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Posts: 381
Joined: 2/26/2007
From: Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
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Yesterday I received one of those email things from my niece. So, I amended it to make it a little more personal and sent it back to her.
And, I`d also like to share it with you;
The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old.
Truthfully, when you get older, you do not think of yourself as old. Life is 98% attitude. Old Age is a gift. Much the same as the greatest gift of all; which is the ability to love yourself and share that love with others. Sure, I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, and that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks an awful lot like my grandfather!), but I don't agonize over those things for long.
I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving
family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become
more kind to myself, and less critical. I've become my own friend.
I don't chide myself for eating extra cookies, or for buying another book that I don't really need. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's, and if
at the same time, I choose to weep over a lost faculty... I will. As it says in the Desiderata; 'take kindly the council of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nuture strength of spirit to sheild you in sudden misfortune.'
I know I am sometimes forgetful; use it or lose it they say. It is important to keep trying; eventually we remember the important things.
Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not
break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when
your faithful budgie that can speak over a hundred phrases, flies out the patio door and gets caught in an updraft? But broken hearts are what teach us forgiveness and compassion. Surely, a heart never broken will never know the joy of being imperfect.
I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turn gray,
and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my
face. So many do not take the time to enjoy the little things that make life worth living and; have died before they reached this realization.
As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what
other people think. I can't say I don't question myself anymore but, I have earned the right to be wrong.
So, to answer your question, I don't mind being old. It has set me free. Much like I should have set myself free years ago. Being old allows you the luxury of knowing that you had the choice all along. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. It is what it is !! And, I shall eat dessert first, for life is uncertain.
gassho,rj
< Message edited by Margaret -- 5/19/2008 9:03:36 AM >
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Printable Version
Gratefulness for Aging - 
A smile is worth all it's weight in gold;I try to always hold on to that thought. 
program. Oh well, the best intentions. 
" Being able to "live in" the confusion is not always easy for me, yet it seems the only way to real growth. May we all continue to live the questions in our lives and be open to allowing our worlds to be turned upside down when some clarity of confusion comes that was not what we planned or expected. 
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