For the last several weeks, I have written about the central theme of being in the Flow of Life as active adults. I discussed what is meant by Flow of Life and Fountain of Youth; how to get there, and some energy vandals that stop that vibrant energy from flowing. And how do we get back into, and stay in that Flow of Life? The final energy vandal I listed in the article on this subject was: “And finally, when you write your own story, you’ve let someone else “hold the pen”.
Where did that come from? It came from an old Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company advertisement that said:
“When writing the story of your life, DON’T LET ANYONE ELSE HOLD THE PEN”
That stands out as one of the great tag lines of all time.
So who is writing your story; who’s holding the pen? We know we are responsible for our own health, our own fitness, our own mindset and our own Joy of Life. Some seniors, today, allow other people to “hold the pen” when their senior life story is written. The allow kids, government, other family, situations, etc. to determine how their life will be lived. The don’t take responsibility for creating their own reality — they let circumstances or other people do it for them. Bruce Lee once said: “Circumstances, hell I make circumstances.” That’s a great line and we seniors should take it to heart.
Unfortunately, all too often we become complacent, get apathetic, and let others determine how we will live our lives. But if we want to keep our personal independence, then we have to “hold the pen”.
As a thinking older adult, we each have the ability to shape the rest of our life any way we want it. We can determine our general health, our posture, our overall positive or negative mindset, our mental attitude, our self-motivation, our actions, and most important, we can shape our own thoughts. And it’s important to remember that the thoughts held in mind become our reality.
How do you visualize your future? Well, how do you want to look? How do you want to feel? What do you want to do? How do you want others to see you? “Visualize” is the operative word here. You can shape your future by how you see and feel it now. You shape your body by what you picture in your mind, and then do something about. That’s what Arnold Schwarzenegger did to build his muscles to win bodybuilding championships. He also visualized himself as an actor — and became one. What you see and feel in your mind will become your reality — but only if you take action to turn on the flow of your Fountain of Youth, and make it happen. You can direct where you want that flow to go, or you can let someone else do it for you.
The late American Motivational Philosopher, Jim Rohn, once said, and I paraphrase, “The Fountain of Youth is within reach of anyone who wants to reach for it. The question is, who will reach?” I’ll rephrase it by saying it this way: “The Story of Your Senior Years is Ready to be Written, the question is, who will write it?”
As the Harley-Davidson ad said so clearly:”DON’T LET ANYONE ELSE HOLD THE PEN”
Thank you for reading.