How OLD Are You?

I was looking through the Ernest Holmes book, Living the Science of Mind, when I came upon this essay: "How OLD Are You?"

Sometimes I feel pretty old. Tired, sluggish, a bit on the fat side. I look in the mirror and mumble, "What happened?"

Holmes asks: When does a person get too old to enjoy life? Could it be that even age is something that happens to our minds rather than our bodies?  And could a person be as young at eighty as he is eighteen?

I read a story recently about Ernestine Shepherd, an eighty year old body builder. She keeps herself vital, healthy, strong and youthful by being “determined, dedicated and disciplined to stay fit.”

 So her process starts in her mind. She made a decision to be a world class body builder and she follows that up with a disciplined action plan.

As Holmes says, life is always working miracles in our bodies. If injured “there is an Intelligence that immediately puts all parts of the chemistry of our body to work to replace it with a new cell, one that is whole, complete and perfect.” Thus wounds heal. And we definitely can sculpt our bodies, as Shepherd has demonstrated.

Let’s steer our minds toward the possible, the enthusiastic expectation of fresh beginnings with each new day, says Holmes, rather than allow ourselves to be stuck with old stereotypes about aging.

If we divide our lives into thirds, he adds, typically the first third involves growing up and getting ready to live in a larger way, while the second third may involve falling in love, building a family and a career. In both thirds we believe there is more to come.

Sometimes, with the last third, the kick may have gone out of life. Perhaps the element of wonder and surprise in simple everyday things fades. Perhaps, unlike Shepherd, we stop being active.

With the aging of the Baby Boomer generation has come an Age Wave with longer life span bonus years. Now the search for meaning and purpose intensifies. In the book Life Reimagined, authors Richard Leider and Alan Webber provide a roadmap for discovering new life possibilities.

What’s next? we might ask, as we navigate today’s landscape. Become an explorer, they say. of not only of the world but of ourselves. Experiment. Keep a possibilities journal. Try things out. See what works.

Their Life Reimagined guidance system includes six practices:

Reflect on each step along the way, understanding your choices from the inside out.  
Connect with trusted friends and guides for feedback rather than journey alone. 
Explore possibilities with curiosity and courage.  
Choose options on which to focus and dive deeper to find what’s right for you.  
Repack: What do you need for the new way ahead? What do you keep or let go of? 
Act. Without action, nothing happens.

As Holmes says, life is activity. When we stop being active we turn away from the newness of life. Also, having faith in a Power greater than we are and in the eternal life of our soul enhances a childlike appetite for “What next?” and for joy in the game of life.

He concludes: “You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.”

And so it is.

It's Never Too Late

Recently, I sat down at my computer thinking, I have to come up with three Creative Thoughts for upcoming Presider assignments.

What can I speak about? I felt empty. I was sad about the recent death of a friend in my age range, and about an acquaintance, also in my age range, moving away because of health challenges. And I’d been thinking: Am I in denial to stay here in my home, alone?  I have another birthday coming up; the sands of time are running and I'm getting older.

All sorts of catastrophic panoramas played out in my mind. What if?  I don’t even want to go there. But I’ve been feeling tired; my extra weight is weighing me down. I wonder about my health, my vitality, progress on my projects. Basically I've been down in in the dumps.

I guess the Universe heard me, and responded.

Before I even touched fingers to keyboard, the phone rang. My friend Elaine called to tell me of an inspirational story she’d seen on television...about an 80 year old body builder, Ernestine Shepherd. I could immediately see Ernestine on the computer, thanks to the Internet. Wow!

Here’s someone who ls a personal trainer, professional model, competitive bodybuilder and was declared the World’s Oldest Performing Female Body Builder by Guinness World Records in 2010 at age 75. Then she lost that title to another septuagenarian, Edith Connor, age 77, in 2012. So here are these two 80 year olds, pumping iron and who are, in the words of Ernestine, "determined, dedicated and disciplined to be fit."

Reportedly, when Ernestine prepares to compete in 5K and 10 K races and run marathons, she’s up at 4 am for a 10 mile run, runs 80 miles a week, and of course trains in the gym with weights several days a week.

What do these women eat, I wondered. One source says Ernestine eats 1700 calories a day, mostly from boiled egg whites, chicken, vegetables and liquid egg white drink. Edith Connor’s recommendation is don’t diet: see what foods increase body fats; set reasonable goals.

Edith didn’t enter her first body building competition until age 65...She has three sons, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Well, really!  After reading about these two ladies, I decided to throw on my clothes and go for a morning walk.   I’ve been going to the gym at least five  times a week lately, doing the elliptical and the bicycle, but it’s obviously not enough. I don’t see myself running 80 miles a week, but I need inspiration to up the ante, and this is giving it to me.

As it often happens with the Internet, one source leads to another, and I found myself looking at the work of Vic Johnson, writer and motivational speaker, and his book “It’s Never too Late and You’re Never Too Old.” He writes about 50 people over 50 who illustrate changing mindsets and cliche’s about age, as well as overcoming obstacles related to health, income, retirement and reinvention.  Age is not an excuse for inaction, giving up on dreams, or finding new successes in life, he says.

Johnson’s book profiles people who illustrate letting go of old notions, embracing the new, moving out of one’s way, ignoring past failures or lack of progress, experimenting and embracing new possibilities. Perhaps a skill we’ve been honing for years hasn’t blossomed, he writes. But by focusing more time and effort, we can create a breakthrough moment.

Yes, we might have to start slowly and set reasonable goals, but with persistence we CAN rejuvenate and reinvent ourselves. I like this quote from 19th century writer George Eliot: “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.”

Ernest Holmes would agree. As he says, life lies open to us, full, rich and abundant. So get out and manifest who you want to be.

And so it is.

The Lion and Science of Mind

 

"Lion" photo by Pareeerica on Flickr.  Some Rights Reserved.

The big news recently was the trophy hunt killing of Cecil, the beloved lion from a Zimbabwe nature preserve. According to Internet reports, he was lured from his protected environment, shot with a bow and arrow, tracked for some 40 hours as he fled, bleeding, and then gunned down with a bullet.

The story has sparked disgust and outrage around the globe. I was incredibly sad, even though I knew nothing about Cecil before the story broke. Cecil was such a beautiful animal; tourists came from far and wide to enjoy and photograph him.

He can be seen on video coming straight toward tourist vehicles, lying languorously in the road, playing with his mates and cubs, and growling at his brother, Jericho, who shared the pride with him. Being a photographer, I thought: I would love to photograph him. Why would anyone want to kill him?

The hunter, an American dentist who reportedly paid $55,000 for the hunt, was photographed smiling with the dead Cecil, and took the trophy head and pelt back to the US.

His guides have been arrested for illegal poaching and a petition rapidly gained 100,000 signatures here to have the dentist extradited back to Zimbabwe to face criminal charges. He says everything was on the up and up, with permits, etc. and the guides are responsible.

Why has this story gained such traction? Major reasons are that lions are charismatic animals and Cecil had a name. And when you name something, it gains importance. Cecil was named after Cecil Rhodes, the British mining magnate and for whom the country of Rhodesia is named.

Although there are reportedly 20,000 lions remaining in Africa, Cecil stood out because he had a beautiful dark mane, lived in a park, wore a collar as part of a Wildlife Conservation Research project and allowed tourists to come reasonably close to him.

Since 2008 he has worn a GPS tracking collar. Researchers have learned that the cubs are usually killed by the next dominant lion, so the impact can be larger than just a death such as Cecil’s.

The lion, with a rapidly declining population, is listed as vulnerable, not yet as endangered. Some want to change that classification, and prohibit trophies from such hunts entering the country.

I began wondering how to approach this topic from a Science of Mind perspective  All of us, including the lion, are expressions of God in action. We don’t recognize evil, although we do recognize free will, at least in humans.

So the dentist has a choice...he chooses to hunt and kill animals. He wants trophies, and there are photos of him on the Internet with his many trophy kills.

Ernest Holmes says, ‘Love is the greatest power in the Universe. It is the basis and source of everything.” So to my mind, killing animals for sport is the farthest thing from love I can imagine.

He also says: “To believe in a just law of cause and effect, carrying with it a punishment or a reward, is to believe in righteousness.” So perhaps that is now being carried out.

As the flak continues, the dentist reportedly has closed his practice and is in hiding from protests, angry threats, public shaming and possible legal fallout. In Zimbabwe, tourist revenues have fallen as international tourists cancel their trips, and perceive that country as not serious in protecting animal rights.

It’s a complex issue, and there are many arguments given on the Internet for and against trophy hunting. Some cite the revenues coming to Zimbabwe to further conservation efforts. Some discuss the many other injustices that deserve our attention.

But as we look around our world we see our God-given natural heritage -- not just wildlife -- disappearing. Cecil’s death simply makes this more strikingly visible.  He becomes a symbol, a banner, for conserving the natural beauty of our planet. It’s up to us to decide how we can be part of the solution.

Ernest Holmes also says: “Even God cannot do our job for us.”

And so it is.

I Live Large

Breathing in, I feel the power and presence of Spirit - in my body, in my life, in my Soul. I am willing to know this possibility for good, and know that the infinite power and presence of Spirit is expressing as me, as you, as all people, right now. It expresses through me, as me and for me in all my labors, all my finances, all my activities, and all my growth -- both personal and splritual.

I am open and receptive to the action of Creative Intelligence in all my affairs. I enjoy the beauty and the abundance all around me, knowing that everything and everyone is God in action here on this plane of existence. I know it is my birthright to live large, to live in joy, in love, in peace, and in harmony with the Divine Source.

From the Cosmic vortex I attract all good into my earthly experience and listen for Divine guidance to spur my journey toward spiritual illumination. I step into that field of good, into the unfolding of right and perfect action.

With gratitude, I release my word into the Law of Mind, knowing it returns to me multiplied abundantly.

And so it is.

Positive Values Power My LIfe

 

As there is one Power, and I am one with that Power, I declare this to be my truth. I heal any sense of separation, any sense of race consciousness that separates me from others. I hold those values of love, joy, peace, harmony, tolerance  and compassion within me. I keep a sacred trust for my role in the human experience, a trust from which I pass on those positive values to the next generation. I am a loving, compassionate, tolerant and understanding example of humanity, and know that I model values that impact positively the world of affairs. I bring a level of mindfulness and consciousness to all my worldly affairs, knowing that I can shift my thinking and step into behaviors that enable me to live my best life now.

As I live the life of Science of Mind, I know I have built up a spiritual bank account from which I can withdraw the strength, power, love, happiness, joy, creativity and faith to sustain me on my life’s journey. I regularly deposit spiritual substance into my account, building a reserve force to power the four pillars of my life -- loving relationships, creative expression, radiant good health and financial abundance -- in the ways that I desire.

With deep gratitude for all this and more, I release my word into the Divine Vortex, knowing it returns to me, multiplied abundantly.

And so it is.

"I'll See You In My Dreams" Hits Home

  I’ve been to the movies again -- that seems to be my favorite pastime lately. This one, I’ll See You In My Dreams, is memorable because it hits so close to home -- to where I am in life.

I went with a female friend, in my age range, and we both came out of the theater feeling dissatisfied. We’re programmed for a happy ending. It didn’t happen. We expect, when a viable romance rears its head, to see a see a satisfying rom-com fantasy go the expected route. It didn’t.

Instead, we see a portrait of a seventy-something woman, Carol, played beautifully by Blythe Danner, widowed as we are:  two nice, sensible women, living alone in our comfortable Southern California homes, enjoying our independence, some pleasant friendships, loving family connections (however distant geographically), and reasonable good health and prosperity.  Both of us, like Carol, had solid marriages and raised offspring.

Carol has three friends living in a retirement community nearby, but she resists their suggestions she join them. She lives happily with her dog until he dies.

Then she experiments with speed dating -- with the usual disappointments; has a brief but promising relationship with the charismatic Bill, played by Sam Elliot, until he suddenly dies;  strikes up a December-May platonic friendship with the pool cleaner; and demonstrates in a karaoke bar that she can still sing.  Long ago, before she became a teacher, she was a singer.

So we find her, in her twilight years, struggling to find meaning in her life. As Stephen Holden of the New York Times says in his film review, “It’s real subject is time and how people old enough to know the end is in sight deal with looming finality.”

Yes, her circumstances are comfortable. But as Holden says, “...when most of your life is behind you, what does having everything really mean? That’s the question this timid, wistful film addresses as it tiptoes around the subject of mortality.”

I found myself wanting more for Carol, which is no doubt a projection of my own desire for more -- more of something, something. At one point, Carol’s friends enthusiastically agree to take a cruise together -- to Iceland. I didn’t feel that would happen, perhaps because a cruise to Iceland doesn’t interest me.

At the end of the film, Carol adopts a rescue dog, so she has a new companion. For me, I’ve avoided dogs, cats, birds and hamsters since the kids left and the dog died.

Carol considers singing, as she visits the karaoke bar again, only to find no karaoke that night. That resonated with me, as I’ve been taking vocal lessons and had a fun experience recently with the San Fernando Valley Chorale.

One thing glaringly apparent to me, aside from the brief foray into singing, is her lack of creative expression and a spiritual path. Carol sits around sipping chardonnay and occasionally plays a round of golf. Other than that, her life appears aimless.

If Bill had lived, would she have “found happiness?” That’s a lot of responsibility to put on another human being. Yes, it would be nice to have a companion like Bill, but there’s still that shank of life to live, that gift of time on this plane of existence. What’s she going to do with it?

What are any of us going to do with it, no matter where we are on the age continuum? As Religious Scientists, we know we carry a divine spark within, that there is a Power for good in the Universe and we can use It.

As Ernest Holmes says, and I love this quote: “Life lies open to me--rich, full, abundant.
My thought, which is my key to life, opens all doors for me....I have only to open the portals of my soul and accept that which is ready to express through me. Today I fling these portals wide; today I am the instrument through which life flows.”

So Carol, as well as the rest of us: fling those portals wide! Do more, be more,  have more.

And so it is.

Eternal Youth

If you were given the gift of eternal youth...let’s say your body would never grow older than age 29, would you consider it a blessing or a curse?

In today’s youth-obsessed society, many attempt to stop the clock on the aging process.  We see advertisements for all sorts of beauty creams to prevent wrinkles, products to color hair, gyms and exercise programs to keep us strong, and all sorts of anti-aging supplements, including one to stop telemeres in our DNA from shortening.

So we have the recent romantic fantasy film, The Age of Adaline, in which the main character, a young widow and single mother, has a freak accident in 1937 and never ages another day.

Is she happy about this? No, she lives her life as much under the radar as possible.
 She escapes at the age of 45 from curious government agents who try to take her away for testing; thereafter she takes a new identity every ten years, makes only short-term friends who won’t learn her “secret,” avoids love affairs, except for one big mistake, and takes a succession of springer spaniels as her companions.

Born in 1908, we meet her in the present at age 107 ... looking fabulous in her Lauren Bacall/Veronica Lake hair and vintage clothing. We also are privy to a conversation between Adaline and her now 82-year old daughter, who is concerned with assisted living, hip replacements and other such aspects of aging. These, of course, don’t concern Adaline, but her overall demeanor is one of sadness and melancholy.

I won’t spoil the story, except to say that it has a happy ending when she discovers her first gray hair.

My initial reaction to the film was: what total mis-mangement of the gift of youth.
Granted, it would be very challenging to see those around you grow old and die, to realize you’re different, very different, from the rest of humanity, to find yourself isolated and alone.

But also, could there be an upside? Being healthy, vigorous, and strong as the years pass, without the decrepitude of aging. Could there be opportunities for fantastic personal and spiritual growth, for incredible learning, mastery of all sorts of skills, and extensive travels, experiences and relationships that we could never fit in one lifetime?

I was reminded of a book I read years ago...My First Two Thousand Years, The Autobiography of the Wandering Jew. The main character, Isaac Laquedem,  hatefully mocks Jesus on the way to crucifixion and death. Jesus, in a blaze of anger, declares; “I will go, but thou shalt tarry until I return!”

And that’s what happened. Isaac tarries, remaining ageless while all around him people passed into history. Along the way he meets many now-famous persons, has fantastic experiences, and influences any number of important historical events.

All in all, it is a rousing trip through the past two thousand years, up to the point where the curse may be released as he confesses his story, under psychoanalysis, in a monastery in 1928. His chronicle, said one of the listeners, is the history of human passion; it sheds new and colorful light on religion, sex, morality, occultism, rejuvenation, reincarnation, and more.

One thing of note that Isaac discovered, and that I saw no hint of in Adaline’s story: “It is not enough to live. One must find a purpose, a reason for existence... What did I desire? What purpose could I make my own?” he asks, as he sets forth to conquer ennui, and other challenges of human life.

That’s the question for all of us, regardless of the number of years we are granted, or the number of challenges we face. What purpose can we make our own? How can we make the most of the present moment, be here NOW, and truly enjoy this gift of life?

And so it is.