I am often asked what I mean when I use the phrase “The Flow of Life” when I describe the way I believe seniors should be thinking about living as we move into and through our sixties, seventies and even our eighties.
I started using the phrase when I first started doing workshops on Health, Fitness and Personal Energy over a decade ago. I used it to describe the ebb and flow of life as we age and about how being Healthy, Fit and full of Personal Energy would keep us more in the Flow of Life and less in the ebbs of depression, anxiety, frailty and susceptibility to debilitating illness.
To me, the medical and scientific discoveries about longevity are not nearly as important as the exercise, energy and mindset components. There are new and important discoveries being made today that will keep us alive longer. We can live for a long time through medicine and science, but that doesn’t make us live well.
I know so many older people who are “ready to die” because even though they may have lived a long life, they are miserable and lack the energy and physical capacity to enjoy a good Quality of Life. My Mother-in-law was that way. She was over 90 and was ready to die. Her life was pain, discomfort and loneliness. Medical science did it’s best but it only kept her physically alive. While she was still mentally active but declining, she didn’t want to live longer and was ready when the time came.
Shortly after I started doing the workshops, I came across a book by the well known author and Unity Minister, Eric Butterworth, called In the Flow of Life. The chapter called To Grow Old or Grow Upward was nearly word for word what I was saying in parts of my workshop. While the book reflects some religious and spiritual connotations, the chapter on aging is less so.
There are two passages in that chapter that reflect precisely what I mean when I use the term, “The Flow of Life”. They read as follows:
From page 139: “ Contrary to the common human belief, we do not begin to slow down because we are becoming old. We are becoming old because we are slowing down. The cells of our bodies are like water in a river. Motion helps them to stay in the flow and thus to purify themselves. There are literally thousands of moping people who could renew their strength and youthfulness to say nothing of finding freedom from aches and pains, if they would simply stir themselves in mind and body, get into the flow in consciousness and ‘into the swim’ of activities. The wisdom of the world has conditioned us to ‘act our age.’ Now we must begin to act our youth—to act our experience in the flow of life.”
From page 142: “If you flow with life, every year is a fascinating challenge full of adventure and discovery. If you resist the changes, each year will become a millstone that will gradually bend your shoulders and drag your steps. In the flow of life, there is a constant process of growth. . . It is sad that people permit age to do such awful things to them. In the flow of life time is not a drag but an opportunity to gain in spiritual stature and beauty of person.”
While the book and that particular chapter are filled with many similar thoughts, I will let those two quotes describe what I mean when I use the term.
I hope today’s message transmits something you will find meaningful. And I hope we all do those things that will let the flow continue through our bodies and in our minds so we will continue to live in “The Flow of Life.”
Thank you for reading this SeniorFlow Moment.
