March backwards in Time!

Kamla · Apr 13, 2007

Dear Sudha,

It was heartwarming to read about your mom. You are lucky to have her as your 'vorbild'. Greetings to her and you

L, Kamla

Vandhana · Apr 13, 2007

Dear Cheeniya Sir,

Wonderful write up . Being young in mind does keep one from physically aging fast. Ofcourse by this i don't mean the " running around trees" stuff, but there are so many other things that one can do.

Like Ms C has said, this is your time to go out and do fun stuff, climb that mountain, take that cruise, go jaunting around town, etc etc....
I do love it when , the senior citizenns( as you proclaim yourselves to be) interact with the chronologically young without any inhibitions as you and Ms C have proven to us here in this forum.

So please , please do keep marching backwards.......

Vandhana

Cheeniya · Apr 13, 2007

Dear Kamla
Have you noticed that whenever we talk of aging and its telltale signs, we invariably have the physical aspect at the back of our mind. To most of us, staying young means physical fitness, hairdyes and wrinkle busters. That's why the manufacturers of products that keep wrinkles off and hair black do roaring business.
Staying young is more to do with the spirit than body. If girls swooned over the likes of Maurice Chevalier in spite of their wrinkled faces, it was more to do with the youthfulness they exuded. PG Wodehouse is read by more youth than people of his generation. His language is still an effective weapon to 'kill' girls!
And while exercising the spirit to stay youthful, if some attention is paid to stay in shape physically, what a lethal combo it can be!
Sri

Chitvish · Apr 13, 2007

Dear Sri,
It is me again, since the topic concerns " us - you and me".
Ageless Body & Timeless Mind is my favourite book too !
Intention is the active partner of attention; it is the way we convert automatic processes into conscious ones. Long before we get (chronologically!) old, we must consciously programme our mind to remain youthful, using the power of our intention.
I have realised that when I stop growing, i will become old. I very much believe in still learning new things, as a part of my growing. So I will never become old !
I am sure, we will keep company for eachother, from what I have seen of you in your posts.
Love,
Chithra.

Cheeniya · Apr 13, 2007

Dear Vandhana
I fully agree with you. The desire to stay young must must be backed by worthy goals and certainly not running around the trees. In any case, at the rate at which they are cutting down trees, we may soon have no trees either to run around! The desire to stay young must be achievement oriented like a desire to do something new hitherto unattempted. Take for example my writing blogs at 65!
Vidya had mentioned the story of Yayati. He sought and regained his youth from his son Puru only to indulge in sensual pleasures! Subconciously this seems to be the overriding consideration behind all efforts to stay youthful though a lot of men and women have proved otherwise. Yayati got fed up one day and returned his youth to his son Puru and made him King.
In Sufism, there is a concept called Eternal Now. It says everyone has two levels of existence, one relating to flesh and other to Spirit. If a person gradually abhors flesh level existence and leans more towards spiritual existence, he becomes Timeless. Because all flesh is Time bound but the Spirit is Eternal. At this stage he becomes Immortal or deathless.
Having said all this, I tell myself, sri, you need the mundane pleasures as much as the Joy of Spirit!
Sri

Cheeniya · Apr 13, 2007

Dear Chithra
I have just replied to Vandhana in which I have stressed a similar point.
What mind can do to a withering body is just beyond all imagination but as you rightly pointed out, mind must be preset as in a computer programming. Feed it with what we want to achieve and let it take over.
Occasionally, the mind can run amuck as the Computer in 2001 Space Odyssey!
So a periodical review becomes important too!
Here, I would like to drink a toast to our Friendship!
Sri

Blondie · Apr 14, 2007

<<

Won’t it be more prudent if we let the mind fight the body’s resigned attitude and bolster it with fresh energy so that the last traces of youth linger till the dying day? Oh God, there is so much to do and why do we sit hunched in a corner because we think we are old? Get that thought out of your mind so that it can do the restorative work for you. If you don’t still catch what I say, you deserve to stay old. If you do see my point, come and let’s march backward in time!

>>

in other words Mr.Cheeniya, you are cheering us to to "Stay young at Heart"

the picture in the following thread may motivate us further??? ( i am referring to the saying pictures say a thosand words)

Honolulu Star-Bulletin Special - Young at Heart

Pushpa

Cheeniya · Apr 14, 2007

Dear Blondie
You are absolutely right about pictures conveying more than words.
Just as the mind can help the body to stay young, a fit body can influence the mind to stay fit and young too! But then for the body to decide to take steps to stay young, the seed is sown in the mind first! Without the mind propelling, the body will be rolling in bed till the Sun is at 45 degrees!
Sri

Manjureddy · Apr 14, 2007

Dear Cheeniyasir
Constantly thinking about age/aging and making anxious plans to beat it and cheat it is in itself a mark of senility, i think.
Besides that ,whats wrong in mental age and physical age being contemporaries ? If we are going to be young in mind, till the day we die, when do we experience the experiences Providence, in its infinite wisdom, has lined up for us in the series: Janma, Mrthyu, JARA, vyadhi as tools of refinement ?

When I was 5, I acted 5, when I turned 13, i was a new-teen, now that I am 17, I behave 17.
My Mother-in-law, a non-IL, is 64. She is proud of her age, her salt+pepper hair, her wrinkles and her 64 year collection of experiences. She does not strain herself looking for ways and means to keep her mind feeling young. She does not wear faded jean ( except for biking and parasailing), she does not listen to rock music ( on tuesdays and fridays), she sits in a corner and piously reads Subrahmanya Bhujangam and Viveka Choodamani ( when her copies of "Cosmo" and Kumudam are late in coming). She loves to be called Old Lady, Paatiyamma and Senior Citizen. " I age, therefore I am old " is what she says.

BTW: Young sir, is the name you have chosen for your collection of articles ( Senile Ramblings) influenced by that plaque-fiend friend of yours ? )

BTW-2 : I wonder if the word " Geriatric " has any etymological connection with the sanskrit word " Jara "?

BTW-3 : Wish you a happy new year - which carries in its luggage, another birthday for all of us.

Regards
manjula

Kamla · Apr 14, 2007

Haa, Manjureddy....You are back!

Nice to see you and your expressions

Very valid musings on your part. Yes, whatever is wrong with feeling 64 when you are 64? As long as one can cycle, parasail, read the Vogue or Cosmo or whatever and recite Bhujangams, mil and everyone else is fine.....only and only then...!

L, Kamla