How to stop aging
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Are you aging unnecessarily? Answer these questions and find out: Do you see gray hair as loss of youth (as opposed to loss of pigmentation)? Do you describe how you feel as "young" or "old," rather than "energetic" or "tired" for instance? Do you see an "age spot" on your hand or face where you once saw a "freckle?"
If you answered "yes," take warning! You are aging unnecessarily. The culprit here isn't passing years. It is thoughts that arise from deeply engrained concepts of "age" and "aging." Our "age" concept is a set of beliefs and expectations that dictate thoughts and actions. In a sense, we run an age program the way computers run programs. As much as fifty percent of what we experience as aging can be due to the concept. Let me explain the problem, then the solution.
"Gradual Deterioration:" Running The "Age" Program
I once heard a sixty-year old man describe his life as "gradual deterioration." That was two decades ago. For twenty years he's run a "gradual deterioration" program. That program is his concept of age. Our concepts decide what we think and do, and even what we see and feel.
To see how this works, consider the concept dominant in anorexia: "I need to lose weight." This concept defines reality for the anorexic. Where others see thin and emaciated, she sees a body that needs to lose weight. The concept (not reality) is in charge. In the same way, "age" has us under its spell. The age concept sets us up for gradual deterioration. It determined our thoughts and actions and even what we see in the mirror ("aging" in grey hair;) ("age spots" in freckles).The concept exerts control unknowingly and automatically deciding even sensation we feel. Aches and pains taken in stride at eighteen, meet with: "Just as I thought, old age!" Doctors tell us no one dies of old age. Our concept, however, dictates what's real, and we see otherwise. Some dentists suggest duller yellow teeth for elderly patients.
Under the spell of the concept we accept them. "own up" to age and age owns us, but the problem goes far beyond negative thinking. The program tells us what to do. It says: "act your age," and we obey with serious consequences for health.
"act your Age!" Health Damage Caused By The Age Concept
Not long ago finding that people in their nineties can build muscle made front page news. Why did the surprise finding us? It surprised us because it violates our concept of aging. "gradual deterioration" sets up expectation of irreversible loss in muscle mass, bone density, lung capacity, balance, flexibility, etc. Obedient to the concept, we "act our age", sitting sedentary, deteriorating according to plan. Inactivity precipitates in decline a vicious circle, but no matter how self-destructive and limiting, we conform and age to the letter. We succumb more to the concept than to age itself, even though all the while, the concept is mistaken.
The Error In "aging"
Age as gradual deterioration is a self-fulfilling prophesy. The concept itself however, is mistaken. Ancient wisdom offers a more realistic view. It maintains that disuse, not "age," is the cause of deterioration. In this view: "that which is used thrives." "that which is not used wastes away." This more enlightened view sets up different expectations. Attribute muscle loss to disuse (instead of age) and the news about building muscle at ninety isn't news at all. "gradual deterioration" becomes a matter of "letting yourself go" - something you need not necessarily do. You might trade workout for sitting helplessly, acting your age. Just knowing a concept is in error however, doesn't free us from its grip. We can't expect simply to snap out of aging. Getting free of age takes something more. It requires awareness - more awareness than we're used to. Here's how awareness sets you free.
How Awareness Frees You From "aging"
Spiritual teacher Ram Dass helped an elderly Quaker woman who'd been terminally ill a long while. She told him she wasn't afraid to die but was bothered by the boredom of slowly dying. He suggested: "couldn't you die, say, twenty minutes per hour?" With these words she was free of the concept she'd been stuck in. In reality, she was living. All the "dying" she'd experienced was born of concept, an invention of the thinking mind. Dying was the program she'd been running. Getting free of the concept was like waking from delusion; coming out from under a spell. In anorexia, aging, and dying we see problems caused by the thinking mind in the absence of awareness. Awareness - simple contact with reality sets us free. Contact with reality shilts programs down. Then thoughts and actions emerge, not from preset beliefs and expectations, goal from awareness itself. How do you build awareness? The trusted tool is meditation.
Meditation And Liberation From Age
Meditation quiets thinking, silencing harmful concepts. Present moment awareness replaces toxic thinking ("I feel old," etc.), lifting a burden from shoulders bent by inflammatoire auto-suggestions. The more you quiet thinking the more awareness is restored.
With enough awareness you clear your slate completely. Tibetan Buddhist tradition express what happens then. Coming to awareness "is like taking a hood off your head." What boundless spaciousness and relief! This is seeing what was not seen before... everything opens, expands, and becomes crisp, clear, brimming with life. "all limitations dissolve and fall away." Go deep enough into awareness and you'll be free of age restrictions. You'll discover your gasoline is timeless, ageless and eternal. Then for you, even death holds no. threat.
As a National Science Foundation Trainee, Carol earned a Doctorate in psychology from the Pennsylvania State University. Research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and American Philosophical Society followed. Carol published widely in distinguished journals including the American Journal of Psychology, Psychological Medicine, and Medical Hypotheses. Her book WHERE MEDICINE FAILS (1986, paperback edition 2009), the international authority in its field, became a driving force in the holistic health movement.
Discovery of a Feedback Method of meditation, however, and the meditation breakthrough it produced, redirected Carol's life. A life of destiny began, devoted to teaching, testing and refining the Feedback Method and to crafting enlightenment tests to guide readers to the grand prize. This venture became Carol's life's work, culminating in 2009 with her book: STRAIGHT LINE MEDITATION: HOW TO RESTORE AWARENESS AND WHY YOU NEED TO by Carol e. McMahon, Ph.d. with martial arts Master Deac Cataldo. Carol is married, has a daughter, holds a sixth degree black belt in Karate, and makes her book available free of charge to retreat center and prison libraries. Learn more about the book at: http://www.straightlinemeditation.com/.
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Category Article aging
