I wrote a book that made this claim:
"Make better choices now for more choices later. The opposite is also true. Poor choices now mean fewer choices later. "
Every morning there are a few minutes dedicated to taking inventory of my body.
Feet? Check.
Hands? Check. Bellybutton? Check.
Shortly the list is complete and notes taken as to what is thriving, what needs oil, & what needs restocking. In modern hip-fit lexicon, this could be called my Awareness Practice. And if practice make permanent, who couldn't use a little more awareness?
So every day, I kick my own tires, top off my fluids, and recalibrate my gimbal (a metaphor for my drone pilots out there). This practice confirms that the choices I've made along the way are far more apparent in my 50s, and will probably become more so. The smart decisions of my past have manifested as current potential, and the dipshit ego-based decisions, even from 20 years ago, are now the nags and issues that are easily, but erroneously, blamed on age.
Well, age is a factor, but it was the age at the time of the decision making, not the current one. I could be quite daft 20 years ago. Now, hopefully, I'm smart enough to grok that, and make better choices, like not blaming a timeline (age), but lodging a complaint with the source (me). If all this awareness actually teaches me anything, it's never too late to create more choices for later by making better choices now. To be fair, I wasn't a complete jackass. There were many good choices made, and I must celebrate the opportunity I have now because of them. Many of those earlier ideas involved playful exploration, and the strength to continue finding joy in play. If you bring your appreciation and curiosity with you to every benchmark, birthday, and bumpy road, age is simply more time to expand your possibilities. Life, at any point, is better when you can... - Move more than exercise. Surprisingly, folks who exercise may not get this. - Get out. If you can't see the sky without anything between it and your eyeballs, change that.
- Hand the reins to your curiosity. Don't worry, your body is already crazy curious as to what is possible. Give it the chance to find out.
- Be still. A great lesson of moving and creating the strength to move more, is to know stillness. Your curiosity will also demand it.
- Be a beginner. If you are dead set on being the best, be the best at not needing to be the best. Even experts begin again.
Maybe we call it growing older for a reason. Roots get deeper, branches reach higher, and there is more to give as you expand from your experiences over time. You've got a lifetime to Become. Let's truly live longer rather than the current trend of dying longer.
