How you age matters

"Age doesn't matter. What matters most is how you age, and how you spend the time in between," says author Ritu Ghatourey.

In our culture, that quote seems almost counter-cultural. Our society celebrates youth—and you can hardly see a magazine on the newsstand that doesn't contain articles on how to remove wrinkles, shore up a sagging body, and keep that youthful figure and appearance.  There aren't many media messages that celebrate aging.

You and I can live in a counter-cultural way, however. We can enjoy our aging process. We can celebrate it. We can spend our time in gratitude for the abilities we still have, for the life experiences we have had, for the people in our lives—in other words, for all that has been, all that is, and all that's yet to come. We can see the glass half-full rather than half-empty. We can age well—aging both gracefully and gratefully.

Doing so means tending to the letting go process: letting go of attitudes and resentments that no longer serve us. And it means also tending to the grief process for those abilities and things we may have lost as we age. Once we have grieved such losses, we can let them go—and move on to celebrate the life and abilities we do have.