New ways – live longer
but years added at the end
not in the middle
The news abounds with stories of how folks are living longer and as there are more and more people (hard to believe that the population of the United States has doubled since World War 2), more and more people are living longer.
Looks like getting off cigarettes and caffeinated coffee is working.
There is a catch.
Much like the people who go jogging for sixty minutes every day and claim it adds 15 years to their life.
Well, those years were spent … jogging.
Live to be 65 and not jog.
Or live to be 80 and spend 15 years jogging.
Almost sounds like a prison sentence.
Back to the point there are lots of actions we can take, things we can do and things we can avoid and add years to life.
But … those years are added at the end.
What if we can add years in the middle?
What if somehow the years between 30 and 50 could be doubled.
The years when I felt good or at least better.
The years when going to the beach where nothing but fun and not filled with anxieties not the least of which is how far will we end up from the restrooms.
That might be worth considering …
Add those 20 years to my life when I am 70 and live to 90?
Makes me appreciate the age I am and enjoy the years I have and not live with an eye on how what I am doing or eating may or may not add to my years.
It can become an obsession.
Consider what JRR Tolkien wrote in The Two Towers, the middle book of his The Lord of the Rings.
Death was ever present, because the Nmenoreans still, as they had in their old kingdom, and so lost it, hungered after endless life unchanging.
Kings made tombs more splendid than houses of the living, and counted old names in the rolls of their descent dearer than the names of sons.
Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixirs, or in high cold towers asked questions of the stars.
And the last king of the line of Anarion had no heir.
Hungered after endless life unchanging.
Life changes.
As Jim Harrison once wrote (or words to this effect) “Eat that delicious fat with your Prime Rib. Then take a long walk to justify it.”
No Haiku For You 