How do we age gracefully? 
When we wish for something that we are not or that we don’t have, we take our self away from the present moment. So when we wish we were younger or older it really doesn’t allow us to sink into the joy of exactly being where we are.
In every stage of our life, we have more wisdom and growth because of our current and past learning. If we just concentrate on the way we look or the way our body is behaving it really pulls us away from the beauty of aging. I remember at 32 a girlfriend took a picture of me in a bathing suit at the beach and I remember thinking yuck. Now being 61 looking at that picture I’m like, “What was the yuck about?” I spent so much time disliking my body that I was never really able to appreciate it and love it.
So remembering that, I am always looking at my body with appreciation and love, although it is not easy for me. This society is the set up for thinking aging is ugly. With all the plastic surgery and the fight to look younger than you are is a recipe for not loving where you are. The truth of the matter is we are getting older, our bodies are eroding and our bodies will die. This is just a fact.
The more we fight this the more dissatisfied we are with where we are in this present moment. Taking pleasure in the joys of your age, whether it be in your 20s, 30s 50s or 80s can help you see the magnificence of all the years in your life.
In her 20s our body feels like it in its prime but our mind is lagging in wisdom, so we make a lot of foolish decisions. When we start edging into our 30s our body is still holding strong and are mind is starting to develop a little bit more. Our 40s is where we really notice that our mind is starting to see things clearer while our bodies shift from being youthful to start showing its age. Then in our 50s our wisdom seems to be peaking while our bodies are definitely starting to show more age.
Now that I am 61, I am loving the wisdom that I hold. Thank goodness I have the mind to see my body and love it for exactly the way it is. Enjoying every step of the way in this life, can be challenging, but when we bring ourselves back to our present moment, sinking into the beauty in that moment it makes life way more pleasant.
