Thursday's Living the Good Life:

Throughout life, we cannot be blind to the truism's that encounter and observe. Our parent's, grandparent's, aunts and uncles get older, and with age, change and limitations. From casual to meticulous observation, we see predictable changes, and have our own understandings of age, and aging. When you are a doctor, counselor and pastor, as I have been throughout my life, my observances include tests, profiles and inventories, weights and measures and clinical and laboratory findings. Almost all of these measures allows comparison with other's but lacks clarity of personal interpretation or understanding.

Two features of aging have held constant for the past few hundred years. Youth has bodies that are much more flexible, and flexibility begins to reduce early and throughout life. Physical activity is at a high at infancy, reducing significantly by our late 20's. The world's "greatest athlete" Jim Thorpe, God Medalist in the 30's was hired by a pediatric to mimic the movement and actions of a 3 year old, Thorpe threw in the towel after 30 minutes, not being able to do that much activity. These have been my gold standards for evaluating the aging and impaired health of my clients.

Flexibility and activity are also measures of emotional and spiritual health. So, anti-aging movement's, may not be finding the "magic" herbs, nutrients and superfood's, but may be as simple as staying engaged with life as you count the passing of time. Walking is the single best movement for our species, and when done in nature, with occasional aerobic bursts is as good as it gets. Both the stretching and breathing of yoga helps flexibility, as do the gymnasium stretches of western practice.

There are countless approaches to personal growth and self-awareness, but this should be on the daily calendar as well. Meditation, more than applied thought, and prayer are two practices that I hold dear, when it comes to my daily review and intention. Spiritual discipline is key, but so very individual, coming from family, culture and experience.

yes, juice fasting, fasting, many herbs, foods and concentrated nutrients can be part of an anti-aging approach, but just keep on trucking is a very good adage.