Young for Life!

It’s unrealistic to want to grow younger day by day. In fact, such desire defies both logic and the human experience. Each day you’re one step further away from your date of birth. Following that chronologically, after 365 days, you celebrate yet another birthday and you’re older by one more year.

You cannot stop the process of aging. It is the law of nature that no one and nothing lasts forever.

But suppose you could slow down or even reverse the part of aging that results in aching joints, wrinkled face, thinning hair and failing vision. Did you ever think that it might be possible to step on the brakes of the aging process and feel young no matter your age?

If you’ve done some gardening, you know that plants can be revitalized by altering the growing conditions or making other growth enhancing changes. Good gardeners know, for example, that they can turn a woody old bush that produces few flowers into a vigorously growing plant. How? By cutting away the old, dead wood and allowing new branches to spring up from the old roots.

An ageing fruit tree that gives only a few small fruits every season can be brought back to its prime state with pruning, fertilizing and water. With air, light, excellent nutrition, clean water and a nurturing environment, plants respond with vigorous new growth and plenty of flowers or fruit.

The same principle that works in plants also works in people. Given the proper care and nourishment, you, too, prosper and grow. While you can’t really grow younger in years, you can in other ways.

Let’s consider what youth is. It’s marked by physical strength and agility and flexibility. There is, normally, little or no illness. Youth is almost synonymous with high energy, and often with physical grace.

Now, suppose you followed a physical exercise program that built your strength, flexibility and stamina. Suppose you’ve been successfully maintaining your health, protecting yourself from illness. Suppose, because of your excellent physical condition, you move dynamically and gracefully. Suppose you’ve been very careful about your skin, your use of cosmetics, your hair style, your clothing, and you are adaptive to new fashion and social trends. And you’re sixty years old! Then, by the functional definition of youth, you are young.

You can be young in a genuine practical and aesthetic sense. No matter if you’re way past the prime of your life. You can maintain the energy and strength to do what you want and to go where you please.

With heightened attention you give to yourself, you can be healthier and more attractive. You need not suffer from the many burdens and complaints commonly associated with aging.

The natural loosening of the skin that comes with the years can be mostly prevented with regular exercise and proper skin care. Bulging stomachs and ugly cellulite lumps can be vanished with physical activity and proper diet. Proper diet is very important – knowing which foods to eat more of, which to cut down on, and which to omit altogether.

For exercise, even simple walking when done regularly can do a lot of good. It is possible to stay in top shape, with self-discipline. It is also easy nowadays to have shining, thick hair and white, even teeth. Technological cosmetic solutions are now widely available.

But there’s more to being young than simply having youthful physical attributes. Young people have eager, inquisitive minds. They’re curious, always seeking more knowledge. With minds as flexible as their young bodies, they’re always willing to try something new.

They laugh and enjoy themselves, they play and have fun. Young people are brave at heart. They develop deep friendships, look for love, and keep themselves wide open for emotional experiences.

It is important, therefore, to have a youthful spirit – the qualities, attributes, and attitudes – to complement a youthful body. The cynicism and general disinterest that often come with age must be resisted or cast off. Moreover, a proper handling of stressful emotions mixed with a voracious appetite for life can preclude the ravages of time.

It’s possible to stay young all throughout life. From the fashionable hair style at the top of your head, to the clear and sparkling eyes, to the pearl-white teeth, to the well- tucked belly, to the tips of your well-groomed toes – you can look and be really younger, healthier and more attractive. The fabled fountain of youth is within your reach. And it can be accessed by maintaining your physical, emotional and spiritual health.