THIS YEAR, Excavate The Girl!

Discovering the Laws of Longevity

”The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven’t changed in seventy or eighty years.  Your body changes, but you don’t change at all.  And that, of course, causes great confusion.”  ~Doris Lessing

The other day a friend was sharing with me about watching the movie HOOK with her son.  With tears in her eyes, she told me about coming to the part in the movie where the lost boys of Neverland recoginize the aging Peter as there own Peter Pan. Squeezing his cheeks, and lifting the corners of his mouth one of the boys exclaims. “Oh, there you are, Peter!” My friend turned to her son and said, “That’s how I feel inside.” As I listened something inside me said, “Pay attention, this is important.” And it is.

It is important because we all still feel young inside, maybe even Peter-Pan-Young.  So there is a sadness as we look in the mirror and acknowledge that the girl  is harder and harder to recognize.

On the flip side she holds our every secret, dream and desire. She is our eternal youth and unchanging hope.  She is the part of us that will move on to our next life.

So while she reminds us that gravity is playing out on our faces, she is also a reminder of an ageless enthusiasm for life that is ours for the excavating.

So, as we turn 40ish50 this year, get out a picture of the girl of your youth, pinch your cheeks and turn your smile up at the corners until you see her smiling back.  Get that spark of imagination lit-up in your eyes. Let her remind you of what is eternal and true about you.  No doubt she will tell you that the changes in your face are signs you are ripening and hand you a pair of rollerblades. And when she does, put them on.

More next week…

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