The secret to aging gracefully
Are these words familiar to you?
“Memories, light the corners of my mind
Misty watercolor memories of the way we were.
Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind
smiles we give to one another
for the way we were.
Can it be that it was all so simple then
or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
tell me would we? Could we?”
They are words from the romantic Barbra Streisand song from “The Way We Were.” They strike a chord in all our hearts as we move pass midlife and into our senior years. We all have memories that we tend to romanticize and often wish things could be just the way they were. Yet this should not prevent us from aging gracefully.
Holding on to the past can block us
Actually, holding on to past memories can be the very thing that blocks us from aging gracefully. The saddest people I know are those that keep remembering when and regretting that things are no longer the same. As we age, there ARE some things we can’t do as well as we could when we were younger, and some things we can no longer do at all.
Living our present experiences can free us
What I have come to realize, and what has been most helpful to my friends and clients, is to recognize that while we may not be DOING the same things, we can still have the same experiences – at least internally. For example, I can no longer dance the way I used to when I was young – the legs and the breath just won’t go that far anymore. I loved to dance, but what I loved about dancing was the freedom of expression that I felt when I did it. That freedom is something that I can still experience in many different ways – and I do!
Discovering new ways for aging gracefully can liberate us
What have you ‘given up’ as you have aged? Can you find the essence of the experience and then discover new ways to fulfill that same desire? I know you can, and when you do, you will find yourself living more and more in the present rather than wishing things were “the way they were.” That’s the secret to aging gracefully.