The majority of people believe that ageing is a landslide of a process, something to be dreaded because we all have no choice in the matter of deterioration.
We are conditioned from an early age to believe we are destined to end up useless, lonely, invisible and disrespected. With our decaying minds and bodies, eventually we will resign ourselves to nursing homes or isolation, where we wait for death.
Do You Fear Growing Older?
Believe it or not, I’ve seen many teenagers in dread of turning twenty, for fear of having a wrinkle or losing their glorious youth, or a thirty-nine year old fearful of turning forty for the same reasons.
It may be very hard to believe because of our negative attitudes about ageing, but it is amazingly relieving and refreshing to realise that you CAN change your world, including your body, simply by changing your perception at any age.
In fact, how you see yourself is causing immense changes in your body right now. For example, feeling useful, feeling wanted, feeling loved, feeling old, feeling ugly, feeling fat, or feeling youthful, all influence you and are making changes in your mind and body.
At this, and every moment in time, your cells will look unique, mirroring every experience you have processed and metabolised into your cells, tissues and organs.
Thus, a lifetime of lack of awareness, basically unconscious living, can lead to enormous deterioration while, in contrast, a lifetime of conscious participation prevents it.
The very act of paying conscious attention to bodily functions instead of leaving them on automatic pilot will change how you age. We already know that paying conscious attention to bodily functions, from heart beat, body temperature, breathing, digestion and hormone regulation, can be consciously controlled.
Techniques such as meditation and biofeedback can reduce blood pressure and change body temperature at will. Similarly, there are numerous ways of affecting the ageing process to our advantage – or detriment. How invigorating would it be to exchange old negative patterns for new exciting ones!
Ageing Well – It’s up to YOU
The truth is out there—ageing is indeed reversible, no matter how many mistakes you have made.
While we all age, the rate of ageing and our sense of health and wellbeing is under our control.
Nothing holds more power over the body than beliefs of the mind, and because the mind influences every cell in our body, human ageing is fluid and changeable. It can speed up, slow down, stop for a time and even reverse itself.
We need to embrace a completely new world view. Beliefs, thoughts, and emotions create the chemical reactions that uphold life in every cell. The skin replaces itself one a month, the stomach lining every five days, the liver every six weeks, and the skeleton every three months; but, to the naked eye, these organs look much the same from moment to moment.
The decline in vigour as people age is largely the result of their expecting to decline. They have a strong belief and with the mind-body connection this intention is automatically and very obediently carried out. Everyone can reduce such loss at an early age by consciously programming their mind and body to remain youthful, using the power of intention. To despair of growing old makes people grow old faster.
The effects on people who are distraught over a break down of a personal relationship, or depressed over losing a job or stressed about any number of things, will show in every cell of their body affecting the way it functions, how it repairs itself, and hurrying up the ageing process.
Change may be Inevitable; Ageing is Not
Once you understand that every fraction of your body is totally aware of how you think and feel about yourself and your world, then the whole illusion of being a victim to a mindless, randomly decaying body disappears. While change is inevitable, ageing is not. It’s all about awareness, your interpretation of your body and world at any age. You are only as old as you believe you are!
If you feel you are not happy with your life and /or body and if you are interested in discussing the power of your beliefs, feelings and thoughts to change your world and body, please book in a time to come and see me. When you see yourself differently, more joyful, more youthful, your entire reality is changed at a physiological level.
Author: Dr Jan Philamon, PhD, BA (Hons) Psychology, C Teach, JP (Qual) Qld, MAPS.
As a registered teacher and psychologist, Dr Jan Philamon has a wealth of experience with children, however she enjoys helping individuals and couples at any stage of life. Jan aims to help people to be the best they can be and find success: improved wellbeing, gaining a sense of empowerment that allows them to actively problem solve and manage obstacles constructively, as well as positively plan and achieve their personal and career goals.
To make an appointment try Online Booking. Alternatively, you can call M1 Psychology Brisbane on (07) 3067 9129