Notes from Ageless Soul by Thomas Moore

Stages in the aging process

feeling immortal,
first taste of aging,
settling into maturity,
shifting toward old age,
letting things take their course.

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We can deal with this anxiety individually by living a day at a time, being present to what the day has to offer. If there is no sickness or any other problem, we can enjoy the day. Some people project themselves into a debilitating future and live in the anxiety of imagined woes to come.

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I don’t care what the calendar says. I have a strong youthful component in me, and often that person in his 40s seems to inhabit my body. Even when I look in the mirror, I sometimes manage to see more of the 40 year old man than the one who is 76. I’ve always been a strong believer in illusions.

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Simple, ordinary activities can improve your health and ease the black bile of melancholy that afflicts many older people. Take that walk in the woods, look for a sparkling lake or river, and don’t spend much time with negative people. We don’t realize how important it is to rely on nature for our health and mood, to think about the kind of people we have around us, and to understand the value of gardens and trees.

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The older years offer a perfect time to reflect more often, more deeply and more seriously on these important aspects of life. Of course, we need to begin this kind of reflection in our youth, but it can reach its depth in old age. Being part of a culture that has lost interest in profound ideas and intense reflection on experience makes aging more difficult.

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Being an elder not only helps other people find guidance and wisdom, but it also gives the older person added reason for living. It may be the final act of a generous and thoughtful life. It is service taken to the last moment and done with a special authority and dedication it helps if the older person consciously adopts the role of elder. I could say from my own experience that a certain point people begin to treat you as an elder and look for benefits that you may be able to give them.

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The poet Maya Angelou once wrote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Thus legacy is a matter of the heart. It’s not an idea but a feeling connected to largely invisible people, it’s a special way of loving, and if there is anything that could make growing old more pleasurable, it would be to discover new ways to love.

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Reflection – – the first stage for an ordinary person is reading or listening to someone else offer an understanding of events. You listen or read and make those ideas your own in your own way. The second stage of reflection is conversation. You make a point to speak with people who have something worthwhile to say and with whom you enjoy speaking. A third stage of reflection is to find some effective mode in which you can express yourself it could be writing of various forms – – journals poems, essays, fiction…

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My Review of the Book

I am a bit of a cynic. Books like these discussing getting older are often written with the goal to alleviate the concerns and fears of elderly people as they approach death. The objectives when you get into your 70s and 80s are to find interests and things that will motivate you to stay alive or at least maintain your enthusiasm for healthy living.

While one can try to maintain a healthy attitude about life in your 70s and 80s, what’s more important are the states of your mind and your body. It’s critically important that you are not alone and that you do have some type of social network that hopefully includes family and friends.

It’s a comforting book with some useful bromides about topics like overcoming melancholy and leaving legacies. I don’t think there is one philosophy or set of rules to follow in life after 70. One of the things that I try to adjust to is the declining control I have in the direction of my life. I don’t have the physical, intellectual or mental energy I had a year ago and I expect that to continue to decline.

My five worst fears as I get older:

Losing my wife
Loneliness
Dementia
Disabilities and loss of health
Running out of money

The Remains of the Day

I highly recommend the book and the wisdom in the following picture…

“Time, time, time, what’s become of me?”

With thanks to Simon and Garfunkel’s Hazy Shade of Winter…

Sleeping Aid for the Mature

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Satchell Paige

Musings from an Older Man

As I’ve gotten older, I find that I don’t care that much for other people’s opinions.

As I’ve gotten older, I find that other people really don’t care that much for my opinions either.

As I’ve gotten older, women don’t find me as attractive. When I say older, I meant over “my peak” at the age 5.

As years get longer, my Christmas list grows shorter.

Santa does not deliver my gifts climbing down the chimney; he packages them with my blood pressure medication deliveries.

The major difference between toys when I was young and today is that today’s children need no imagination in playing with them.

Compliments accompanied by the phrase “for a man your age” are brushed by backhand.

My memory is sharp like a tack; literally….

You won’t know what you’ll never know. You’ll never know what you won’t know. (For philosophy majors only.)

I have reached the age when I no longer have to worry about dying “before my time.”

Equanimity

“True equanimity arises when we embrace the flow of life without being swept away by its currents.” – Ram Dass

In memory of two high school classmates who recently died…

As we grow older, we descend like a starship pulling from the gravity of our youthful endeavors, and settle into the “orbit of mortality.”

The sounds of ocean waves lapping along the shore, like hymns from a church organ evoke peace and soulful contemplation.

There is no better sedative than sitting on the couch, cool drink in hand and dozing off to one of my wife’s Hallmark movies.

How I look forward to summer! By July 1, how I look forward to autumn!

My True Confession: I never flirted with a woman I desired. AI version: Desire unspoken, a confession true: I never flirted, yet yearned for you.

Three mindsets of a life long athlete: in youth, WIN; in good health, COMPETE; in old age, PARTICIPATE.

I was surprised to hear of the current writers’ strike in movies and TV. Based on what I view on the screen, I thought their work stoppage began in 1990.

Future historians will equate January 6, 2021 as this era’s Fort Sumter, the start of a new civil war.

Mullings of a Mature Man

Senior citizens are like older cars without a gas gauge. Both have travelled many miles and not sure how much time or travel is left.

As years grow, handshakes, hugs and kisses among friends and family are longer.

Photo by Pixabay

Those who are truly happy, if offered a chance to enter a time machine and go back to relive their lives, would decline and say, “I would not change a thing.”

Emptying contents from my mom’s home of 54 years, I sensed fond memories of my youth following them solemnly from the house to the truck taking them away.

One’s definition of “success’ matures with age. Success becomes not so much in what we have but what we contributed with what we had.

If you still believe in 75% of the things you learned or were told in the first 25% of your life, you haven’t been paying attention.

Tag: aging