What Gets Better With Age?

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Good question but I have no clear-cut answers for you. One thing I know is that my perceptions of certain things have changed with time. I also know that those things I thought were important at a certain stage in my life are no longer as important as they were.

In my younger days, I used to think that “looks” were important. If he was good-looking, dark and handsome I was all in. Add a gorgeous smile and I was hooked. Later I found out that sometimes looks are deceiving. There isn’t much there when you dive deeper. Sometimes intelligence is sorely lacking and after two dates, there is absolutely nothing to talk about but the mundane and the boring!

I’m older and wiser now. Looks don’t matter as much now. There has to be a minimum but it doesn’t make or break a relationship. What gets better with age? I think it is wisdom. You learn from your mistakes, you try not to repeat them again and you just know more about life and how it works. Not that you can get an handle on it, but you get adept at dealing with what life throws your way and that is a good thing. I also have the wisdom to know when to leave a table especially when nothing good is being served there. This is something new because I used to be like a dog with a bone and now it rolls over like water over a duck’s back! Perhaps it is wisdom or perhaps “aging’ brings on a new persona, one that is not all based on drama! Anyway, there is a difference in how I deal with things and it seems to be in a more mature way.

Daily writing prompt
What do you think gets better with age?

The Search for Happiness

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A man asked Gautama Buddha, “I want happiness.”

Buddha said, First remove, “I” that’s EGO, then remove , “WANT,” that’s DESIRE. See now you are left with only, “HAPPINESS.”

Is it really that simple to find happiness? Okay, I can give this method a try BUT I find that when I remove “EGO” and “WANT,” there is something else glaring me in the face! It is, “WHAT NOW?!!!”

According to Buddhist wisdom, there are 5 steps to happiness. They are:

SMILE MORE

WORRY LESS

BE PRESENT

GIVE MORE

EXPECT LESS

I believe in the smiling more part. No problems there. Worrying less is almost a no go with me. Being present, I am working on. Giving more…..it is a work in progress and expecting less always gets me in trouble. Basically, I’m not quite there yet. Finding that happiness path that is.

What else?

“A disciplined mind brings happiness.”

Oh Gawd! This is even worse. Tell that “monkey” I call my mind to take orders and you’ll see what I mean! Marching on to the next happiness mantra.

“Happiness does not depend on what you have or who you are….

It solely relies on what you think.”

WHAT?!!! I give up!

No more searching for happiness wisdom today. I’ll do it my way. The sun is shining and I’m going to slip into my flip-flops, go to the garden and let the sun warm my face and listen to the birdsong to calm my mind and to let happiness seep in. Sorry Buddha but maybe next time around.

There will be no more thinking, no more telling my mind to do something it doesn’t want to do and I’ll just let the day go as it wants to. How’s that for a happiness mantra?

Have an amazing day.

Paulo Coelho

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Paulo Coelho de Souze is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. His book, “The Alchemist” was on the New York Times bestseller list for over 40o weeks and he is brilliant at getting across what life is all about and how to deal with it. I’ve posted some of his quotes here before but here are some more to whet the appetite.

“Life has a way of testing a persons will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.”

That’s because “life” is thinking let’s shake things up! It is getting too BORING!

“If you’re brave enough to say ‘GOODBYE’ life will reward you with a new ‘HELLO’.

I’ve been brave many times over and I’m still waiting for the hellos or it could be I say goodbyes more often than the hellos coming in and it has a hard time keeping up!

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”

I absolutely agree on this one.

“Things do not always happen the way I would have wanted, and it’s best that I get used to it.”

This is a hard one. I want things to happen the way I WANT IT for a change.

“It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.”

I am learning to leave things in the past BUT the past keeps calling me and I oblige! That is the problem in a nutshell.

“Sometimes you have to travel a long way to find what is near.”

That is human nature. Complicated is what it is about and I can attest to it whole-heartedly.

“And when you can’t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward.”

Small steps forward and you will get to your next destination. I hope it’s a good one.

“Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant.”

Oh God, I don’t know about this one. If that is what life does, I am sunk!

And finally this:

“When a woman has not had SEX for a long time, She turns…..”

Turns into what?!! Becomes wiser? I can agree with that and a little weird? I can agree with that too. This one left me hanging!

Have an amazing day.