I was reminded of a lovely turn of phrase today – “I’m Pro-age”
It made me recall a story I once heard. A 98-year-old lady was telling her daughter that she was having trouble getting youngsters interested in the weekly tea dance she organised at the local community centre. Her daughter asked her what she meant by youngsters. The older woman replied “you know the people in there 70’s”
We are too harsh with ourselves…
This little tale highlights the fact that we are all young to someone, yet we can be so harsh with ourselves when we talk about our own age. I often hear people saying that they feel old – ‘I’m getting too old for this’, ‘I’m not as young as I was’, ‘I’ve got lines and wrinkles’, ‘my hair is going grey’ to name but a few. I’m guilty of it myself.
By constantly endorsing these messages to ourselves we are creating the belief that we are old in our sub-conscious mind and our bodies react in the affirmative. We start adopting behaviours that age us and the signs start showing on our faces, but this can be changed.
A 2001 Harvard University study (conducted over 22 years) found that people with a more positive attitude to aging and who felt happier and more useful, on average, lived 7 and a half years longer that those with a negative mindset.
Our Anti-age society…
It doesn’t help that society is ‘anti-age’. We are constantly bombarded with messaging from the beauty industry that we need to wage war against aging. We need anti-aging this and anti-aging that. This constantly feeds us messages that aging is a fight, a struggle, a battle. It’s all such hard work!
Buddha stated that Aging is one of the four certainties in life – Birth, Sickness and Death being the other three. It is inevitable, we are all going to get old, we can’t avoid it but instead of making it a struggle why not be ‘Pro-Age’ and utilise techniques and strategies that promote healthy aging.
A Face Yoga practice…
For me, since I have changed my way of thinking, I have finally found some comfort in the fact that I am getting older. When I look in the mirror, I no longer look at the lines and wrinkles, I look at how my face yoga practice is changing my face for the better. It makes me want to make better health choices to keep my skin looking its best.
Radiant, youthful glowing skin comes from how we treat ourselves inside and out. It is the food we eat, the water we take on, the rest and sleep we have and the exercise we choose, and a face yoga practice supports all of these.
Ultimately, it is about finding balance in our lives. When we achieve this, we can all ‘Pro-Age’ and have fun while we do it.
To discover more about Face Yoga why not join our private Facebook community – The Glow Club. https://bit.ly/TheGlowClub
Or, if you want to take a larger leap you could join us for a live Zoom class by visiting our Services page.
