A study revealed that people with a positive attitude toward aging tend to live seven-and-a-half years longer. And I love the idea of aging while reversing the aging process. It’s a paradox! That’s because, if we choose unconditional love, we grow wiser with age. If we believe in an afterlife, we look forward to what’s beyond our final breath. And if we exercise and eat well, we defy aging and maintain a healthy brain. After all, I believe our fundamental purposes in life are to love, learn, build, and create. And, as we age, these purposes are ripe for us to fulfill.
One goal for defying age while embracing the aging process is to see ourselves as ten to fifty years younger than we biologically are. My 80-some-year-old landlady saw herself as a big kid. And I feel no older than twenty-one in spirit. Plus, I read many spiritual books that encourage us to maintain a youthful wonder of the world. Also, relationship advice encourages us to be playful with our spouses. In other words, maintain a positive disposition to defy the aging process while enjoying it.
Sometimes I see a senior citizen who seems lonely. He spends time at coffee shops by himself. But there is still so much for him to accomplish. If we are 70, we may have 25 more years ahead of us, like my Grandma, who lived to the age of 95. Twenty-five years is half the lifetime of someone who is 50. That’s a lot of time! For 20-year-olds, 25 years is more than a lifetime. So, what could be accomplished in 25 years, what might we achieve in our advanced age? We could enroll in a university program to acquire a Ph.D. In six PhD programs! Twice the work experience needed to become a head of a Fortune 500 public company. Authorship of over 25 books. The creation of over 250 paintings if we paint a picture once a month. Major inventions. Or, even more fantastic, some wonderful blend of the above. Even just ten years is ripe for a master’s degree and two Ph.D. programs.
Lastly, if there is an afterlife, we must prepare for it now, regardless of age. I believe the afterlife is more than just bliss and unconditional love. It’s also a school for shaping divine beings, and we all are divine beings in human form. We are ideally being shaped by one another to form the perfect, eternal tapestry. I believe it’s a higher mission. So, to prepare for the afterlife, we must learn and love as much as possible. Pretend knowledge and love are more valuable than money, for they indeed are. One piece of knowledge or one act of love can change a life, change the world, and impact all existence positively. So, make the most of every minute of our lives! We deserve to leave this world in grand style!
