Sixty years need not be the end of the road. It can be a time for creativity to flourish
Sixty years old? Images of quiet contemplation and a slow journey to non-existence come to mind.
The age of retirement is reckoned as a major crisis in life, one that many don't look forward to. It is considered a time when one becomes incapable of any productive activity.
But is this a realistic perception? Is sixty years the time to quit, to say good-bye to an active and fruitful life? Or does life have more in store? Besides what about creativity and inventiveness? Does the flair decline at sixty?
I personally feel, on the contrary, I find that I am overflowing with new and imaginative ideas. Sixty years is a unique time when you enjoy mental calm. It makes your mind fertile and receptive to fresh ideas.
It is never a time to withdraw from life as long as the health and mental faculties permit. On the contrary, with the right attitude and a wealth of experience behind you, one can achieve many things.
What happens when one advances to the mid and late sixties? A worrying factor is whether there will be a drastic drop in creativity. This must be the time, when free from family obligations and job pressures one is at peace with oneself. This tranquility makes your imagination and creativity bloom. Also, freed from the passions and pulls of youth, spiritual awareness becomes more pronounced giving you deeper insights into life and making your mind open to fresh and innovative ideas. Sixty years, for many, is a time when one strikes a balance and life becomes meaningful.
Yet creativity apart, this age is still perceived by many as a period when one grows inefficient and incompetent, unable to learn or grasp new things. It is considered a time best not to venture into new or unknown fields or vocations.
But all this is sometimes proved wrong. A lady I know, who turned sixty, learning classical music and her passion seems to be increasing with her increasing age. Is it not something special? I don't think she had the same talent in her relatively younger life or was it latent? Now that she is free and with no shackles she has been taking music lessons and enjoys every minute of it. For her learning a new raga is thrilling she is fascinated by the depth and intensity of music. Likewise I know one gentleman in his sixties took interest in attending painting classes and have done many landscapes and wall hangings. We also not infrequently come across in the newspapers that so and so in advancing age getting their Ph.D or some other great achievements in wide ranging fields. It is said that it does not matter as how long one lived rather what he/she did to the society, and how he conducted himself before reaching that age which distinguishes from one person to another.
Sixty years is certainly no time to abandon your desires or interests. Rather it can be an ideal time to pursue long cherished passions, new hobbies and pastimes.
For testimony and inspiration go back to history, which is replete with accomplishments and great successes that would boost sagging self-esteem in sixties.
Louis Pasteur, for instance, administered his first anti-rabies injection at sixty two. Lillian Cater, mother of former U.S president Jimmy Carter joined the Peace Corps to work as a nurse in India at age sixty-eight. Besides Nobel Prize winners in all fields are mostly veterans.
So, sixty is not the beginning of the end, but a renewal or another beginning. What is unsettling more than anything else is the thought of turning sixty. But what about the physical changes that are inevitable with advancing years? Don't our brain cells deteriorate, diminish and bring about memory loss and clumsiness? Dr. Bharathan, a noted psychiatrist says, `Ageing is inevitable and its symptoms such as absent-mindedness and forgetfulness can appear for many much before they turn sixty.'
But yet this does not affect our creativity, mental acumen, shrewdness or discerning abilities as long as we keep our minds engaged in things we enjoy doing. As the body is benefited by physical exercise, the mind too, if motivated, can delay the ageing process considerably. Besides Yoga and meditation are the best ways to keep the body and mind rejuvenated.
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Regards
Dr Maheswar
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