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Writer's pictureConnie Mason Michaelis

Life Paradigm

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis




What is your life view? I’ve been thinking of two particular paradigms that have a profound effect on one’s attitude about aging.  Whether one has a deep spiritual basis for understanding or a pragmatic scientific approach, our experience of life will grow out of that view. All tombstones have a dash between the birth and death years. The question is, “How will you live the dash?”  The first life view paradigm is a logical/linear approach. Many feel that birth is the beginning of a step-by-step process that leads to the end. At some point along the bell curve, one would reach a pinnacle and then a decline to death. With this approach, an individual would expect a reduction in life force throughout life. We might imagine that this person looks at life’s milestones in a remorseful way. After a certain age, birthdays are simple reminders of decline.

 

The other view, highly preferable as far as I am concerned, is a circular/spiral view. If we could draw a visual of it, it might be a line that started in long slow spirals and proceeds upward to a spire like the top of a cone or like climbing up a mountain. This model of life does not diminish but grows higher and more specific. Birthdays become a passage to the highest and best. There is a general excitement and anticipation in life. There is always time for self-improvement and personal growth. Truly, aging is a privilege. Paradigms can change in a heartbeat if an individual is open to new ideas. Our culture as a whole is much more logical and linear; if you don’t question that view, you are swept away with a world that sees youth as more valuable than age. There is nothing further from the truth. Keep the birthdays coming; you’re getting better and better!

 

 

A beautiful lady is an accident of nature; a beautiful old lady is a work of art.” Louis Nizer

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