Taking off the mask of age

It’s Halloween time. Trick or treaters will soon be at our doors, ringing the bells and asking for treats. Super heroes, ballerinas, witches and goblins of all sorts will be invading, but none of us will be afraid. It doesn’t matter how scary they may look, no matter what their color or physical appearance, we won’t be afraid because we know that beneath each mask is a child.

Could it be that there is another mask that all of us wear in one form or another, one that also needs to be seen as not scary and one we shouldn’t allow to hide our identity? Maybe age is also a mask of some sort, disguising our identity as children of God with the presentation of aging bodies, lost opportunities, and decreasing abilities.

But if that is so, how do we remove the disguise? The US News and World Report “How to Live to 100 Project” shares 22 steps to a happier and longer life. One of the first steps it suggests for all of us, no matter what our age, includes the following: express gratitude; avoid social comparison; practice acts of kindness; learn to forgive; practice religion and spirituality; and focus on the present moment.

These suggestions change the focus of our life from inward fear of decline to outward acts of helping others -- through kindness, thoughtfulness and unselfishness. Instead of grieving over the past or thinking that our lives are getting closer to death, we can choose to let our lives expand into increased loving, caring, forgiving and rejoicing. The US News and World Report research shows that this change in attitude helps maintain health.

Mary Baker Eddy, a religious leader who founded the Pulitzer-prize winning newspaper The Christian Science Monitor in her late 80’s, took a profound approach to taking off the mask of age: “Life is eternal” she wrote. “We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal. Let us then shape our view of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 246).

More effectual than positive thinking, aligning ourselves with the spiritual view that Life is God, the eternal source of all life, renews and reveals the value of each of us.

My friend, Margaret, took this counsel very seriously. I met Margaret when she was over 70. She decided she would like to sell advertising for a major newspaper. She applied for the job and was hired. She designed ads and went from door to door to businesses throughout our Chicago suburb selling newspaper advertising.

After a while, she retired from that position to manage a bookstore, coordinating a staff of over 20 individuals. She managed that store for about five years, until she moved to another part of the country, where she continued her productive lifestyle.

I never heard Margaret talk about her age. Although her hair was white, she refused to wear the mask of age – any age. She just wanted others to acknowledge who she was as a child of God.

That’s a great lesson for all of us. Even though 50 may be the new 30, and 60 may be the new 40, it’s important not to be defined by our number of years. Let’s find new things to do, new places where we can be of service, and yes, new ways to think. That is important to our happiness and health.

This Halloween, and forever after, let’s take off the mask of age and express the ageless qualities of love, mercy, forgiveness and joy!

Picture ©Glowimages

Thomas (Tim) Mitchinson is a self-syndicated columnist writing on the relationship between thought, spirituality and health, and trends in that field. He is also the media spokesman for Christian Science in Illinois. You can contact him at illinois@compub.org.