WEEKLY COACHING TIP #151

80 IS THE NEW 50

(Broadband users can listen to the audio version by clicking the play button above. Note you will need Windows Media Player)

Did you know that: Marcus Porcius Cato, a Roman patriot, learned Greek at 80yrs old, Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink, the great German-American contralto, reached the pinnacle of her musical success after she became a grandmother.  Socrates learned to play musical instruments when he was 80 yrs old.  Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote his poem, “Crossing the Bar” at 83.

So how do you envisage yourself in your 80/90’s, or do you already think that you probably won’t last that long?  I find the whole area of age fascinating.  Not least, of which, because we are a society that is obsessed with youth and scorn our old people.  In eastern society the elders are revered for their wisdom.  I often say in these tips that we are hypnotised by society, so rather than succumb to that hypnosis, each day you get out of bed, choose your trance, do not be dictated to by society or any form of media on how or what you should think.  I was reading somewhere the other week that 50 is the new 30 and 80 is the new 50 according to 80 year old actor Paul Newman, (and he looks great)!  For myself, I’ve been either 6years old or 22 years old for years now, it just depends on what I’m doing or thinking at the time!

Deepak Chopra, famous spiritual author, doctor and endocrinologist, says that the only reason we grow old, get disease and die, is because we see everyone else doing it.  This is so true!  How many people do you know, maybe even you yourself, that have said at some time in their life, something on the lines of, ‘it’s my age/I’m not getting any younger/it’s to be expected when you get to that age/S/he is really showing their age now’.  How many people do you know that, as soon as they hit their mid forties, start to think they need glasses. (There are great eye exercises you can do to prevent these muscles degenerating). These are all negative programming and beliefs that we ‘pick up’ from everyone around us, family, friends, media, etc.

Let me make something clear here, this is not about hanging on to youth for fear, it’s about de-accelerating the aging process through having a wonderfully creative, contributing and loving, life. David Hawkins in his book Power vs Force mentions the fact that people who are true creators, tend to live much longer because they are creating beauty, musicians, artists, whoever is passionate about their purpose and living it.  This is fundamental to having a great healthy happy life.

If you want to change how old you feel and look, begin with your thoughts, then your language and your deeds.  Here are some tips for:

Staying and Feeling Young.

• What is your PURPOSE, what do you believe you have come here to do? Are you doing it to some extent each day?  If not, you really have to you will feel immediately better and more fulfilled.

• Ask yourself how old do you want to feel?  If it’s your current age, great, do you want to feel as if you’ll stay this age physically for another 2, 5, 10, 20 years?

• Look at your thoughts and decide NOW to clean them up.  For example, ‘I suppose one gets a bigger midriff when you get older.’  Is that really true, because I know at least 4 people over 60, men and women who have very slim waists.  When I was teaching exercise regularly it was the 40+ group who tended to be the fittest and often the most positive too.

• Look at the food you eat, is it health enhancing?  Do you want to change something?

• Laugh every day and make someone else laugh too – this is great for keeping the cells ‘young’ and uplifting the muscles on your face.

• Who are the people you most associate with?  Are they ‘old’ people before their time, i.e. is their attitude to life one of beginning the spiral downwards, slowing down?  If so, you may want to cultivate different relationships or begin to ‘block out’ their programming, so you choose to have more youth feeling thoughts. 

• Patience, kindness, love, goodwill, joy, happiness, wisdom, understanding, enthusiasm, are all amazing qualities to engage in every day.  How can you possibly feel ‘bad’ when you are experiencing one of those feelings?  Make a point everyday to feel them and touch other people with them. Do a random act of kindness (and don’t even tell anyone!)

• Do you contribute, whether it’s raising a family, with as much care and love as you can or learning some skill, doing your job really well with joy not drudgery? Are you a good neighbour, etc? Contribution is an essential factor for feeling productive and raising esteem.

• Give up your need to be ‘right’, this immediately frees up your energy and life force flows through you unobstructed, therefore enhancing the de-acceleration of age.

• Live in the present (read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle or Byron Katie ”The Work”) both enlightened beings, whom I’ve read and had the privilege of being at their live talks, both have great things to say and inspire us with.

• Read something or listen to something every single day of your life that re-inforces your power, your inspiration, your success, your humanity.

• Sometimes I listen to a CD or tape I’ve had for years, maybe 6 times in the same week (and I still hear new things), when I’m washing dishes, in the gym, whilst I’m cooking.  It’s extremely difficult to have a negative thought or bad feeling when you are listening to things that lift you up, inspire you, and challenge you to think differently.  Really make this a daily habit, you will reap massive dividends.

Pass this tip on to someone you think might appreciate it, and to anyone you think might not!  That way, you’ll be doing me a wonderful service, you a wonderful service, by maybe not making judgements on people you might have thought, would not enjoy this tip, and you could be doing something really helpful for the person you send it to.

Give me feedback on the WCT what you’d like more of, etc.  Let me know if you like to hear it on audio, etc.  I would really appreciate, in fact, I appreciate it in advance.

HAVE A WONDERFULLY YOUTHFUL AND UPLIFTING WEEK, ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

© 2005 INSPIRIT, Denise Bosque - All Rights Reserved