Want to know the (surprisingly simple!) secrets of some people’s ‘evergreen’ looks, fitness and spirits? In a very interesting theory, many believe that age might actually be living more in a person’s mind, than his/her number of years on Planet Earth. Which suggests you can live as young as you please, all your life – just by doing things you would love to be doing! Yes; it CAN happen – in fact, you can make it happen for you, too.
What are the ways you can keep ‘age’ from creeping into your mind, and body? Simple – you can just ‘will’ yourself to stay ‘young’ forever, and chances are, you will.
This is not to say that ‘age’ is something that none of us wants, or none of us wants to acknowledge. We, of course, cannot avoid it or pretend it can never happen to us. It does, with every passing moment. And it brings along with it some invaluable experiences, effects, results and assets that we can cherish forever, too. It is just that many of us would prefer to avoid certain ‘adverse effects’ of ‘age’, if we know how to. This article is all about this knowing how to avoid many – or most – of the ‘adverse effects’ of ‘age’.
Let me present an example to express my point better. We have heard the words ‘Practice makes Perfect’, right? Now imagine: if from this very moment, you make it a practice to believe ‘I am going to stay young, healthy, happy always’ and keep saying this to yourself as many times as possible, you shall eventually be doing everything you can, to make these words happen for yourself. Haven’t you seen people practicing Yoga, Meditation, Cricket, Tennis, Gymnastics and so on, and gradually getting better and better at them? Haven’t you seen elderly people still continuing to exercise, cycle, do Yoga, climb mountains and do so many other things even some youngsters are not too sure they can do, with equal ease or expertise? What gives these people this strength, fitness and stamina – even this courage – that seem to ‘defy’ their chronological age? It is Practice. You can attain it, too, to reap similar results.
Think: If you decide to practice the good things that you wish to follow, such as exercising regularly, keeping your mind alert and agile by doing ‘mental exercises’ such as Mental Maths, playing Chess, learning new skills and even languages, you too can ‘defy’ your chronological age and keep its adverse effects away from your body and mind. Regular physical exercise can keep age related ailments away from your body, and regular mental exercise can keep your mind as sharp as ever.
It is only when we stop honing our skills, that we put ourselves at risk of losing them. A young athlete can lose his/her physical agility and fitness, if s/he does not continue to eat and exercise right. Chronological age would, in this case, have very little to do with this degeneration.
I could be all of twenty years of age and be a most unfit, uninspiring, uninteresting, and unproductive version of me, if I let my mind and body go and never do a thing to exercise either one of them. What would my chronological age have to do with it, then? Nothing. So, you see, it is all about knowing how to exercise your mind and body right, and channelize your intentions and efforts in the right direction. In essence, it is all in your mind, then.
Your mind decides how you are going to feel, and what you are going to do about it, next. If, at the age of twenty, I let my mind decide I neither want to study nor exercise, and then proceed to sleep my time away, my chronological age would hardly be responsible for the sort of person I would be turning myself into. On the other hand, at the age of sixty, if I let my mind decide I am going to get fit, learn three more languages, play a musical instrument, practice Yoga to get rid of certain health problems and improve my diet to look and feel better, in all probability, I shall be able to attain all these goals, and look and feel much ‘younger’ than my sixty years demonstrate! It is possible.
After all, haven’t you come across people who look much younger than what their actual ‘age’ is? Haven’t you seen people in their 40s look like they are 20 or 30 something years old? How could they make that happen? “Great genes!” Some can argue. Agreed. But it could also be a case of ‘great determination and habits’. If I do not have the great genes that some fortunate souls might possess, what can stop me from honing great determination and habits, instead?
The earlier, the better. Though it can be never too late, either. In fact, you can begin this very moment to ‘reverse’ your age by doing things that can benefit you forever. Things like exercising your body and mind the right way (it is always advisable to consult a doctor, first) and deciding to think young and happy. How does one think happy? Well, one concentrates on positive thoughts and ideas and decides to do every positive and possible thing to live better.
With time, you can begin to look much younger, too – because the mind often reflects itself on the face; and good health manifests itself through your appearance, too. Therefore the appearance is simply bound to improve. There! Haven’t we just unveiled a fantastic secret right now?
Now just one more thing remains to be done – passing this great secret on to children, so that they can start learning how to live their best at the earliest! Imagine what good it would do them, and resultantly, the world? We need to channelize kids towards knowing, learning and cultivating all the skills that can keep them their best, both physically and mentally. Let them just get more intelligent, wise and fit with ‘age’, simply by practicing some things that can always be good for them.
This is exactly what all of us want for our kids – and we now know how we can help them have it.
