Acceptance
This month I want to write about acceptance, the seasons, and the weather. September heralds the start of autumn, and the approach of winter… Do you dread it? In fact, the acceleration of perilous global warming will mean milder winters: we may soon see the end of snow in Britain for a million years! This should remind us of two permanent truths about human life: there’s always something to worry about – and every cloud has a silver lining!
Global warming is a great challenge, not just to governments and leaders, but to us all; for the aged, there is a sense of desperation, since we feel partly responsible, and quite impotent to do much to reverse it (ditch the car, fix solar panels, eat vegan meals, simplify, grow vegetables and stay at home...what else?). That helplessness is detrimental to good health in longevity, so we need to learn how to avoid it. 'Learn to endure the things you cannot change' is a great lesson in healthy living. And humour helps. That was what the 'silver lining' comment was supposed to signal. Of course, the rain-storm is more critical than the comfort of the silver lining; but we must (always) seek to focus on the positive, if we are to enjoy a healthy longevity.
And that goes for all the great issues - Ukraine, Gaza, refugees (you name it). Mind your own business, my mother used to say! Good advice, especially, as you age. So, we must really learn to 'endure (and accept) the things we cannot change'. Sympathetic deploring is just a bad habit: it distracts you from doing what you can. Social gossip is largely an exercise in 'sympathetic deploring': we need to learn to avoid it.To secure healthy longevity we need to remember this, and re-adjust our attitude to reality towards a gracious, smiling acceptance of what is so. All shall be well… Start by accepting the weather, rain or shine, and welcoming the cycle of the seasons.
Accept what you can’t change; change what you can (for the better). Re-commit to your exercise routine, veganish diet, loving relationships (the best bit!); avoid bad stress, smoking, alcohol, toxins. I am learning about air- and water-purifiers, living (as we do) in a city (and a nation with toxic rivers). Next year, when I start my tenth decade, I shall (once again!) seek to simplify my life, by reducing commitments, concerns and possessions. Healthy ageing demands a cheerful acceptance of the rule that ‘less is more’. A simpler life will reduce anxiety, which is a vicious form of ‘bad stress’.
It is true, of course, that those who seek to become centenarians, must expect the death of dear friends and relations. This is the downside of ageing – the loss of loved ones. Prepare for it; tell them you love them now; avoid regrets; for grief is unexpressed love. My wife and I discuss the practicalities of life (and the feelings) of the survivor, when one or other dies. Enjoy the present, and face the future bravely.
-Sir Christopher
