If you search for what some renowned people say about beauty and aging, you will come across some amazing insights into their state-of-mind rather their dwellings on the physicality of it.
The wiser among us deal better emotionally with aging and actually look better. Mastering the art of aging gracefully involve adopting a positive attitude and way of life.
Pearls of Wisdom
It’s not just movie stars who can impart their secrets to discovering the fountain of youth, but philanthropists, writers, politicians, and other great minds of the century. Typically, those who are better known for their brains than beauty (or both) and who by nature (or principle), would not resort to cosmetic surgery.
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt once said that “Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.” British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist and UN Messenger of Peace Dame Jane Morris Goodall, once said that aging “is an unfortunate thing that happens. I mean, yes, you can have millions of face-lifts and all these different things that women have done to their bodies…. But personally (a) I haven’t got the money for that, (b) I haven’t got the time for it, and (c) there are more important things to me than how you look. I think the most important thing is to keep active and to hope that your mind stays active.”
U.S. political activist, author, and lecturer Helen Keller is quoted as saying: “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.” So many intellectuals from so many different walks of life have shared similar pearls of wisdom from Betty Friedan, to Doris Lessing, Margaret Thatcher, and many men too. It was Mark Twain who said that “age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter” and U.S. baseball legend Satchel Paige who imparted this gem: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”
Bottom Line
The common denominator is that these people managed to age gracefully, not by ignoring or neglecting their beauty, but by remaining mentally active, physically fit, and by refusing to be dominated by thoughts of aging, peer pressure, or whatever it is causes us to fear the inevitable onset of wrinkles.
A Bit of Help Won’t Hurt
While aging gracefully is not about subjecting yourself to cosmetic surgery till you’re beyond recognition, it doesn’t hurt to take proper care of your skin. The secret is to find a beauty regimen that fits your mindset and to adopt a healthy attitude — that’s how to age gracefully.
Take it from screen goddess of all ages Sophia Loren: “There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”
