Getting Older

This is the year that I turn the age of the Answer to The Ultimate Question Of Life, the Universe and Everything . Personally I don’t think I’ve ever heard the question.  Perhaps the classic “What is 6 times 7?”.

To me, this is the age of realizing that your family is not immortal. Therefore, neither am I. Both of my Mom’s parents are still alive in their 80s but both are also having some pretty big health problems. After all these years it is odd to think that someday they will not be around. As a kid, things always seem to be so permanent. Getting older is always something to be looked forward to. It’s when you answer your age in years ahead of your actual age. “I’m almost 10”, or “I’m 6 year and 4 months”. After 30, it seams that the years should be hidden. I guess you just stop looking forward to turning older.

This is all fairly cliche and yet it is so relevant to how people of “middle age” look at life.

Your priorities shift a bit. Instead of working your life away, you look to spend more time with family and friends. Things you have taken for granted for years suddenly become valuable. The parents you always assumed would be there are suddenly seen from the eyes of our temporary existence. Anything could happen on any day and those things that are currently unsaid will remain unsaid for all time. A bit dark, I admit, but regret is much darker and lasts much longer than thinking that someone will always be there.

It brings me to the topic of life and death. Most people, understandably are afraid of dying. Not many people want to do it and even those that do would probably change their mind if they just found someone to talk to that would understand whatever trouble is taking them over. Of course there are the terminally ill that would prefer the end compared to the endless treatments and hopeless trials.

The point really isn’t what they fear but rather the fact that this fear often fogs our lives. We ignore the fact that we might die and therefore we think that it is okay to procrastinate doing lots of things. We fear death and therefore de-risk life. A bland hapless life is neither a happy or fulfilled life.

The best advice I’ve heard about this is to live within the moment. This has been overused within popular culture and mostly related to sports. What I mean is that it is best to live focused on where you are and doing that which makes the most sense without the fog of the future and past taking your sight away from what really matters.

It can make such a difference. When you don’t know what kind of things you can do, suddenly you allow yourself to be more happy with the spirit within your soulful mind. No, not new age babble. Just that seed of a person inside of you that reaches out to the world and bes what it is meant to be. Saying surprising things at surprising times often means that you have found a kernel of truth within yourself to share with the world. Creative thought does not come from a cautious group. Creative thought comes from a playful spirit unafraid of what others might think. Artist, writer, poet, musician. The world has plenty of accepted careers for creativity.

Far fewer is the understanding that the creative core lives in everything and is only seeking for new ways to be released. Find a way to free that fire within you and find that you are truly alive at the best times of all creation.

Getting older isn’t about finding death. Getting older means it is time to live to the fullest moments of your life. You are old enough to be wise. Don’t be wise enough to be foolish with your time. Let time run through you and embrace your power of heart. Bring it all together in the space around you to define the reality you are meant to live in.

For the future is nothing but an imaged point of now. Now is what matters. It doesn’t matter how old you are if you realize this.

• Age