What will you learn today?

Exercise for the Mind

“The only thing for being sad, replied Merlyn…is to learn something.  That is the only thing that never fails.  You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins… you may see the world around you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds.  There is only one thing for it then---to learn.  Learn why the world wags and what wags it.  That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.  Learning is the thing for you.”

                                                                                    T.H. White

                                                                                    The Once and Future King

            I have read all the research about the importance of keeping one’s mind active in the latter years.  I even ordered “The Brain Kit,” that suggests exercises for holding on to one’s neural synapses for as long as possible.  I work crossword puzzles and, starting next week, will go to a lecture series for “geriatrics” called New Horizons.  I’m re-teaching myself to crochet and knit.  All this is exhausting.  It’s rather like going to the gym everyday to keep one’s bones in tact and one’s musculature from drooping.  Old age can get under your skin, let me tell you.

            Learning is the essence of life.  I see an enormous difference in the zest of people who, even into their nineties, are reading, writing and engaging with others, as opposed to those who have shut themselves away because it is simply too much trouble to get up and get out.  My generation (the Boomers) will likely live longer than any before us.  The question we must ask ourselves is ‘what is the gift I bring to the world during this stage of life?’  It is of huge importance that we answer that question at each stage and our latter years are no different.  The worst possible outcome is to reach the end of one’s life and realize that one has failed to live it.  A human lifetime is a gift of immense value.

            I wonder what you will learn today.  What is your gift to the world? 

Celebrating the spirit,

Jane