Super Ager. Elise Marie Collins
at age fifty-two to pursue painting and sculpting, or you may continue to work as a high school teacher or researcher when you are ninety-five; the critical element to healthy aging is feeling connected to something important to you and your purpose. Curiosity and intuition are hallmark qualities of air. We may long to be an “expert” or to do a lot of good. A study that analyzed data from ten previous studies involving 136,000 individuals in the United States and Japan found that people who reported a sense of purpose had a 20 percent lower risk of death and a lower rate of cardiovascular disease. It’s important to note that if we have been fiery our entire life, we may need to soften during our Vata years to embrace a purpose that has a gentle quality. Desires are a gateway to our intuition and our true nature. Our desires become very important in midlife.
Our intuition and curiosity are very powerful internal compasses to help us connect with our ikigai. Follow those things you enjoy, and get away or change those you dislike. Be led by your curiosity and keep busy by doing the things that fill you with meaning and happiness. It doesn’t need to be a big thing: we might find meaning in being good parents or in helping our neighbors.
Nicoya Peninsula of Guatemala: “Plan de Vida”
Indeed, each one of us, as Ayurveda reminds us, has a unique blueprint of elements and qualities which makes up our personality and our physiology in the world. When you connect to this deep blueprint, your life purpose will emerge naturally. Research demonstrates that a sense of purpose has positive aging benefits. One study showed that having a greater purpose predicted lower mortality. And a sense of purpose was measured independent of retirement status, which is a known risk for mortality. A life purpose outside of a “job” seems to have deep health-related benefits. It makes sense that once we know and understand our true purpose, we will feel like we want to take better care of ourselves and to be healthy.
In the Nicoya Peninsula of Guatemala, people have a “plan de vida,” or reason to live. This “plan de vida” helps keep older adults active and positive in the face of adversity. Ayurveda can help us to bring more ease and less willfulness to our aging mindset. Air and ether gives perspective and wisdom. Air and ether also move erratically, we need more earth and fire to balance this Airy stage of life. When our lifestyle and our routine support us as we age, we can more easily choose a positive mindset. Think about when you feel calm and well-nurtured; when you feel frazzled and overwhelmed, it is hard to stay positive. This is when we need to step back and take a different approach. Ayurveda can give tremendous insight into aging, and especially how we age as individuals.
References
Here are some references1 that can help you flush out your ikigai or reason for living, especially if you feel blocked.
Therapy
•Research Logotherapy based on the work of Victor Frankl; www.logotherapyinstitue.org has more information and offers online classes.
•Morita Therapy has an extensive website based on Zen principles and extensive video resources at: www.moritaschool.com.
Books
•Ikigai, The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles
•My One Chief Aim by Mitch Horowitz
•Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
•The Desire Map, by Danielle LaPorte
•The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron
•The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo
•Your Inner GPS: Follow Your Inner Guidance to Health, Happiness and Satisfaction, by Zen Cryar DeBrucke
•Also check out the Divine Purpose Meditation in Chapter 11
–PRACTICE PLAN–
•Journal Daily on your purpose or ikigai. Ask yourself question such as what brings me joy? Think about what you loved to do as a child or a teenager. What would you do if you could wave a magic wand and be absolutely anything in the world? It is never too late to be an actor, dancer, writer, DJ, or an artist. Keep letting yourself dream.
•Be a detective for joy and purpose. Imagine that your reason for living is like a treasure. It could be far away, or it could be in plain sight. Get your mental magnifying glass and your spy kit and get to work. Remember your ikigai is unique and always, always inside of you.
•Read one of the recommended books and or start a Super Ager book group. Read books on purpose and discuss.
•Meditate – Meditators have a stronger sense of purpose, according to a study that followed meditators on retreat in Colorado. Following the retreat, meditators reported feeling a sense of meaning and purpose in life. If you have never meditated before, start with a small, daily practice. Use an app or a timer. Choose a time of day when you can meditate daily.
•If you do not feel strongly connected to your own reason for living, take a few hours a week to really seek your purpose. Spend these hours walking in nature, doing something fun that you might not usually allow yourself to do. Or go on an artist date. If you don’t know what an artist date is, look up Julia Cameron and The Artist’s Way.
See the World through Mindful Rose-Colored Glasses
“I never thought anything about age. I believe sincerely that there is nothing I can’t do. All the power of the Universe is right inside of me.”
—Tao Porchon-Lynch, yoga teacher, age ninety-nine
To Super Age is to embrace the power of the universe inside of you and to believe that your power is infinitely good. You will experience hardships, trials and tribulations throughout life. Successful aging means embracing these ups and downs and then choosing to see the good. This requires self-compassion and self-love. To pay attention to life, to see the beauty in each moment, is to see through mindful rose-colored glasses. Your health—mental, physical, spiritual and emotional—requires the digestion and assimilation of all life experiences. This requires great compassion towards yourself and others. In the purest sense, mindfulness actually means compassion. Mindfulness means paying attention with love. This is the greatest gift you can give yourself, your loved ones, and the world. When I listen to the stories and wisdom of the oldest of old, from nanogenerians to centenarians to super-centenarians, I hear compassion, gratitude, and acceptance. Sometimes a centenarian may seem feisty or crabby, but peel back the veneer, and deep compassion is present.
To embrace and live a long life, compassion towards yourself may be one of the most important tools. Compassion allows you to digest and integrate suffering. You will not be able to escape suffering, but you will be able to weave that pain into a beautiful tapestry called life. Once you have given yourself space for compassion, there is space for grief, for suffering, and for joy.
In every moment, you have a choice to see things as generally positive or negative. You may feel “negative” emotions such as anger, jealousy, fear, anxiety, judgment. Your health arises not from your ability to push away or shove these negative feelings into a corner or out of sight. Rather, it arises from giving these feelings space and a voice. Your resilience comes from quiet introspection and understanding all of the emotions and experiences of living. There is darkness and there is light. Healthy aging and longevity require deep wells of inner compassion. When you feel and not just pay lip service to that compassion, you are ready to move on to the next journey of life.
Yet life rarely presents clear forks in the road. Life is full of complexities and shades of gray. The brain or the mind has a