“I’ve reached the age when, if someone tells me to wear socks, I don’t have to.” – Albert Einstein
Age: The length of time that a person has lived or a thing has existed.
Aging: The process of becoming
Nostalgia: A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.
Belief: Trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something.
Too often, the words Age, Aging, Aged, are misunderstood by society’s predisposition regarding age. Aging is invaluable and endless.
Societal beliefs cast shadows upon individual beliefs. Beliefs influence thoughts which transmit energy. Therefore, cultural understandings (or lack of) and beliefs (or lack of) on aging affect the individual’s aging process more than age itself.
In 1979, Dr. Ellen Langer, a Harvard Psychologist conducted an experiment called The Counterclockwise Study where she was able to prove that when people were placed in a psychologically better setting (environment) — they would associate with a younger version of themselves.
In this study, Langer created a nostalgic retreat where age, aging, aged subjects lived within a controlled environment where everything from the wall decorations, music, television shows, current events, and even the pictures on the were perioded to twenty years earlier. For example, the test subjects were instructed to live as if it were 1959, not 1979. Dr. Langer noted that on the last day of the study, the test group looked and acted differently, and even played an impromptu game of touch football.
5 of Many Un-Limiting Beliefs About Age and Aging:
Mind Over Matter
In believing something will affect you, it often does. Your own expectations, and the expectations of others, are powerful.
Resilience
Antiques are relished for their craftsmanship, durability, or simply the mere fact that they bared witness to a different time. Although there is no similar vernacular for human aging, there is an antiqueness about the durability, strength, and wisdom inherent in those who have experienced history that is remarkably different and unlike current or future times.
Old is New
Aging is the process of change, new. In becoming old, one simultaneously also becomes new in knowledge and perspective. The focus should be the future.
The Evolving You
Life is a process, becoming you.
Non-Discrimination
Aging does discriminate. Use it wisely.
“In the perspective of every person lies a lens through which we may better understand ourselves.” – Dr. Ellen Langer
