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.