The Power of Positive Aging. David Lereah
Spirituality makes it easier to maintain a positive attitude when experiencing physical and mental decline, which is why it is the first of the six building blocks in the Power of Positive Aging program. It takes discipline to do the right thing when everything seems to be against you. How can you be emotionally strong when you are emotionally drained?
Exploring Your Spirit
It is generally acknowledged that humans are composed of body, mind, and spirit (or soul). However, there is little consensus among cognitive scientists, philosophers, and religious scholars about the spirit’s functions and its relationship with the mind. Let’s explore some of the more prominent explanations, so we can better understand how spirit is linked to positive aging.
Scientific Explanations
The mind is a set of cognitive faculties that enables consciousness, perception, thinking, judgment, feeling, and memory. Over the decades, there have been numerous attempts to develop an understanding of the nature of the mind and its relation to the brain and nervous system.
In the psychiatric field, the computational theory claims that the mind is separate from physical existence. This theory asserts that the nervous system is an information processing system that works by translating changes in the body and the environment into a language of neural impulses that represent the animal–environment relationship. The computational theory allows people to conceptually separate the mind from the brain and body. We can conceive of the mind as the flow of information through the nervous system and this flow of information can be conceptually separated from the biophysical matter that makes up the nervous system. To better illustrate this concept, scientists use the analogy of a book. The book’s physical characteristics can be considered as roughly akin to the brain. However, the information content (i.e., the story the book tells or the information it conveys) is akin to the mind. The mind, then, is the information instantiated in and processed by the nervous system. Therefore, we can conceptually separate the mind from the brain, which may help us conceptually separate the spirit from our body.
Religious/Supernatural Traditions and Explanations
According to Buddhism, the mind has two fundamental qualities: clarity and knowing. Clarity refers to the fact that the mind has no physical characteristics, while knowing refers to the mind functioning to cognize or perceive objects. The mind is aware of the contents of experience, so in order to exist, the mind must be cognizing an object. There is also an intimate connection between the mind and perception. A person’s state of mind plays a crucial role in his or her experiences of happiness and suffering; this is crucial in the context of aging.
Buddhists believe in the intimate relationships between mind and body and in the existence of physiological centers within the body. Physical yoga exercises and meditation techniques aimed at training the mind can have positive effects on health and thus enhance the aging process. Further, there are some meditation techniques that make it possible to separate your mind from your physical body.
Many people believe the spirit/soul is part of the “upper mind,” which suggests that part of the mind is not attached to the physical body. Many Buddhists and New Age enthusiasts assert that the purpose of meditation is to clear the mind, so you can tap into your spirit/soul.
Traditional religion makes a distinction between a spirit and soul. The spirit is the element in humanity that gives us the ability to have an intimate relationship with God. Spirit refers to the immaterial part of humanity that “connects” with God (John 4:24). The soul is the essence of humanity’s being; it is who we are.
Spirituality comes in many shapes and sizes. People involved in New Age spirituality proclaim that they are spiritual but not religious. They are aware of a connection or relationship with something that goes beyond sensory perceptions. Religious people make the connection between spirit and God. The broadest definition is that spirituality is the affirmation of something beyond the physical realm that relates God or a universal entity to a community of people and connects them with a nurturing wholeness.
My Explanations
I make no distinction between a spirit and a soul. I make no claims about which beliefs are true and which are false. To me, all beliefs are possibilities, and eventually science will uncover the truths about life, the universe, whether spirits and souls exist, and if there is afterlife. For the purposes of this book, religious and spiritual proclivities are unimportant, as is the difference between a belief in God as the almighty or God as a universal energy source.
The only assumption I make is that when we pass on, our physical bodies are left behind and our spirits transcend. Focus on growing your spirit while your body is decaying, and you will age gracefully.
Tap into Your Spirit
So, how do you nurture and grow your spirit? As you rely on your five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) to nurture your physical body, you should rely on your intuitive perception to nurture your spirit.
Seek out moments that allow your spirit to reveal itself. Create more of these moments as you encounter the marks of aging, and you will feel that sense of calm and infinite peace in your inner self. Harness it; capture the feeling and call upon it often as you age.
How do you create these spiritually nourishing moments? Engage in activities that make it easy and fun to tap into your spirit. You can reach your spirit by clearing your mind through meditation and other spirit-related activities that can be inserted seamlessly into your daily routines.
Just as you exercise your physical body to gain strength and stay healthy and fit, your brain/mind also needs to be exercised so you can tap into your spirit. Someone who has never trained for running would have a difficult time finishing a 26-mile marathon, but with proper training running a marathon is an attainable goal. Similarly, someone who has never trained in a spiritual sense may experience initial frustration but in due time will likely succeed.
To get started, here are some popular ways that people tap into their inner spirit. I used some of these during my battle with cancer.
Tame Your Ego
An untamed ego is your spirit’s greatest enemy. Not surprisingly, your ego responds negatively to overall decline in physical appearance, as well as to decline in bodily functions (e.g., digestive problems). I liken it to a jealous 6-year old boy trying to gain the attention of his parents over his 3-year old sister—the ego steps in front of the spirit at every opportunity. Taming your ego is a mandatory first step in tapping into your spirit, and it comes before employing the other steps for coping with aging.
You begin by becoming aware that your ego heavily influences your thoughts and actions and that your ego makes it more difficult to age gracefully. Then you will realize that you are in control of your thoughts, not your ego. Do not rush the process; your objective is to make a little progress each day at taming your ego.
Hold a picture of your younger self up to the mirror and contrast it to the person you see now. Your ego will long to be young again and might emit a series of emotions like sadness, anger, resentment, and shame.
Take note of everything old about you (e.g., wrinkles, age spots, hair loss), and then just say no to your ego. Instead, view your physical marks of aging as a badge of honor. Feel a sense of pride in reaching this point in your life. Tell your ego that growing old is a good thing; it’s something to be proud of.
MY JOURNEY
During my battle with cancer, I discovered a number of ways to lift my spirit while coping with chemotherapy and radiation treatments, as well as when I was dealing with the anguish involved with the pre- and post-surgery periods.
When first diagnosed with cancer, it was my ego that had a difficult time. My ego was bruised and unable to accept that I had cancer. Other people got cancer, not me. I had to push my ego aside and accept my fate. This was the first step in coping with and battling cancer.
Perhaps you have experienced times when