Staying young at heart

The two most oft-repeated phrases these days are

” He/she is so young at heart” &

“Age is just a number”.

I was trying to understand the full relevance of these two statements. When do we consider a person to be young at heart? Obviously, when he/she does something which, based on stereotypes, a person of his/her biological age is not expected to do. It is our own perception that a person of a particular biological age is expected to act in a particular way. This perception stems from conditioned behavior or practices widely prevalent in society or in ones own family. ‘Age is just a number’ may or may not be a compliment. It may indicate that your action belies your age or depending on the tone in which it is said & the speaker’s body language, it may well mean that your actions are ‘childish’. Take for example the pictures posted on social media by a 60-year old man or woman trekking in the Himalayas or snorkeling in the Maldives or skiing in Austria or even boogieing the night away at a local disco..The viewer may say “wow” and comment on the lines of the two statements discussed above. Are the persons posting the pictures and the ones commenting on the same, irrespective of their biological ages , young at heart?

The test to be applied for the person commenting is whether he would like his elder family members ( parents/in-laws/uncles/aunts) to indulge in such acts and post them on social media. If the answer is NO, then the person concerned,even if young biologically cannot be said to be young at heart. So…. ultimately being ‘young at heart’ involves being ‘ young in the mind’. This equally applies to the person belying his biological age, as well. Mere physical activity defying biological age alone does not make one ‘young at heart’. How that person deals with new ideas, methods,trends and opinions of those younger to him in years is what really determines how young at heart he/she is. If riveted to ones own ideas, methods & practices in a blinkered approach, without weighing the pros and cons of fresh thoughts, any adventure pictures on Facebook or however youthful one looks, ‘ young at heart’? Oh no! Those who realize this, bridge the generation gap and learn new skills, adopt new technologies are the ones who can really be said to be young at heart. Realization comes from the mind and so…………… to be young at heart, one should first be young in the mind. Then Age will be a meaningful number.