Age in Motion No 4

15 May 2015                                                     

I write from my heart, and every time I write, I have at least five different books or articles on ‘ageing well’ around me. I’m sure I was born to be a researcher! Some of the authors on ageing well, believe that the art of living was to survive for as many years as possible. I don’t agree with that. It sounds too much like a struggle. I would like to find the peace factor in growing older.

As a child, I can remember, both my grandmothers always wore black. They were not very talkative and my dad’s mom especially, was very somber. Times have changed. Knowledge has become our tools for better ageing and studies on longevity show us there are more effective ways to grow older. To tell you the truth, I have come across studies where people many years older than myself, are actively busy with something they enjoy – AND they don’t look as if they are doing this to prove something! They are simply living a good life! They have friends and they have hobbies – and the best is, they have created this life for themselves!

Hope you read that line again! They didn’t wait for the children or grandchildren to do this for them! They thought, they pondered, and they made it happen!

Most of us want the same thing: To enjoy our lives at our peak performance day by day. This can mean something different for each of us. Some search for true happiness, some strive for physical beautiful faces and bodies, while others may be working hard toward athletic prowess or business success. Whatever the case, most of what I see in people, can be summed up in one word: Youthfulness.

We can reason around it as much as we like, but a ‘younger you’ is more powerful, quicker, healthier, and definitely more achievable.  Bit by bit, I intend to leave short suggestions that are do-able. With this, I also want to mention that I have tried and am trying the same suggestions, so that I can also feel part of all my writing!

Today I would like to answer a self-regulated question:  ‘IS there something that can delay the LOOK of old?’ You know what I mean! That LOOK that says, I don’t look so young anymore!

‘Is there perhaps something that can just ‘take off’ a few years on the outside?’  Some bodies and faces DO age better and there has to be something apart from expensive treatments and creams to look better! 
So, I have embraced a new life style of regular and MINDFUL stretching. When I say ‘mindful’ I refer to totally being in my own presence and deep breathing, while visualizing health and goodness flowing through my body. Obviously, I do this in my own home and office, and at times that I know I can. I still need the guidance of a dvd, you tubes and and even pictures of some stretches, but I’m getting so good that I even do some of these when I am in the kitchen, waiting for the kettle to boil! While stretching I see goodness (sometimes this goodness has colour!) flowing through my veins and in my head I say good things to myself!

When you relax all your muscles in your body AND face, and yes, I do follow a ‘procedure’ of relaxation from head to toes, it is more effective for brain messages to flow freely. So, you can create your own messages of feeling good and pretty, healthy and fit, strong and wonderful. The response from your body is much better when you are relaxed!

So, let’s forget our age and accept that growing older is part of living. Let’s choose to think younger than our birth years, and embrace moments of bliss when we quietly and mindfully breathe and stretch. Your body will do the talking, with less frowns, less loose skin and less worry-lines!

Picture of Rose Botha at her 80^th birthday – and what a celebration it was!  Rose believed that she will live and work until the day she died. And so it was. Rose died 15 months ago, early one night, peacefully in her sleep.
(www.anniecoetzee.co.za)