Don’t grow old, age gracefully

AT AN old-age home, the inmates were asked: “Why do you think God has let you to reach the age of 90?” Ramu responded, “To test the tolerance of our relatives.”

Ageing is not pleasant for any one; not for the person ageing; not for the people around; especially if the family, that is otherwise occupied, has to take care of the aged.

Our body starts degenerating from the time we are born. Cells die every second even in an infant’s body, even as new cells grow. Medical science says that the entire body has a new set of cells every year or so. Not even one cell is as it was. Some parts of the body start rejuvenating; like our teeth for instance; it is rare that a third set of teeth grow if you start losing your second set. Muscles grow weaker and memories get shorter. Immunity levels decrease making people more prone to diseases. Ageing is inbuilt into the human DNA.

There is no antidote to ageing. There is no kaya kalpa that reverses the ageing process and makes you young again. However, with intelligence we can retard the process of ageing.

We age disgracefully because we abuse our body. We eat unhealthy food, we smoke, we drink, and we dump all kinds of toxins into our body which kill living organisms and yet expect that we can stay young.

We cannot prevent ourselves getting old but we can delay the degeneration process and we can age gracefully if we learn how to respect our body. Paying attention to body needs with great awareness is the first and most important step in graceful ageing. Listen to your body in the present moment. When it tells you that the cigarette smoke burns your throat, stop smoking; when it tells you that alcohol makes the body lose coordination, stop drinking; when it says it is tired, go to sleep; eat only when it says it is really hungry.

At the first indication of pain we swallow pills. If an alien were to see our commercials on TV he would think that our food is just pills. Instead of popping a pill next time you invite pain upon yourself, lie in a dark room and focus on the pain. Focus all your attention at this spot and soon you will find it shrinking. Pain turns into pleasure.

You can heal the body just by paying attention to it.