Remain Young at Heart

Though the body ages, you can nevertheless remain young at heart. I remember the Sinatra song I heard as a youth, which began: “Fairy Tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you are young at heart.” Older now, those words mean much more. I recently got an e-mail about ten things to do to stay young at heart. While you cannot avoid aging, you can sure slow it down a little, and even learn to somewhat, somehow enjoy the aging process. Here are the anonymous ten points, with some added comments.

1. “Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight, and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay them.” Worry will not add or subtract a single ounce of body weight, but it might keep you up at night vexing about it. Worry will not add a single hour to your life, but it can elevate your blood pressure and possibly shorten your life.

2. “Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.” You do not choose your family; but you do choose your friends. You become like those with whom you associate. Life is too short and precious to spend your time hanging around with gloom and doom naysayers.

3. “Keep learning.” Learn more about computers, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. As is said, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.” While the causes and prevention of Alzheimer and other forms of dementia are still being investigated, research as well as common sense attest that with the mind as with the body, you either use it or lose it.

4. “Enjoy the simple things.” If you cannot enjoy the simple things, from watching children play to sunsets, from cooking up some soup to taking a long walk, you will not be able to enjoy the more complex, to say nothing of more expensive, things.

5. “Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.” How long since you have laughed that hard? A good, hard laugh is as invigorating for the soul as a good, hard run can be for the body.

6. “The tears happen. Endure, grieve and move on. The only person with us our entire life is God. Be ALIVE while you are alive.” Theresa of Avila wrote, “Let nothing disturb you, nothing affright you; all things are passing, God never changes...Who God possesses, in nothing is wanting; God alone suffices.”

7. “Surround yourself with what you love, whether it is family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.” Life is glorious surround sound: focus on what you love. Find your passion.

8. “Cherish your health: if it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.” The older you get, the more you treasure health, and the more you must work to maintain it.

9. “Do not take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.” The only good guilt is the one that gets you to change and make amends. Otherwise guilt is no healthier than worry.

10. “Tell people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.” Amen.

There was a concluding sentiment: “And always remember: life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”