How Keeping Playing is the way to Stay Young. 

Hi Darling been feeling a bit tired and worn out recently? Research show how old we think we are can be a real determinate for fighting off old age and even death! In fact a ten-year study of nearly 4000 people showed we often hold a younger temperament when we are thinking young and as we know from the Hot Cross Bun, how we feel impacts on our behaviour and often our physiological self. 

However, we are not talking about acting in a juvenile fashion Darling as actually you can think young and still benefit from the wisdom of all those unexpected life experiences. Which may include thinks like the ability to be diligent alongside being calm as you’ve learnt worrying gets you no further than a chocolate spoon.   

The way you think is causes brain change, this is true with thinking young where we see an increase brain matter and less risk of dementia, who wouldn’t want a bit of that Darling. Similarly taxi drivers are shown to have an enlarged hippocampus as a direct result of the day to day thought processes involved in learning a wide geographical area. 

Apparently, we need to be even more vigilant between the ages of 50-65 Darling, however as age is as much of a social construct as time, it’s important to challenge the norm of how old you are at any point? Why does society get to choose when we are expected to leave education Darling, or what age denotes us as a ‘teenager’, even when you can retire or how old you have to be to do certain things. These pre-determined societal rules are no more fitting to the individual than the recommended daily calorie amount (which FYI is so arbitrary it is not worth the public health websites it is written on). 

One of the key attributes to keeping a young mind is openness; Embrace the new fads that come across your path, support the snowflakes of the next-gen, go travel and learn from new exciting cultures. Openness also leads to continual learning, which is proven to stave off dementia. This is why if we are going to choose to jump on that roller coaster of societal norms, we should at least be choosing to do so rather than being carried away with the mundanity of the norm Darling. 

Can we ever understand the individual who never tastes the world outside their peer group and place of birth yet goes on to question other people’s way of living – I don’t know about you, but there is something shifty about these people. An interesting activity to task yourself with is to look at your inner sphere and consider how it’s given you tunnel vision, how are you meant to have conceptions of other possibilities if you have had no experience of what they might be? 

Complete the following table; 

Notice anything? 

Now if you’re happy with your sphere you do hun and you can continue to be conned by society’s dark targeted marketing that plays you down a set road because it knows you better than you know yourself. If, however, you’re ready to take that next step and expand your internal sphere, welcome, here is to longevity, new experiences and fun.  

Lots of Love xxx 
Rebekah Few 
NotLostbutFree.com