Age with Passion and Purpose

Age is a taboo like religion, sex and money. Next time you’re at a fiesta try asking people, “Do you believe in God? Do you have good sex? How much money do you earn? And, by the way, how old are you?” Unless you ask someone under 10 years old, you’ll probably find yourself alone at the punch bowl!

It’s the dreaded state of aging that we shun. The binary perception of age means that we’re young or old. Moreover, we’re either on the right side or the wrong side of a digit!

The sense of loss and sadness that can accompany dwindling youth is normal, as are the doses of fear. However, it becomes distorted and exaggerated through social and cultural attitudes toward aging. The “slice, dice and erase” culture chases an illusion of eternal youth. This breeds anxiety and discontent around a natural and inevitable process. How insane, considering that the period of youth consists of less than a third of our lives! Aging is not a high-speed train that must be derailed. It’s part of the journey that’ll eventually lead us all to the same final destination.

Consider the question, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”

This challenges the view that we’re one-dimensional, chronological beings. Real age is based on other dimensions, for example, emotional and spiritual. It’s easy to spot emotional infants and to feel the presence of “old” souls. As we move through the junctures on our journey, it’s the integration and harmonization of these dimensions that bring us to our true age.

Embrace age with passion, purpose and wisdom. Be like a rose! It doesn’t lament as it opens from a bud, blossoms into full glory and when its petals drop to the ground.

Drown the ego attachment to age with a Buddhist chant, “It’s in my nature to grow old, it’s in my nature to die … .” After all, it’s been said, “Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.”