Today is my sixtieth birthday. For two or three weeks I've been apprehensive about it. Birthdays often trigger "what have I done with my life" anxiety in me, but this one has done so more than usual. Partly it's because it's one of the Big 0 birthdays. Partly it's because my father died of a heart attack when he was sixty. He died young, lonely, and unfulfilled.
So what happy thoughts can I think? Chopra and others advise choosing a younger age when you were in top physical shape, and practicing thinking of yourself as being that age now. This could work. So why doesn't that reassure me?
This morning it occurred to me that maybe these fears have a useful purpose. Of course they could spur me on to exercise more and exercise better, eat a heart healthy diet (as best that can be determined these days), and express lots of love. That's all to the good, especially if it all comes about effortlessly. But maybe there's something more?
If someone came to me and asked for a prescription for a happy old age, what would I write?
1. Memorize the poems you love. Read new poetry and learn those too. If you come to the point where you can no longer see, you'll have a treasure stored up in your mind.
2. Practice mindfulness, effortlessness, and the power of your attention and thoughts. If you come to the point where you can no longer do anything outwardly, your thoughts will still be able to have great power in the world for good.
3. Decide to be happy no matter what - and happy with other people as they are.
OK, thanks doc. This looks like a prescription for a radiant old age. I'll start with some of Robert Bly's poems and go from there.
10:00:37 AM 
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