Aging in a culture that fears death and denies old age presents very real challenges. We often accommodate our culture’s aging expectations by pretending we are in a state of perpetual youth through extremes of diet and exercise, cosmetic surgeries, and total immersion in the “lookism” – Mary Pipher’s contribution to our cultural lexicon – of our current celebrity-obsessed dominant culture. In Pipher’s insightful take on cultural pressures, lookism describes how many people live as if always in front of a camera filming a reality TV show.
It doesn’t have to be this way, and for many adults who have learned how to focus on the meaning of aging, it is not. After all, aging is considered a rewarding experience in cultures that value insight and wisdom. We North Americans can learn to value our aging bodies and maturing emotional intelligence as unique sources of the knowledge this process bestows on those who surrender to and find value in its tranformational energies. Many of us are already articulating the value of aging in our personal and professional lives.
If you need courage about aging, do some research about old trees in your area. Find a tree near you and spend a little time looking at it and feeling its blessings on the environment. Trees have long been our wisest and most steadfast teachers. Find a tree to befrend and to be befriended by and feel the value of the glorious processes of aging at work in your own body.