Thoughts on my Age

On May 15th, I will be 75.  Somehow this seems to me to be a milestone birthday. I know I joke a lot about being Officially Old, but to be honest, I have not thought of myself as being old until the last few weeks when I became aware that seventy five, an Important Birthday,  will be coming up soon. This has lead me to think about how I have changed for the positive in these last ten or so years.

And here is an example of what I mean about changing for the better. This morning the phone rang at 8:30 and the scheduling person said that Nancy, the physical therapist, had me scheduled for 9:30. I told her I couldn’t possibly make it at that time and then she offered me 11:30 which was fine. But the reason I am mentioning it is that how I dealt with it is all part of the new attitude I am noticing more and more in myself. If this had happened when I was, say, in my 40’s, I would have fallen over myself to apologize {even though it was quite clearly not my error} and rushed around madly to make the appointment I had no idea I had. I would also have felt bad about having to change the appointment if there was no way I could have made it. This morning when the scheduler told me that Nancy had made that appointment for me, I calmly said that I wasn’t going to be able to be there. Actually, if I had still been the every-one-comes-before-me person that I used to be, I could have made it. But I dislike having to rush around in the morning, so why should I do something I dislike when there is no need for it?

Today’s Positive Self-Statement: I no longer apologize when the situation is that I am not at fault.

Today’s Statement of Gratitude: I am grateful to have bagels for breakfast.

One thing that I will do to be kind to myself today: I will walk on the treadmill or, if the rain stops, outside for 15 minutes.

"You are not happy because you are well. You are well because you are

happy. You are not depressed because trouble has come to you, but

trouble has come to you because you are depressed. You can change

your thoughts and feelings, and then the outer things will come to

correspond, and indeed there is no other way of working."

Emmett Fox

"Enjoyment is not a goal; it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity."

Paul Goodman