When I was five years old I never thought about age.  When I was fifteen the concept of age meant an eighteen year old boy was way too old.  At twenty-five I began to feel mature but defiant to the concept of becoming old   At thirty-five I was just generally lost in the shuffle, At fifty, I accepted the reality of life and its stages that I could either struggle against or embrace with grace. Aging is a physical normality but getting old is a symptom of stagnant thinking. As we mature, we can choose to view life with appreciation and vitality promoting attitudes to help us stay young. Or, we can succumb to the belief that age makes us old. 

Cherishing life is what keeps us young. Gaining years doesn't have to equate to old thinking. Whenever we value something in an appreciative manner life appreciates us in return.  This sounds so silly but its true.  Its pretty much the same as "as we reap so shall we sow" but in a more specific context.  If we view the world from stagnant eyes, we see old, we act old and age becomes significant.  On the other hand, if we view the world afresh, it invigorates us.  There are a plenitude of health tips and cosmetics designed to keep our bodies as young as possible but liveliness is primarily generated from two sources: spirit and participation.  I believe God imbues us with life and the more we open ourselves to the Grace of God, the more we are alive and young with spirit.   

Life is about movement even when our bodies are too old to jump rope and shoot hoops without straining a muscle. When we participate we keep our minds active. Participation means interacting sincerely rather than from pre-set assumptions. If we just show up to only contribute our previously conceived notions and views, we might as well send a record and let it play and stay home. That mode is called stagnant. We live youthfulness when we do more than exist.  Children are full of aliveness and they bounce with vitality not merely because they haven't accumulated many years.  Children have not become ingrained in one manner of living. They view the world in moment by moment perspectives.  Their physical youth is enviable for those of us in our 40-50-60s but it is the open mind that is the model for greater vitality. 

How is it that I suddenly feel older one morning when my physicality is basically the same as yesterday?  I look at the clock, the calendar, a few wrinkles in my newly polished mirror and I see OLD.  I didn't see old eight hours ago but suddenly I'm depressed by the reality of aging. My perception is now ruling my experience and it lacks vitality and grace.  Resentment, anxiety, and dislike all cloud my judgment as well as my ability to participate in life with appreciation.  I have made myself old.  Life aged my body but I made myself old as soon as I judged the appearance and significance of my fifty years. 

Instead of saying, "oh yes, another day to see the world, kiss my husband, sing a song, view a blossom," I said, "crap, I'm old, I'm ugly, I don't have much time left." I started the day by participating in the life with the limiting preoccupation of age anxiety. My vigor and enjoyment decreased instantly and age became my window and thereafter I began to feel every ache and tight, crackling joint with greater intensity.  They were the same aches and creaking bones but experienced from my OLDness rather than my enthusiasm for life.  Sure, you say, its easy to be enthusiastic when you don't labor to breath or to walk upright but we've all seen at least one ancient looking white-haired lady walking stooped and slowly that somehow seemed to radiate extraordinary beauty and life.  These individuals live youthfully in their hearts.  They embrace joy and wonder and love themselves and the world.  The results show all over their beaming eyes while they hold to the walker and take one ginger step at a time.  Haven't we all seen at least one of these remarkably vibrant senior citizens?  We all have the capability of embracing this reality even when we hurt or don't look twenty or even forty. We can age gracefully by refusing to allow our minds to become stagnant. . I turned fifty this year but I'm going to love life like I'm five and those a few extra wrinkles won't matter so much next time I look in the mirror. It is the joy of childlike appreciation and wonder that is our fountain of youth and its free