Monday, August 5, 2013

Something Worth Writing About

Something that’s common and peculiarly appealing to each one of us can be worth reading or writing about.  I think the subject of getting older and better makes a good topic these days. People are generally interested in age (everybody’s got one) and getting better with it is a new twist.  Anyone can put a positive spin on age if they’re willing to buck the crowd of naysayers.

I maintain that looking away from the body would keep us healthier, more youthful, intellectual and happy than wading through all the theories presented in the media and their promises to make you look younger. Most of them focus on serving the body in order for it to serve them by being better looking, healthier and the like. The mind-body thinkers might say that's getting the cart before the horse. Which do you think deserves the more attention? The "cart" can be useful and needs to be kept in good repair but it's the "horse" that empowers the cart, not the other way around. Incidentally, I wonder how so many of my ancestors lived to a ripe old age so gracefully without all the hoopla about "fitness" we hear today. 

 These ancestors of mine had their trials and sorrows but they got through them without therapy and mind-dumbing pills. A focus on life and living it well was their answer, plus an earnest heartfelt on-the-knees-prayer every night. They thought less about their bodies and more about getting the work done. They didn't go to beauty salons or gyms. They didn't even have bathtubs in order to keep themselves clean. A pot of warm water, a bar of soap and a wash bowl on a stand in the bedroom worked. They lived sensibly without special diets. They fed hunger, not appetite. Their focus each day was more on being useful than on glorifying the body. 

If one’s body is a reflection of thought, then the improvement of our thoughts should be foremost in the improvement of our bodies. Thoughts and beliefs tend to be self-fulfilling. They show up on the face and body in sickness or in health. So it is with aging. If the subject is disregarded altogether there could be less aging in its negative connotations. I have an idea that if every one of us would think outside the body box and address mental and meaningful objectives we’d find life more satisfying and fruitful. We'd accomplish more and worry less. We'd even find more that is worth writing and reading about. 

Writing on the subject of getting better as we age has been a challenge for me at times since I started this blog, but I'm not giving up. I’ve found that the simple task of picking up a pen and pad or sitting down to a keyboard and letting words spill out is as good a teacher as I can find. Of course, I'll avail myself of the best things to read also. Other people’s theories can be helpful and I can soon tell if they're not. Our own perusal of any given subject just by quiet meditation on it can unearth inner treasures we never dreamed of. When we gather this wisdom and put it into words we’ll be led to do some surprisingly good writing and reading.

Writing daily in a journal or just a lined notebook can be the catalyst for wisdom and knowledge on any subject and if we follow our interests with open minds we can find our happy healthy selves hovering somewhere above the drama of our daily lives. One of my early writing teachers called that higher selfhood our Muse. You and your Muse have something worth writing about, and it may turn out to be worth reading too.  So put your pen to paper and your fingers on the keypad. See what happens. Like me, after years of journaling you'll keep learning and writing and then? Welcome to the world of blogging!

(Apologies to you readers out there who are way ahead of me! As you see, I'm still learning from my Muse.)


1 comment:

  1. Your blog makes my heart go out to all writers and artists. It made me think of Puccini's La Boheme. Watch this wonderful clip with subtitles and see if you don't agree. The tenor, Rudolpho, is Luciano Pavarotti, and the soprano, is Fiamma Izzo d'Amico, Mimi. Mimi is Rudolpho's downstairs neighbor, and after an earlier visit to Rudolpho's apartment to borrow something (I think), she comes back because she has misplaced her room key. It's Winter and cold, and neither one of them has money for heat. As she looks around for the key, Rudolpho takes her hand and exclaims that her hand is practically frozen! Thus the arias begin telling how even in poverty, they can feel rich with hope. Click on the link below. It will be worth the time:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkHGUaB1Bs8

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