The secrets of staying young
by Mira and Charles on July 26th, 2010Science confirms that your mind can be your fountain of youth
There are people, silly, silly people, who insist on making constant references to their getting older. If they should happen to forget, say, the name of the actor who played Audrey Hepburn’s on-again-off-again boyfriend in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, they’ll say they’re having a senior moment. (It was George Peppard, BTW—didn’t want you to stress out over this!) If they get a sore ligament, they’ll say, well, I guess I’m getting older. Maybe they think this is wisdom: accept, no, embrace! the inevitable. But it is actually quite foolish.
There is new research which adds new weight to the old cliché that you’re as old as you think you are. Think young, be young. Here’s how it works.
We live according to our self image. If you have a self image as someone kind, you’ll act kinder. If you think you’re smart, you’ll actually perform better on intelligence tests. No, thinking you’re smart doesn’t make you smart. But it does make you smarter.
So if you start thinking of yourself as “old,” you will act old. For example, you will be less likely to try new technology, which will then make you feel outside the mainstream, which will make you feel stodgy and…old! Here’s another example. If you think getting older means losing your memory, you stop trying to remember things and will instead put your energy into apologizing for your supposed “geriatric memory.” In this case, you will not only seem older, you will, mentally anyway, actually become older.
So don’t think of yourself as “aging.” Think of yourself as youthful. And you will actually become more youthful.
This is way do-able. Most of us already feel younger inside than we are chronologically. Well, go with that. Never refer to your age. Never talk about yourself aging. Never blame mistakes or an inability to do something on your age.
That’s how you can always feel youthful. Decide you’re young, and if there’s any seeming evidence to the contrary it’s about fitness, not aging.
That’s the secret of eternal youth. Don’t think about aging. Think about fitness.
You can’t control the calendar. But you can control how fit you are and how fit you feel. It actually gets even cooler. While you can’t turn back time, you can get more fit in every way. No matter what your age, you can become more physically fit, more mentally fit, and more emotionally fit. The more fit you are, the younger you feel and the younger you are. So, in a sense, you CAN turn back time. I see people do it every day.
This is the first of a four-part series on finding your fountain of youth.
Next time: physical fitness. No, I’m not a personal trainer. But I do know a lot about what works to motivate and discipline yourself so you can follow a well designed fitness program. And believe me, sticking with a good-enough program is a lot more important than worrying about choosing the perfect program.
The blog after that: mental fitness. If you haven’t heard the phrase neuro-plasticity, well, you have now. It means that your brain is like a muscle, but even more build-up-able. No matter what your age, you can become smarter, more creative, and have a better memory. And I’ll show you how to do just that.
Last but not least: emotional fitness. Even more than physical and mental fitness, emotional fitness is the hallmark of youth. Feeling positive, creative, eager to greet the day, hopeful about the future—it’s things like this that are at the heart of eternal youth. Whatever difficulties you might be facing—and make no mistake, people face difficulties at every age—you can face them and come through them with high emotional energy.
We’ve even written an award-winning book about how to do just this: The Emotional Energy Factor. It’s the best anti-aging resource I know.
Next time: secrets for becoming more youthful by become more physically fit.
