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Today is late Sunday and I just returned from the show of Madonna. And what did I see? A young 50 year-old dancing like a child, a queen, a teenager.
It got me thinking about the fact that I believe we are aging differently from the previous generations. I remember for instance my parents at the age of 50 and they were already old, and more importantly they considered themselves as already old.
So what’s your opinion on aging? Did we change our perception of how to get old?
UPDATE 24 SEPT
I am very surprised on how many comments this post is having. Therefore, I am sharing here a poem by Jenny Joseph:
When I am an old woman,
I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go,
and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension
on brandy and summer gloves and satin sandles,
And say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
and gobble up samples in shops
and press alarm bells
and run with my stick along public railings,
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick flowers in other people’s gardens
and learn to spit!
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at ago,
or only bread and pickles for a week,
and hoard pens and pencils
and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry,
and pay our rent
and not swear in the street,
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner
and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me
are not too shocked and surprised
when suddenly I am old,
And start to wear purple!
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Paulo,
I don’t believe it is just about perception but about our attitude towards aging. People today people care more about themselves and science has helped us stay younger and live longer. I personally feel much younger that I am and I have more energy, dreams and desires than I did when I was in my twenties, I believe that keeps me young. I also believe that we ultimately reflect what dwells within and if you feel old that is what how we would look in the outside. I intend to continue doing all the things I love to do, including dancing, until my body tells me that it can’t but I will care for it in such a way that I can prolong those activities as long as I can.
Ok it’s true, when I had the age of my sons 28th and 23th, a mother of 55th was really old and of course she didn’t make was I am doing …to make sports, to dance, to dress jeans and tennis shoes, to study, to read and never stop to learn.
Ok I always made sport and I think this is one difference, but not only. I surely received one input from my boyfriend, I was 22th years old and he looked at an ” old woman ” with interest, I was nervous for this and he said to me…” Have you eyes to see how much nice she is ? she is 40th years old !!!! I want to see you at that age !”
I said nothing to him but I said to me , ok you’ll be as now even getting older and I really believed that I could and I wanted to get old and older keeping young and all the rest has been a natural consequence..keeping alive the child inside of me and the same time being a woman, a mother and why not in the future also a grandmother.
Years ago, the society asked to a Man and a Woman to be “old” to cover their roles, may be in this is the real difference ?
I am 53.
I was up to the age of 36 a stock broker.
I got retired then because of an illness.
I always kept a journal since I was 12.
I believed the illness was a miracle.
I have a book waiting for an answer from a publisher.
I have 10 more to type up and send out.
@ 53 I believe I will be a published writer.
I already know I am a writer.
So what’s age got to do with anything?
I am grateful to be able to express myself here.
Kindest,
Michael
We discovered seriousness is not testimony of maturity. Maybe why now we encounter younger old persons.
I just smily imagine the old woman “run with my stick along public railings, and make up for the sobriety of my youth.” oh yes too funny.
Still we’re humans, under stimuli, and have tendancy to go where the number gets higher. Madonna old/young and the abyss…the choice is ready-made. Must be a sensor somewhere. :)
Thank you.
Dear Anlao,
You are 28 and rich as 35 years old but do not ever think yourself as old.
When I was 31 I decided to build small house on my own and never get married. I built house and wish I never got married !
I lived 15 years of hell which I could had avoid if I followed my insticts. Now I am free person again. Free to love, free to live, free to be old if I decide to be !
Still I am happy young person who will soon be 57, most of best things to me have happened after my 55th birthday !
What to tell you more, just wish you lots of joy, love and happiness because in that way time goes backward and all at once you find that young heart within you is leading your steps, feelings and acts.
With love
Luce
My parents are in their mid 50′s and have always looked and acted much older than their age. They’re always tired, working their two jobs, trying to get properties in two countries and buying endless stuff. They come home from work and go to sleep, watch “the wheel of fortune” and than go to sleep again to wake up even more tired. My dad sacrificed his entire life working for the family and now that he has to work when retired keeps screaming that he should be doing nothing right now. Whenever I tell him he doesn’t need two properties he gets upset and yells even more, because he doesn’t have what he had. His mother did nothing from the moment she retired but wait for her children to visit her, so my dad was visiting her place 3-4 times a week, otherwise she would complaign. Now he is 55, and if I forget to visit them in one week they make me feel like a bad daughter. I am also bad for not managing to get married by now, and not having grandchildren for them. On top of that, i am ungrateful and selfish, because i spend my time taking milonga lessons, rollerblading, and i like to travel alone or with strangers, and visit ungodly weird places instead of going with them.
I’m 28, and look 35. I’ve always been older than my age, looked older. By 16, because I was taking care of my brother nine years younger, people would think I’m his mother and call me lady. I’ve never been called miss, for example. The good side of that is that you can’t miss what you didn’t have. In the last years, I’ve started exercising, doing the activities I wanted (I bought my first bike at 27, and it took me two days of bruising to learn how to bike. My family laughed at me and called me ridiculous, but I’ve never been happier). Doing the things I loved made me feel better, and as a consequence, look better, look younger.
I think the way we view the purpose of our older age is changing, correlated to how we age mentally (and physically). When people give up the purpose of their life, that which makes them happy, in exchange of listening to what others tell them life should be, they end up working because they have to, staying with their family because they have to, and do nothing when retired because they feel they have to. And your dreams and hopes are somewhere inside of you, tired as well of not mattering at all.
I tought project management at night for adult education for about two years. People would come after their jobs, in hope to add another certificate to their resume and get a better paying job. Tired bodies, tired minds, and also tired hopes. I had two ladies about to retire, that were interested in learning all about it to map their next career, the one they gave up when they were young. They were nervous, excited, absorbing everything in the class and just sparkling with enthousiasm. The best students I ever had, aged 62 and 57, I was blessed to take from the more than i gave.
I also recommend the documentary “Young at heart”, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1047007/. It really is all in the attitude.
I coloured my hair pink the other day, for an event i was attending. Whilst I was sitting waiting for the colour to take, i broke into fits of laughter, saying to my partner…..’I am too old to be colouring my hair pink arn’t I’. I am 35 and I have done lots of’crazy’ things in my years. But calling my self too old at 35 is one of the crazyist.
Who decides I am too old……NOT ME. I am pleased to say that the colour has not washed out yet and I love having bright pink hair.
I am godess, hear me ROAR.
Love and light
Hx
Bonjour Paulo,
Drôle de coïncidence, je discutais justement hier avec un collègue de ce sujet. Nous nous posions la question devant le retjet dês vieux et d’être vieux: Comment faire comprendre aux gens que les prochains vieux seraient eux-mêmes?
Tavaillant tous les jours avec des personnes âgées, j’écoute leur paroles et celles des soignants. La plupart des personnes que je suis acceptent mal le viellissement et ressassent sans cesse le passé! Mais ce qu’il y a de plus difficile à accepter, c’est l’idée de la déchéance, la maladie, la démence et biensûr de la mort. Beaucoup de personnes me disent que dans les maisons de retraite (où ces personnes vivent) il n’y a que des vieux! Elles ne veulent pas être comparées aux autres et se mélanger avec les autres. C’est chacun pour soi!
Les soignants confrontés à ces personnes, essayent de se détacher le plus possible et ont peur de devenir comme “eux”. Oui, le vieillissement inéluctable fait peur! Nous devons nous y préparer avec sagesse et profiter de chaque jour que nous viellissons…
A bientôt, Steffi
paolo special one…
the lyrics of EWF (that’s the way of the world), can tell you the secret of growing old…
Hearts of fire creates love desire
Take you high and higher to the world you belong
Hearts of fire creates love desire
High and higher to your place on the throne
We’ve come together on this special day
To sing our message loud and clear
Looking back we’ve touched on sorrowful days
Future pass, they disappear
You will find peace of mind
If you look way down in your heart and soul
Don’t hesitate ‘cause the world seems cold
Stay young at heart ‘cause you’re never (never, never, ..) old at heart
That’s the way of the world
Plant your flower and you grow a pearl
A child is born with a heart of gold
The way of the world makes his heart grow cold
earth wind & fire
love, anita
There is a difference between the old and healthy and the very old and frail. These frail elderly people seem to be treated very badly in our society, they become unseen and unheard almost taboo. When we are young there is a tenancy to think we will live forever and always be able to run down the hill and always have time and energy for the next thing. But life is short which is why we have to live as fully as we can whatever age we are. Also to remember very elderly and infirm people are people.
Hello Paulo, thanks for the subject. My name is Frida, I’m 45. I think in our time people are more ‘alowed’ to age in their own way. Apart from genetic differences, it probably has to do with having a goal in life, enjoying being alive. My father of 77, not only looks at least ten years younger, he is also full of plans and ideas, and feels he stil needs another 30 years (he’s not even joking). In earlier times he wouldn’t be able to express this in the same way. But on the other hand, there’s enough people in our time who act old when still young. Yes, there are more possibilities, but I’m not sure everyone is capable of taking them. Do we age differently? Some do, some don’t……
Dear Paulo,
Madonna is for me the greatest showwoman of ever. And she is the great mytho of my life. I love her songs from the 1985, and I have all her LPs until Who’s that girl.
I remember when she did 40 years, and I was 25.
I hope that her strongness and willingness will continue forever because the mythos (like you) are immortal…
I’m instead very sad for Michael Jackson, some age of Madonna but a great decline…no more music, no more songs, no more performance. Only the sad history of his skin decadence, and his unbelievable pedophily….
It’s normal that you dance when Madonna is singing.
She represents the need of an ethernal youngness…
She plays the music and the soundtrack of our life…
And she is the living symbol of the dream of every girl to be great over 40s and 50s….
I’m 35 now…no more good for easy songs…love great performance…and Madonna is that…
Only a great complaint: in my life I could never assist at a Madonna Live performance….
Hope to see soon…
Ettore
I love that poem. I have to admit I’m not particularly good at doing what society expects, never have been. My mother is 74, wears jeans and jean jackets. My grandmother wore colour straight after her husband died which way back when was against tradition. My other mother rolled down hills with the kids at the park lol
So my role models are very young at heart ladies who snub their noses at what’s expected of them and do what they like.
Kathleen xxoo
Dear, dear Paulo,
THANK YOU FOR THE POEM !!!!
I know you sent it to all of us who want it, but somehow I feel as if it were meant just for me.
The first of October is my birthday and this poem is describing me and makes me feel lightheaded, full of joy, easyness and love.
I shall read it when I gather with friends and see their smiling faces as it is hilariously ME !
With love,
Luce
Hi Paulo,i can speak only for myself.I was a wild child,unable to imagine at all,how it could be getting old.I am 50 now and in many aspects i feel like starting.My art and personality only now seem to gain some weight-and awareness und understanding become more profound.I always want to believe in a good outcome,focusing on the ones who complete there great works at an advanced age.Sir Peter Ustinov is one of my lead-figures;wisdom,compassion and great humor combined.Now;advanced technology and the city-life had an impact on the superficial perception of age.In the country-side it seems to change little,but in many areas,times are not as hard as for example a hundred years ago.Better medical care and all animities may have an impact. Apart from all this i believe,that a certain rare especies has been around for a long while.I`m talking about the ones who manage to stay in life -and also young in there minds.Madonna is an extreme example.Thats discipline at the highest level as a basis,its hard body-work and focusing-strength.On top of that she knows to let go-and trust in intuition.All this in different degrees,seems possible to many of us.Its an individual evolution,each one of us has to work on staying young in its many aspects.Nietsche;Maturity means to regain the seriousness,with which we played as children. I don`t think it all has changed that much,only the possibilities to fake it.Can`t get them older young ones down,its good to have them around.Salud,Will.
Age refers to the fact that we can perceive time and the changes that happen within a certain time.
To see age in a bigger circle it is merely that something is born or evolves, runs through a process of changes or evolution and then dies respectively disintegrates into the particles where everything originally came from.
Age in itself only prescribes a certain moment in a certain process.
Youth to me means being full of inspiration, interest and action where as old age signifies stagnation and passivity.
We can be old at the age of 16 sitting in front of TV being bored, if not entertained and young at the age of 100 enthusiastically preparing a meal for our friends, finding a new way to paint a picture or writing a concept about ‘how to use synergies to achieve more independence from doctrines’…
People in former times didn’t have the possibilities of today and thus the majority followed a well known pattern of childhood, adult working life and retired old age.
People today have more possibilities to stay young for a prolonged time: There is knowledge how to eat and live healthy and medicine helps our physical body to keep functioning.
For the mind to stay young there is so much inspiration around through global mobility and network, but it is up to each individual to grab the chances.
Madonna certainly is one of them!
Well, what can I say about aging? This is a difficult one, as I am “young” and some might find inappropriate me to discuss this theme.
But anyway, I believe being old hasn`t so much to do with your age (50, or 60 years old).
Therefore, I think that it depends on how do you feel inside your soul, how happy you feel, how much energy do you have etc.? Because if you think that you have got something left to say or to do, maybe some of your dreams hasn`t yet become truth, your age depends on how much energy you can put in achieving them, how ready are you to fight for them? Has society put so much pressure on you that you feel you don`t deserve them, or that your time is long gone? If it is so you should release yourself from those thoughts, because you must always do your best to fulfill your life, your soul with happyness, pleasure. You`ll achieve this by fighting for your cause, creating whenever there is a creative force inside of you, sharing your love with the people closest to you. That`s how you`ll feel young even when you are 50 years old!
The opposite would be someone 23 years old, without awareness of what he wants from life, and even when he sees a glimpse of his Personal Legend, of his dream, he`s already disillusionised, because he recognizes it as immpossible! From that moment on, he begins to age rapidly, because his heart is filling with bitterness each moment he remembers his dream conciously or unconciously, until one day when he will find himself in remorse for not doing anything to achieve it!
You are old when you have no longer creativity, dreams and energy to make them them become true!
my soul feels century old
my heart feels as I am
on paper I am 47 going 48 this november
we are on linear time
we are visual beings
beauty is everywhere
supple skin of a baby’s butt
creases on an aged face
enjoy the view!
Thank you, my Paulo Coelho, a beautiful poem. I wonder…how to ..make up for the sobriety of my youth!! And for you, all young friends here, ‘may be I ought to practice a little now??’ says the poem.
To have a conventional life is very boring. Thanks to my …intuition and imagination and to my love for life I was never bored.
My dear Paul from Austria, thank you for writing to me ‘the happy birthday’ in Greek and German [the language of my ancestors and the language of my 'lost dream'!!] I love you too, my friend.
LOVE,
THELMA
I love the poem,so much fun.I have to add that I admire Madonna ,because I know she work hard for having so great success.Who cares she might done some plastic ? Her feet are not plastic,nor her voice.I think she is a winner due to her strong personality,I see her as an example.Maybe she have done also few mistakes,but we already know that”nobody is perfect”.
I have never grown mentally after 17 or 18 years of my physical age…and now virtual life gives one the chance to be the age one wants to be …so what is it about age unless you are in a job that needs you to be physically fit to prescribed standards…
I am fat and in my forties but so far none of my onlilne friends have known that till I mention my college-going son…and I love that…hurrah!
Everyone (at least in America) has been saying that 40 is the new 30 and 30 is the new 20. However, as I approach 30, I realize that this only refers to one’s state of mind and not necessarily how a person is physically.
I’m sure Madonna has to work twice as hard as she did when she was half her age to maintain a fit body. I’m not saying this to discourage people–I think it’s great that Madonna is in great shape at her age, because if a man did it no one would question it, but if a woman does it she has the ‘gall’ to do it. However, age is supposed to catch up with us sometimes.
I am glad I am not the only one that thinks on this. I am approaching 30 and by the time I hit 30 I would like to have a Masters degree and be ready for children…but we can only guide life so much. I have already accepted my Personal Legend careerwise, and consider myself very lucky. This helps me accept the age process, rather than fight it. Also, having a life partner that is going through the same aging process at the same time is very helpful, because he understands my feelings on the subject.
Thanks, Paulo–great topic as always.
we have very long life expectancy now. so i think it is ok to become a pianist at age 30 then become an architect at age 50 as long as you are happy doing so. i do not know about society. i truly hope it would support those happy people instead of restricting them. those people create something inspiring for all of us, which bring more inspiring people. love
I think that there is a very big difference between getting older and getting old. Let me explicate.
To get older is a natural process as is the cycle of life,from birth to the death of the human body. We get older chronologically but age as we have heard numerous times, is merely a number. For a 22 year old a 40 year old man may be “old” but for a 75 year old man he is a young man.
We live in a very youth-obsessed world as well where image is placed on a pedestal. The media has played a very significant role in basically stopping the clock of aging. With a surge of cosmetic surgery and various elixers we may look younger but still be “old” internally. Have you ever met someone much older than yourself but felt like you were talking to a child,or vice versa?
The mind is a very powerful instrument that can influence how we age physically and psychologically.
Madonna is an inspiration as are those individuals who choose to throw out the numbers and let their souls and drive guide them through life, not their age.
People have searched for the fountain of youth and will continue to do so, but perhaps we can start by examining ourselves to see whether or not part of the answer lies somewhere within.
Blessings,
~Jaklina~
Uma vez, em pleno carnaval de salvador, me sentei em uma pequena ilhota, o famoso morro do cristo, e decidi que não iria mais dormir. Obvio que não falava a sério, mas me tinha dado conta o quanto estava desperdiçando com a preguiça. O interessante foi que esse pensamento foi me acelerando até um certo ponto onde perdi a medida e tive então que repensar completamente a minha vida. Foi o momento de parar, andar mais devagar e saber deixar para amanhã. É interessante pensar sobre isso. Qual a medida do hoje e qual a do amanhã? Vale a pergunta…
Ah, once again … synchronicity!
:D
I have just returned from a new venture, and was just thinking about how very many new adventures are constantly part of my everyday life and thinking. I was thinking about the many things I do, the varieties and differences of all of them, and was thinking about my willingness to always add more. And I will be 50 soon.
Yes, I am different than my parents’ generation … to generalize. but my parents are the very reason that I am different. I saw them and their lives … I saw what they wanted me to be … I saw what they had given up … I saw that they had lost their dream and they had hoped, for a time, to live out their lost dreams in me … and then, in old age, I saw them question their lives.
My parents generation did what they thought they were supposed to do. They made choices, and their choices created responsibilities that left them with those choices for quite some time: family, career, etc.
They “gave up” their “lives” to raise a family (or so they used to remind us if for some reason we sounded the least bit ungrateful for something) and in doing so, they “gave up so much” so that we could have a better life.
To me, I’ve always felt guilty about that … I would much rather they they had truly lived, and maybe not “given up so much.”
Seeing them, I decided to LIVE my life … every day … any way the wind blows. I am going to be 50 in a few months and I have never had a nine-to-five job. Just that alone confused the heck of my parents … they couldn’t imagine it! WHAT?! NOT working 9-5 every day with weekends off?!
I don’t think my parents ever understood me … they couldn’t imagine recreating oneself, or living for the next dream, or to check the next “thing” off the list.
“What are you up to lately Donna?”
“Just trying to get to see the Aurora Borealis!” (would be something I would say … )
“What did you do today?”
“Ah … well, the big things were: Latin class; picked up some priceless Maya artifacts to photograph for an archaeological publication; saved my brother a $1000; and tutored a 19-year-old in Physical and Cultural Anthropology … ”
“I didn’t know you were a tutor!”
“I’m not, today was the first day!” I say.
There is a quote on my MySpace page:
“Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting … Holy SH!T! What a ride!”
I’m grateful for my parents because they taught me how to live …
Mz. Madonna and I share the same birthday and I too am still a kid at heart. My mind and body does not care how many years I have inhabited this physical vessel. I embrace the present moment with gratefulness and wonder.
Tengo una tía abuela de 80 años y baila cualquier música desde boleros hasta lo mas moderno, hace chistes y usa Internet, entre otras cosas, mi abuelo de 78 es súper saludable porque en su juventud siempre fue sano y además disfrutaba con buen humor y era muy trabajador. Para mi la edad depende mas del estado de animo de las personas y como quieran llevar su vida, la senectud llega con el sedentarismo y el mal humor, cuando creemos que somos muy viejos para cambiar o para correr riesgos. No es solo la edad física es mas la edad mental lo que nos envejece. Al adaptarnos a lo moderno y no dejar de querer aprender nunca y mantenernos activos (es un mundo tan grande que quedarnos por siempre en un solo sitio sería un desperdicio de espacio) seremos mas jóvenes que el promedio.
O incrível, não é somente Madonna dançando como adolescente aos 50 anos, temos também Mick Jagger aos 65 anos, se requebrando como na época do lançamento de “Satisfaction”. No YouTube, tem um video de 2008 do Paul McCartney (66 anos), catando Hey Jude, com uma incrível energia juvenil.
Creio que as diferenças entre as gerações, é cada vez menor, tanto fisicamente como mentalmente. Fisicamente, a ciência dispõem de vários recursos para retardar o envelhecimento, e mentalmente os(as) veteranos(as), mantém um interesse de acompanhar todas as novidades, e ao mesmo tempo, as novas gerações tem uma admiração pelo estilo de vida de gerações passadas; com isto criando um certo nivelamento entre as gerações.
Ah! Madonna, além gostar de dançar e cantar, também gosta de ler os livros de Paulo Coelho!
well i think you did the point, when i see Madonna doing something at her age she shouldnt do… i see the contrary of a lot of people, i see hope, hope to really see that get old does not mean that all the fun of the youth is over, so many people just look at Madonna and thinks that she does not want to get old, and i think and see that she does not want to FEEL old, what it really love on her is that since day one she is always trying things… some times is something you like, sometimes is something you dont like but she never stop, she stills having hungry to learn and try, so many other people just stop at some point of his life and just let her life go… so many of us with all the money she has will be just doing nothing, do you really think she needs any more money? why then she keeps going on? because she wants to top herself and be better everytime thats the way we all should live… try to make us self better, why to stop having fun? because whe are that old? your age is on your mint, and Madonna looks younger not because the liftings, you look at her doing her tour and you can see her having fun and feeling like a young girl, Madonna means look always for the next best thing, in her eyes the best is always on the future, she looks at all what she did just for a second… because she thinks the best will be on the horizont….
Não vejo nenhum problema em ficar velho, hoje em dia as pessoas tem mais medo de ficarem velhas, talvez por causa de nossa cultura moderna de consumo, ninguém quer ficar velho e ser internado num asilo. Admiro muito as culturas tribais, onde os velhos tem um status muito importante, são eles que mantem as tradições, são os guardiões do conhecimento. A percepção é negativa porque ninguém quer ser descartado da sociedade, por isso que existe um mercado da “fonte da juventude”. Acho que devemos envelhecer como somos, como a vida nos forja.
bo0om paulo,
the first true revelation for me was sound,
the next was time…
only when we transcend time ( ageing etc, ),
can we begin to perceive other parallel universes,
why should we cram up of lives with a whole load of bullshit,
when we could be doing it over lifetimes at our own pace,
this is the culprit which leads us to do more meaningless stuff that are simply irrelavent,
I am sure most of you who have tried l_s_d know that the time barrier is so easy to transcend,
LovE A_lways
bo0om
Looking at myself a 43 year old with two teenage kids who think I am old, and looking at my parents in their sixties nearly seventies, I see that my parents still have that inner child in them as all people do but are too scared to show it, because of the rules they grew up with. I remember a friend of 50 telling me she better start dressing differently as she is now is 50, and that is when I thought why. I live in an area full of artists and see the most wonderful people, some old but dressing like young women and man, and why not, if it makes them feel happy, it is their way of showing their young souls, how wonderful I think when I see them, it shows they have courage which many people don’t have. I feel though any question in life comes down to be true to ones feelings and ones inner child or feeling, what ever we call it if we really follow our inner-voice we will do the right thing in the end, shame though that the people that need to get in touch with their inner feelings and their heart are not here, like my ex, because they need it more then we do, who are out here, we know our feelings and mainly agree on things, but it is those who don’t get it, and are stuck in the keeping up appearances that need to learn that what they feel is OK and that they will be still be loved if they make mistakes. Because I feel that is what all the fear is about, it is about being scare not being loved no matter what you do.
I don’t know.. I just lost a very good job vacancy because I’m “too young”, according to the HR office. They said that my CV was fantastic and that they couldn’t believe that someone on my age had all that knowledge and studies. Should I sit down and wait till I get old, then?
World sometimes is not fair with young people. If you don’t look for anything and just focus on having fun, people say you are lazy. If you look for interesting things, to improve your skills and to become someone different, they look at you with a question mark.
Let Madonna be whatever she wants… She got everything she worked for! And if she can be 50 dancing and jumping, whay wouldn’t she?
Camilla
(24-year-old Brazilian living in London)
I think inside of all of us we always have our inner child, our soul that feels no age, no matter what age we are. Some people can show it some hide it, but to connect this to your question about if their is a change in the world or if we are still stuck in fear, I think looking at people slowly showing their inner child more, like madonna, never mind the reason why, is showing that their is a change happening, I think we are more free then our parents were, they felt young inside but were so drilled into thinking you don’t show that so they carried it inside themselves, but so deep that no one could see it. I am struggling to get what I am trying to say into words, hope you get what I am trying to say.
And thanks Maria, big hug back
Good evening
I think we shouold consider that the life is getting longer too, let’s not gorget that Madonna is a person who has got as a scopo a reason to live to maintain her looks as it is part of her career
I believe end of the day that age depends also on the person’s own self esteem, of how much you believe in yourselfm if you think that past 40 trs old there is not a life, then your body will follow your thoughts, human mind is a very powerful thing
cheers
Aging: I am 36 years old, my daughter is 21/2 years old. The age difference between my mum and me is 20 years. I look at them now I think they have aged in skin, but their lifestyles are yet more active than my in laws. Whereas my in laws really live their age day to day. More and more even in Asia the perception of age is changing. It is becoming a moment where people do things because they want to do it not because it is appropriate for their age. My old boss is now singing, bought himself a harley davidson, living the life. The older they get, people now enjoy their lives, and as a result look healthy and younger. It’s how you feel. When you talked about madonna, I thought she is famous What an excuse, we can all be young. Before when people get old, that means needing help, not working, etc. Now it means enjoying life, do quality things and working in areas you like as a retirement plan.
Like all aspects of life , It starts and ends with us .
You are who you desire to be ….. Plain and simple .
Love & Harmony
James
I completely agree with you. Our perception of aging is changing. On the one hand there are teenagers who think that people who is in his/her 30s are old people. On the oter hand i think that people in his/her 50s feel younger than other generations. I admire Madonna for her physical sahpe but i also think that, as Athena says in “Portobello´s witch”, (i dont know how they translate it en english… en spanish its “la bruja de protobello”) people is afraid of age, of getting old and we sholudn’t. Time is something a person cannot stop, we should accept it, but its very difficult nowadays, when we are pressed by media taht sells us stereotypes of the ideal man and woman.
Greetings. I enjoy all your books!
Milagros (Argentina)
PS: I wrote in english just i case you preferred it.
I have no ambition to think about Madonna. I only know, what I want to be when I will be 50 years old – still alive and able to live with all my senses, heart and soul!
Some may say of course, this is clear, you need not mention. But who knows my story, also knows, that it is not selfevident for me at all. Therefore I look upon these things a little bit different and this simplyfies my life in many respects.
Creio que não se trata apenas da nossa percepção do envelhecimento mas do prórpio processo em si. Acho que se envelhece muito mais lentamente e não tem apenas a ver com ginástica ou estilo de vida, É do próprio TEMPO. Cronos mudou os ponteiros do relógio que, agora, rodam muito mais devagar. Paradoxalmente, parece que tudo se passa mais depressa…é qualquer coisa a nível galáxico, divino…
Age is a funny thing. I think it all depends on what sort of life you lead plus there is the question of genetics. Sometimes it helps if you look after your mind, body and soul and sometimes you may do all you can to maintain that youthfulness and it makes no difference. I think society is obsessed with how a person looks and unfortunately people still tend to judge on appearance first. I think society places alot of pressure on people to look good. I think people should just be the best that they can be for themselves. I think that Madonna is amazing for 50 but she looks after herself and always has I believe. There are many ways of being youthful. Age really is just a number. I think sometimes it is a matter of attitude and that’s what I think Madonna has ‘a youthful attitude’.
Anyway, that’s just a few thoughts.
Hi All,
hmmm, i was just recently dicussing with my friend the definition of time. When, how , who has decieded to set day lenght for 24 hours, year for 365 days…What is the past, what is the present, what is the future? What is the reality, what is the illusion? Was time set to control people? To keep them worried, that they will not have enough time?
Fear is spirit killer…
I always say, it is all “in head” and all what counts is your awareness, of your own power within you…
Even Madonna has realised that, and her career is one great transformation from rebeloius seductive girl to mother to balanced empowered woman.
Yeah, she is empowered, she knows about it…
:-)and all you guys can feel her energy.
And i would not agree that perception on aging has change over the time…people have been always scared about being “old”, forgeting the fact, that those thoughts are the main root of their aging…Only now, there are more choices to keep you “fake young” (great money for smart plastic surgeons, hehhehe)
My soulmate’s dad’s was taking pictures on the beach with half naked girls at the age of 80 plus, my grand mother has worked all her life and survived world war 2 and she is now 83, using mobile phone and organizing “cinema sessions” for her neighbours at home while operating DVD player…
IT IS ALL IN HEAD…
so, look into person’s eyes…that’s the mirror of their soul…
:-)
cheers,
peace from slovakia
i.
Thank you all.
I think that I must answer honestly, because I have.. my birthday today. I am now 60 years old!! I am talking with all of you young and older and I learn from you and you learn from me.
How I feel?? When I am with my eyes closed, I feel as I am 18 years old. The golden age. Then I go to the mirror and I ..wake up!! I say jokingly to our friends, that we are ‘us’ but we have put the Mask of old people on. We may need ‘reading glasses’, my dear Paulo Coelho, but I read the other day that in a couple of years the Bionic eyes will be ready.
One thing for sure that I can affirm is that we never lose our ability and desire for love.
LOVE,
THELMA
It is true. Our perception is changing. It’s not just working out. I don’t work out a lot, but I am usually perceived as 10 years younger than my actual age! All in all, I think we live differently and we do have a different perception of life. In my country, Greece, the average childbirth age of women is 30-35 years old, while a quite remarkable percentage tend to have babies after their 40th birthday!
Good day to you all !
hi paulo i’m from venezuela, i hope you can read this.
Bueno mi opinión sobre la vejez es la siguiente, primero es algo que nos mentalizamos cada uno, el creerse viejos a partir de tal edad preestablecida 50 , 60, etc, es algo del pasado y no debe ser así hoy día tenemos que aspirar mas ya que las expectativas de vida han subido en todo el mundo por la ciencia de la salud, porque quiza sabemos más sobre nuestro cuerpo, etc… como comer, como evitar algunas enfermedades con vacunas, ejercicio, etc… además no queda atrás la cirugia plática pero más que eso creo que es algo que nosotros mismos podemos controlar con nuestro estilo de vida y madonna es un fiel ejemplo de ello, la admiro por eso y estoy feliz de que la tomes de ejemplo, tu eres otros de mis idolos, seria muy feliz si lees esto. besos de mi parte. Visita Venezuela!
Robelis Rodriguez.
I am 55 and have 12 grandchildren…but I am far from old. As my grandkids will tell you. I swim or do water aerobics for an hour every morning, am currently working on my masters – changing careers totally at this ripe young age. I have never been in better shape…physically or spiritually and it is my intent to keep putting one foot in front of the other in this direction til my time is up! Often society doesnt want to give jobs to people over 50…so I am going to create my own! Enjoy your day!
Yes,I guess. Although I think that Madonna and people like her are exsaggerating, because there is a limit…
Last time I saw Madonna’s show, I thought she were getting older… her movements on dancing are getting obsolete… Don’t you think?
There still are physical obstacle, even if we think we are young.
Our society asks us to work hard more and more, to refine ourself, to have more things, more money and finally to live better.We are always busy and discontent for what we already have. That’s why, in my opinion, mental age is changing.
We have to be conscious of the age we have and act without exagerate!
My perception about how to get old is the same since I was young. I am 50 years old . Maybe others (especialy young people)see me as a woman of my age ,but living in the present days. I feel different than I belived in my youth it would be . More,more… better from the point of view of the spiritual life and worse from the view of physical state.I had strongly belived in the posibility of mantining a perfect body shape but I have only obtained a different result: a permanent seaking from new knowledges/judgements/concepts/doing right and be a kind person. That permanent reserch satisfied me and helps me to identify ,to assure and to action to prevent/correct or to improve.
I can confirm the fact my mother looked more younger than Madonna, or me, etc.,at that age. And her physical state condition was better than the health condition of my generation.I think the previous generation considered themselves beeing old people but their body shapes were good. They were not allready old , but that status had an importance. They were old ,only in comparison with the major population part of those times. Beeing old mean more life experience, more achivements , more mistakes and sometime a pour mind/ health state.
New technologies and new descovered concepts help us to mantain a teen’s behaviour and the health of our bodies, minds and souls. We are modern due to our generation achivements. But we have to recognize that we are the results of our ancestors.The question is if we will mantain those present concepts and develop new ones and our kids generation will feel and seem to behave like teenagers at their 50 years old (from the point of view of how nice is the existence): If we will not have the same result ,or a better one, that means Madonna’s,Bill Gate’s etc. generations outputs fails. I wonder if our generation behaviour to mantain the feeling of youth will determine a lack of respect and love in our children reaction. Our real strength and our kids will confirm that ,in the near future.
Oh the the question of all time – Where is the Fountain of Youth …hmm…its not in anything outside of yourself ..it comes from with in – we all know that ..But Madonna as much as I love her music – and I love how driven she is ,she is talented yes but ! her never giving up plus her sheer persistence to make it ,is what has given her fame and fortune ..But she looks after her body which is a good thing -eats well – works very hard at everything ..I think it would have been better to see her grow old gracefully especially now ..But I think people age quicker these days because of stress and pressure from all areas etc ..But then there is this crap that society or the media put out there that if your not looking 20 0r 30 you wont get the part or your to old to have a no 1 single ..You have to be a size bloody O stick figure -frozen face ..miserable -but hey you look young ,.what is that ..I love looking at people who age gracefully -lines from laughter and tears ..marks and scars that are part of your life,journey .Men dont seem to worry as much as women about growing old . I dont think there isnt a woman alive who has not gushed over the likes of Sean Connery or Richard Gere ..hmm..well for me ..I certainly think that age adds sex appeal , and some people like older men or women I guess ..but you know that saying :Your as young as the woman your feeling : who made that up ?? getting off track now – Its about living -loving and enjoying yourself -and if someone judges you on your appearance or age then what ever !! Just age in the moment by moments ..
There is no time really ,so in saying that why does society say that by this age – such and such you should retire or leave school or you can now vote ?? It makes u wonder though if Madonna looks like this now – what will the next generation or pop stars look like in 50 yrs time ..maybe they will be so plastic by then that they will have to have full body genetic graphing stem cell stuff for everything ..Anyway I think Paul -that I am a bit the same about Madonna -I always wonder about her motives – too . Blessings Tania
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