Growing Old Gracefully

Growing old with grace means accepting and not defying or eluding the inevitable.  The key word here is acceptance.  With resistance comes suffering.  We only have what is ours to have on earth, and earthly treasures are temporary.  While we are on earth, it is so much easier if we accept that there will be many changes as we grow older and learn to live with them.  There certainly is the reality of a body that is aging, however, our bodies also house an ageless soul. We need to get rid of all the attitudes that we may be cultivating, or have already adopted, which identify us only as an aging or limited body.  The object is to maintain an attitude of sprightly aliveness wanting to live life to the fullest.  If we could look back, we wouldn't want to see ourselves wishing our priorities would have been different. That we dealt too much with the little stuff  instead of spending more time with the people and activities that we truly love and less time worrying about aspects of life, that upon deeper examination, really didn't matter all that much.  A wise unknown author said, "Beautiful people are a creation of nature.  Beautiful old people create themselves."  The important thing is to continually improve our state of mind so we stay bodily and mentally strong.  One sure way to do this is to try something new.  Never stop growing, learning, and "going for it."  Sort of like the "bucket list" of those things we want to do.  In Diane Keaton's interview with AARP magazine, she says, "Slowing down isn't something I relate to at all.  The goal is to continue in good and bad, all of it.  To continue to express myself particularly.  To feel the world. To explore. To be with people.  To take things far.  To risk. To love.  I just want to know more and see more." Marie Dressler, who was a Depression-era film star, summed up aging when she said, "It is not how old you are, but how you are old."  So, let's embrace the world around us with vibrancy and determination because "this isn't a dress rehearsal,"