Aging of Mind
Strange idea isn’t
it?
Well, aging
generally refers to body when we say “I am aging”. Mind doesn’t
really ‘age’. It is an abstract concept of ours, widely used,
because of the experiences we go through, store, and even remember to
recall during every kind of situation, emotional phases etc.
Is it not true that
our faculties related to what we call as our ‘mind’, seems to
sync with the aging of the body?
How to retain that
‘sharp’ mind of ours, no matter what we choose to do with it.
I thought, my
experiences in certain areas where we do-share some kind of
commonality, might be of a tiny value addition to others. ( If I like
eating brinjals, I know, i cannot ‘expect’ every reader to think
of my narrative about usefulness of brinjals and they should start
liking it too! No point trying to add-value by singing praises about
something that cannot be common)
Mind, is common to
all humans. And it can be ‘expected’ that all of us do-like to
keep it ‘young’.
Some situations in
our lives end up ‘fatiguing’ the minds at a very young age (some
kind of disappointments, some kind of non-fulfillment of desires
etc.)... In such cases, the mind ages suddenly! They decide to
‘some-how’ go through this life, and resolve to live a very
routine-mundane life. I guess this attempt might rejuvenate even such
young bodied ones with a prematurely aged minds!
Those of
us who managed to get away with our stubbornness's, adamancies, etc.
during young age, with a sharp mind, would find the need to tone down
these negatives in us to remain ‘relevant’. Eccentricities are
tolerated only when it belongs to brilliant ones :)
Innovativeness
helps the mind to retain its abilities. Unless there is some
kind of intense-involvement in what we do, or like to
do with a situation, innovation starves without its fuel.
If this idea is
wrong, please stop reading any further.
After retirement, I
saw that I could afford to slow down the pace of my life! Situation
is not going to slow down to oblige me :) so, start a bit earlier
to reach the deadline with youngsters around!
This slowing down
(of doing things, thinking, calculating, conjuring :)) etc very
naturally allowed me to focus better in my activity, physical or
mental. My involvement got additional strength, with better focus.
And involvement persuaded my alertness and awareness at my activity
to keep myself on the ‘look out’ for a better way of doing the
same thing ! Joy got started seeping in. When I am on the ‘look
out’ for something, boredom is unable to gain entry into me!
Innovation was something that I could never pull out of my self, my
mind, or my pint-sized brains. It had to just ‘occur’ (like my
meditations :)) and I didn’t try to look out for ‘innovation’
each time, though maya-madam decided to be liberal to me, as a reward
for doing something with zero-expectations)....
As a by product
of the sequence of these guidelines I had set up for myself, I found
that my mind’s faculties have slowed down its aging. If ‘memory’
and its failing seems to us as a component of the mind, well.... I
am no exception. I too tend to forget things, as I age! But, when i
decide to remember something, that ‘focus, involvement, etc’
takes over from the auto-pilot-mode of aging memory:))
What I would suggest
is....
try to focus a bit more on very routine and simple tasks
that we do, despite our age! If possible do it a bit leisurely, very
consciously, and get-involved! If this doesn’t work, there is
nothing to lose! We did a very routine job in a better way. So, drop
this idea if it doesn’t work. It worked for me too well right from
my kid age! The-best advantage I got out of getting involved was, I
kept that ‘boredom’ at a safe distance.
Best
wishes,
innovatively yours,
psn(23rd May, 2025)
