Aging gracefully

Beauty might not be as objective (size zero) as it is made to sound. It is defined as the quality of a person or thing that gives pleasure to the mind or senses. (link) This essentially points to excitation of senses: more of a sudden spurt in energy. Well, that part is pretty is easy to understand and relate to. Particularly because we feel it quite often as we have too many things to make hormones run like mad across our bodies. There is a obvious bias in such a view as this confines beauty to pleasurability. Is beauty just a matter of titillation?

Beauty, IMHO, could be much more just that. Apart from the mass marketed carnal aspect of beauty, there is still more significant spiritual face to it. Well, that aspect which lifts your spirits
up rather than just your you-know-what. It is that which you makes you feel calm/at peace rather than jumping around. It is that which leaves you feeling more energetic rather than drained. It is that which makes you feel relaxed rather than tense.

We see such beauty in a child's smile. Where do we lose our sense of such beauty as one grows up? While losing the innocence is essential part of growing up, it seems more often we lose our capacity for life/happiness along with that. Certainly, the spark of hope in our eyes continues to lose its brightness as we come across the dryness of reality. For most of us, it flickers now and then, leaving us shortly with a sense of disappointment. For few, it dies too early. However, quite a few of people around us manage to keep it alive.

You can see such souls around you in more numbers than you can imagine. That is, if you care to. If you can keep your open and see through the blinds of your own 'linked list' of problems. Yesterday, I met one such at Sankara Netralaya. A successful manager doctor , a doting mother and a caring grandmom. She was one of the few I have seen who have aged gracefully.

And aging gracefully is not about botox or any anti-aging miracle drug. It is about keeping the light of life alive despite all the hardships that drain your hope. She might have added a few wrinkles after all those hardships, but have managed to keep the spark alive. Not surprisingly, it seems the spark gets clearer, stronger, with each hardship.

Being young at heart is nothing but keeping the spark alive in your eyes. There are two things that make them stand apart from the rest: 1) Intelligence - to see ahead and not get bogged down by problems, and 2) Love - to spread life/hope to others. And, it really helps to borrow a little light from such beautiful souls. Better search for those eyes' twinkle among the wrinkles! ;)

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On mom (link)