Affirmation: “I embrace my experience and value my wisdom.”
A client of mine named June appeared to be a happy, confident woman in her early sixties. She shared a story with me about how after she and some of her friends turned fifty, they felt as if they became invisible. The sometimes flattering, sometimes annoying attention paid to women by men suddenly vanished. The change was debilitating. Was she valid anymore? Valued? Had she become totally invisible? She said some of her friends chased youth with Botox and facial peels and never let a carbohydrate pass their lips. She questioned if they were happier. She told me how she considered following suit and even tried Botox. Ultimately, she decided to embrace herself and her unique beauty and not focus on youth, even though she was bombarded by images of it every day from the media.
June was marching to the beat of her own drum in more ways than one. She returned to a favorite hobby, playing the drums, and ended up joining a retirees rock band! She was living and enjoying life, and she noticed that the more she threw herself headfirst into life, the more alive she felt. Her grown kids were proud and lovingly amused. She was happy and had found her way into her next stage of life as a wise woman.
Age can ripen your body, mind, heart, and spirit to a gorgeous sheen of experienced perfection. You’ve learned what makes you happy. You know what warms your soul. You know more about what enlivens you. Now all you need to do is commit to it.
What are three things you can do this week to embrace who you are and joyfully own your age and experience as the valuable assets they are? They could be things like getting back to a favorite hobby, as June did. Maybe you love clothes and shopping and can help a friend find the perfect outfit for her big presentation. Perhaps you could volunteer to mentor young people in your field or coach a little league team if you were a sports star in high school.
What would be your version of June’s return to the drums? How can you commit to doing one of these ideas this week? What steps will you take?
Exercise: Be a Happy Kid Regardless of Your Age
In order to embrace yourself at any age, you need to reconnect to your inner wellspring of vitality. Youth has nothing to do with true inner vitality. That comes from within, and joy multiplies it. In this exercise we will get in touch with the free and easy qualities of a child and bring them into our lives at any age. This will help us experience true liveliness and vivacity.
Children live in an unfiltered state. They let you know what they like and what they don’t. Isn’t that refreshing? For the most part, no one has to guess what a child thinks about something. What if you adopted the traits of a happy child? What would you say that you otherwise wouldn’t? The only rule is it must be kind. Besides that, why not tell your friend you don’t like peas before she cooks dinner, instead of being nice and pushing them around your plate later? Why not be honest? Focus on the fun.
You know what else kids do? They repeat what feels good and is fun. They run through the sprinkler on a hot day over and over and over because it’s fun. They don’t think, “Oh, I should go start the laundry” or “I really ought to go wash the car today.” They go for it. They relentlessly seek fun and you should too, no matter if you are ten years old or one hundred years old. Be a fun-seeking human first and a responsible adult second. Kids choose healthy fun because that’s what they know. Go that route.
Embrace wisdom and relentlessly pursue joy,
and you can live agelessly.
#joyfulliving101