we call old age gracefully. Age has its own glory, beauty and wisdom, which belong to it. Peace, love, joy, beauty, happiness, wisdom, good will and understanding are qualities which never grow old or die.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher, said, “We do not count a man's years until he has nothing else to count.” Your character, the quality of your mind, your faith and your convictions are not subject to decay.
You Are As Young As You Think You Are
I give public lectures in Caxton Hall, London, England, every few years and following one of these lectures, a surgeon said to me, “I am 84 years of age, I operate every morning, visit patients in the afternoons, and I write for medical and other scientific journals in the evening.”
His attitude was that he was as useful as he believed himself to be, and that he was as young as his thoughts. He said to me, “It's true what you said, 'Man is as strong as he thinks he is, and as valuable as he thinks he is.'”
This surgeon has not surrendered to advancing years. He knows that he is immortal. His final comment to me was, “If I should pass on tomorrow, I would be operating on people in the next dimension, not with a surgeon's scalpel, but with mental and spiritual surgery.”
Your Gray Hairs Are An Asset
Don't ever quite a job and say, “I am retired; I am old; I am finished.” That would be stagnation, death, and you would be finished. Some men are old at 30, while others are young at 80. The mind is the master weaver, the architect, the designer and the sculptor. George Bernard Shaw as active at 90, and the artistic quality of his mind had not relaxed from active duty.
I meet men and women who tell me that some employers almost slam the door in their faces when they say they are over 40. this attitude on the part of the employers is to be considered cold, callous, evil and completely void of compassion and understanding. The total emphasis seems to be on youth, i.e., you must be under 35 years of age to receive consideration. The reasoning behind this is certainly very shallow. If the employer would stop and think, he would realize that the man or woman was not selling his age or gray hair, rather, he was willing to give of his talents, his experience and his wisdom gathered through years of experience in the market place of life.
Age Is An Asset
Your age should be a distinct asset to any organization, because of your practice and application through the years of the principles of the Golden Rule and the law of love and good will. Your gray hair, if you have any should stand for greater wisdom, skill and understanding. Your emotional and spiritual maturity should be a tremendous blessing to any organization.
A man should not be asked to resign when he is 65 years of age. That is the time of life when he could be most useful in handling personnel problems, making plans for the future, making decisions and guiding others in the realm of creative ideas based on his experience and insight into the nature of the business.
Be Your Age
A motion picture writer in Hollywood told me that he had to write scripts, which would cater to the twelve year old mind. This is a tragic state of affairs if the great masses of people are expected to become emotionally and spiritually mature. It means that the emphasis is placed on youth in spite of the fact that youth stands for inexperience, lack of discernment and hasty judgment.
I Can Keep Up With The Best Of Them
I am now thinking of a man 65 years of age who is trying frantically to keep young. He swims with young men every Sunday, goes on long hikes, plays tennis and boasts of his prowess and physical powers, saying, “Look, I can keep up with the best of them.”
He should remember the great truth: As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Prov. 23:7.
Diets, exercises, and games of all kinds will not keep this man young. It is necessary for him to observe that the grows old or remains young in accordance with his processes of thinking. Your subconscious mind is conditioned by your thoughts. If your thoughts are constantly on the beautiful, the noble and the good, you will remain young regardless of the chronological years.
Fear Of Old Age
Job said, The things which I greatly feared is come upon me. There are many people who fear old age and are uncertain about the future, because they anticipate mental and physical deterioration as the years advance. What they think and feel comes to pass.
You grow old when you lose interest in life, when you cease to dream, to hunger after new truths and to search for new worlds to conquer. When your mind is open to new ideas, new interests and when you raise the curtain and let in the sunshine and inspiration of new truths of life and the universe, you will be young and vital.
You Have Much To Give
If you are 65 or 95 years of age, realize you have much to give. You can help stabilize, advise and direct the younger generation. You can give the benefit of your knowledge, your experience and your wisdom. You can always look ahead for at all times you are gazing into infinite life. You will find that you can never cease to unveil the glories and wonders of life. Try to learn something new every moment of the day, and you will find your mind will always be young.
One Hundred & Ten Years Old
Some years ago while lecturing in Bombay, India, I was introduced to a man who said he was 110 years old. He had the most beautiful face I have ever seen. He seemed transfigured by the radiance of an inner light. There was a rare beauty in his eyes indicating he had grown old in years with gladness and with no indicating that his mind had dimmed its lights.
Retirement – A New Venture
Be sure that your mind never retires. It must be a parachute which is no good unless it opens up. Be open and receptive to new ideas. I have seen men of 65 and 70 retire. They seemed to rot away, and in a few months passed on. They obviously felt that life was at an end.
Retirement can be a new venture, a new challenge, a new path, the beginning of the fulfillment of a long dream. It is inexpressibly depressing to hear a man say, “What shall I do now that I am retired?” He is saying in effect, “I am mentally and physically dead. My mind is bankrupt of ideas.”
All this is a false picture. The real truth is that you can accomplish more at 90 than you did at 60, because each day you are growing in wisdom and understanding of life and the universe through your new studies and interest.
He Graduated To A Better Job
An executive, who lives near me, was forced to retire a few months ago because he had reached the age of 65. He said to me, “I look upon my retirement as promotion from kindergarten to the first grade.” He philosophized in this manner: He said that when he left high school, he went up the ladder by going to college. He realized this was a step forward in his education and understanding of life in general. Likewise, he added, now he could do the things he had always wanted to do, and therefore, his retirement was still another step forward on the ladder of life and wisdom.
He came to the wise conclusion that he was no longer going to concentrate on making a living. Now he was going to give all his attention to living life. He is an amateur photographer, and he took additional courses
