this luxury to put things in perspective. I’ve always been fiercely independent.
Nothing ever happens to you unless you allow it. Nothing ever happens to you by accident. I embrace things one at a time, I learn from this exercise that I can at least accept things, even those that seem to bother me.
Fitness for me is also emotionally and mentally fit, not just physically. As much as possible I eat healthy foods. I’m aware of my blood work. My cholesterol and my triglycerite levels are normal. I will have vegetarian dishes whenever I can.
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