Wednesday, December 17, 2025
ESSAY - THE ART OF ACTING OLD
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| DONOVAN BALDWIN |
His idea was that most of us had reserves of which we were not aware, but which were there, waiting below the surface of our existence, to answer our call when needed or wanted. As he states:
"...in exceptional cases we may find, beyond the very extremity of fatigue-distress, amounts of ease and power that we never dreamed ourselves to own,--sources of strength habitually not taxed at all, because habitually we never push through the obstruction, never pass those early critical points."
While completely ready to acknowledge that there are limits, Mr. James felt that most of us seldom came even close to using the amounts of energy and health available to us. He went on to state that most of us become accustomed to this state of affairs and live our lives far below the level which we could achieve, just because we believe what we perceive as "the way things are" is the reality in which we must live.
Going further, Mr. James asked himself, what triggers those occasional moments when individuals move into a higher realm of energy and accomplishment?
His answer in his own words:
"Either some unusual stimulus fills them with emotional excitement, or some unusual idea of necessity induces them to make an extra effort of will. _Excitements, ideas, and efforts_, in a word, are what carry us over the dam."
He gives examples of necessities such as duty, the example of others, "crowd pressure", or other needs of the situation as stimuli which can invoke "energies of men" beyond their normal levels.
However, these are momentary and external stimuli which produce, in Mr. James' opinion only sporadic flights into the higher levels of human possibility. He wanted something better, and believed that he had found it.
He had noticed in his life and in his studies that certain attitudes and certain disciplines, such as yoga, could help people transcend their normal levels of life. He further noticed that this ability to move to a higher plane of existence was actually something which could be trained within the individual, and that people had the ability to choose to be happy and healthy, or at least less miserable and sickly, by acts of will. He reached many other similar conclusions, but I will stop talking about William James and his essay here.
I read "The Energies of Men" as a teenager, and, as I looked at the grownups around me, I began to see that so many of them were living out roles that they had either chosen or had assumed were simply "the way things are". Over the years, this idea intrigued me and I began reading Dale Carnegie, Dr. Maxwell Maltz, and others who had similar thoughts and opinions. Over time, my interest moved into physical fitness, and I began to see that the results obtained by people who improved their physical fitness meshed well with what I, myself, had read, observed, and experienced.
Over the years, it became more and more clear to me that a person's attitude and perception of their circumstances were contributing factors to their physical and mental health and wellness, as well as to their fiscal success. As I read more on the subject, and acquired more knowledge from other sources, this idea hardened into belief. It has been with great pleasure to see more and more studies validating the ideas of William James and others. It has become a widely accepted fact that our attitudes and beliefs CAN AND DO influence our actual existences.
To quote Henry Ford: "Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
So, what does all this have to do with aging and the title of this little essay, "The Art of Acting Old"?
I have already mentioned that as I grew older, I personally saw how attitudes and beliefs could positively and negatively affect people's lives. One life I obviously observed close up was my own, and I also had close insight into the lives of a rather large, and varied, extended family. My own life has had its share of very troublesome events, and I found that how I met these events often determined how I got through them.
One event was aging itself, and the other was the discovery that I had pretty bad osteoarthritis.
As these two events converged to make life difficult and painful, I began to find myself slipping into "old man" mode. I modified my actions, began making excuses for my infirmities and perceived inabilities, and began a mental process of expecting others to perceive my decrepitude and make allowance for it. However, before I could go too far down this path, I reread "The Energies of Men" and several other sources and reviewed my personal experiences with meditation, yoga, and exercise. I also looked back over a career in the U. S. Army which began in basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina in 1966 where I learned one of the most important lessons of my life...whatever I believed I could do, I could actually do more., U
I also harked back to a time in my life when a close friend of mine ran a geriatric day care program and confided to me that most of the participants never should have wound up there...they had simply allowed themselves to grow old.
As I entered my 60's, I decided that I would not follow the time-worn pathway of the aging process in our society, but would find my own trails. I updated my exercise regimen to allow for age and arthritis, modified my nutritional intake, and increased my connections with the outside world. I quit expecting deference from others due to age and infirmity (perceived or real) and went about the business of living as I had lived in my 40's and 50's, with acceptance of those things which had changed, but without using them as an excuse for existence. I straightened my back, strengthened my muscles, and shouldered my share of life's burdens.
I am, in a sad way sometimes, rewarded as I look around at others my age. They are more and more stooped and bowed with each passing year, yet my head is high and my step is firm. They fear their existence and its end more and more while I go out and enjoy each day just as I have for years, looking forward to the excitements and pleasures the day will bring. They begin to fear that they will not be here much longer while I am planning what I am going to do in my 70's, 80's, 90's...and perhaps beyond.
I have also found that simply refusing to "act my age" and demanding that I act in life and react to life as I did in earlier years has been an effective tool in combating many of the more deleterious effects of the aging process. Oh, I have my aches, my pains, and my wrinkles, but I do not allow them to define or limit my life for the most part. This is a conscious act on my part, but with time, it has become relatively unconscious, and the rewards are observable and palpable.
William Shakespeare said in Macbeth:
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
None of us has the final say over when the play will end, but we do have control over how we play our parts, and I will assume control of the final ages of my life.
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If you enjoyed this essay by the poet and commentator, Donovan Baldwin, perhaps you might also enjoy his poem, Within The Darkening Woods.
Labels: aging, Dale Carnegie, donovan baldwin, Energies Of Men, Fort Jackson, U.S. Army, William James, William Shakespeare
Sunday, December 15, 2024
ARTICLE - ABOUT AGING, OPINIONS OF THE CDC AND ME
Basically, th U.S. population is undergoing a quiet revolution, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They predict that by 2030, the U. S. population aged 65 and older will reach about 71 million. This is roughly double the present number.
As those of us who are already classified as seniors know, the CDC recognizes the increasing health and financial burdens which begin to accrue with age. Also, there is a diminished quality of life and risk of disease and/or long-term illness.
However, as I have often pointed out in this blog and in other articles, many of which have been published on other websites, and on my website at nodiet4me.com, not all of the negative expectations, which are real, need be as negative as most people assume.
Again, the CDC and I are in agreement, they based on research and me based on my own life experiences.
A great amount of the very real illness, disability, and death which go hand-in-hand with the normal progress of aging can be controlled, at least to some extent, and, in some cases, be reversed. The most common steps towards healthy aging do not require extreme measures or esoteric potions or nostrums.
The CDC and I agree that some of the best steps to take include regular exercise, proper nutrition, avoiding dangerous habits such as tobacco use, proper sleep and rest, and regular medical checkups.
There are a lot of things about aging that make life hard, but we don't have to make life harder to effectively administer our own personally designed anti-aging program.
Labels: aging, CDC, donovan baldwin
Thursday, May 05, 2022
POEM: I LEFT MY HOUSE
I left my house and walked to the shore,
The white sand laced with seaweed,
And dotted with shells.
Hands in pockets and wind roaring in my ears,
I walked beside the talking water,
Rolling in and rolling out
Talking to me of faraway lands.
I was a boy and only knew of distant places
From books I had read, or from lessons
Taught at school.
Being a boy, all was jumbled up in my head
Treasure Island side by side with
Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Sants and sinners lived "out there"
Somewhere across that water,
And, despite the efforts of the nuns,
I liked the sinners better,
I thought.
Still do, sometimes.
Out in the bay a sometimes ship
Went by, going somewhere...out there,
and, on weekends, I could see
The white sails of pleasure craft as people enjoyed
A happy life I could only dream of.
Then, one day, I left my house.
I went out there
And met some sinners and some saints
And still like the sinners better,
Generally.
While I was gone
My father left this world,
My mother left the house,
And I lost track of who I was.
Then, one day I came back.
The house was there, but, not my house.
And, I realized with sadness,
I had left my house for the last time.
9/30/2016
Labels: aging, death, home, house, life, poem, poem by Donovan Baldwin, poetry
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Healthy Aging Should Include Quality of Life
The quality of your healthy aging strategy is part of the quality of your life.
From the day we are born, we begin to age.
In our younger years, we don’t think about the later years that are to come in our life. We all live in a very fast paced world today and it causes a lot of stress in our lives. As time goes on, this stress will increasingly affect us.
Everyone, whether young or old, needs to take care of their body and mind.
Taking care of ourselves day to day helps keep us thinking, moving and preventing major illnesses such as cancer and many other diseases and conditions. We all must work at keeping ourselves healthy and there is no better time than right now...no matter your present age.
However, the younger you start taking care of yourself, the better results you will attain over your lifetime. By starting early you are catching, and preventing, things before they have time to progress.
Right now, you can start of by eating healthy.
Keep an eye on that diet and make sure you are not overeating, but eat enough to get the vitamins and other nutrients you need for health.
Taking a good multivitamin is an excellent way to start adding necessary nutrients you don’t get in your food without eating more food.
Many believe that food today doesn’t always have the amount of vitamins like it used to, and that starts at the farmer’s level. Don’t blame the farmer for this because they are just doing their jobs the same way we all go to ours everyday.
The farmer has to add fertilizer, chemicals and even water to their crops to make them grow bigger, faster and for beauty too. Adding all these chemicals is believed to decrease the natural vitamins that you need which would normally be found in food. Even something as simple as water may have chemicals in it too. This, by the way, is one reason why your water needs to be tested at least once a year especially if you have well water.
Many, by the way, try to protect their health by arranging to provide clean water at home through the use of a water filter.
Once the food is grown and ready to be shipped, it is polished, coated to keep it nice and fresh looking during shipment, which is another step which may take away some of the vitamins as well while adding "unnatural" chemicals and compounds to the food we eat.
Try to eat as much organic or homegrown food as you can and avoid processed foods where possible. Fresh, homegrown food is the best, since you get natural vitamins without all the additives used in commercial farming and food processing systems.
A good multivitamin isn’t going to hurt anyone. It is known that people who take a multivitamin everyday is in better health than someone who doesn’t. Sometimes your doctor may want you to take extra vitamin, as we grow older because our bodies change and sometimes require more of something. In addition, as we grow older our eating habits change and we don’t eat as much or we want to lose weight and don’t eat the right foods. Nevertheless, remember you can lose weight and still eat right.
As we grow older our bodies and mind change. All the stress we had growing up and continue through out our lives. Relieve that stress as much as possible because it can do a lot of harm to us. Stress is known to be a major factor for poor heart conditions, strokes, and it will lower our immune system, as we grow older.
A regular exercise program is good for all ages and helps relieve stress at the early ages as well. If only families took time out maybe as a family with their children and made it a part of their lives that would help relieve it during the younger years.
A person who learns and enjoys exercising on a daily basis will keep during it, as they grow older as well.
Exercising will help the older person to keep those bones more flexible so they don’t get stiff and weak. The heart gets benefit from exercising too. Exercise will cause the heart to produce naturally, by working it harder to keep it highly flavored. Exercising helps to keep our bodies toned up and helps us to lose weight, or at most keeping the weight maintained.
Remember starting early can help later in years to make your life healthier and more contented.
Labels: aging, exercise, healthy aging, healthy eating, quality of life
