Our baby boomer generation once built its whole identity around being young; we were the ones who said, “Never trust anyone over thirty.” And now our children are over thirty and—could it really be?—we are growing old. To paraphrase an old Woody Allen joke, “I don’t mind the thought of growing old, I just don’t want to be there when it happens to me!”
Well, it is happening to us, and a significant segment of our economy is serving our wish to remain young as long as possible. Besides facial creams, cosmetic surgeries, botox treatments, exercise and dietary regimens, there are all the books and magazines with advice on every aspect of the aging process and how to postpone or avoid it. What is harder to find is candid guidance about growing old gracefully, about enjoying and even being transformed by aging. I call this deeper perspective “Aging as a Spiritual Practice.” That is the aspect of aging I write and teach about, and to those who are still in denial about aging I say, take heart. There is another way.
The spiritual practice of aging is really none other than the practice of coming to terms with radical impermanence, and turning the sorrows of that insight into the joy and contentment of living in and on each moment.
I welcome your comments and feedback. Please use the form below to send me a message.
