“When it comes to staying young, a mind-lift beats a face-lift any day!” —Marty Bucella
I have made friends with an AMAZING woman through this blog. I want to tell you about Maggie Rose Crane and her wonderful book: AMAZING GRAYS: A Woman’s Guide to Making the Next 50 the BEST 50.
We all have had those days when everything changes, those moments when we realize we’ve been taken in by the Madison Avenue culture of youth and beauty, and Maggie’s was a few years ago while getting her gray hair dyed. BOOM, she suddenly realized that she needed a whole new perspective on being in her 50’s and feeling good about it. She describes it this way:
We have come to a crossroads, and the direction that each of us chooses to take will determine how we experience the rest of our life.
Maggie is determined to let go of all of her previous conditioning and expectations of aging, and create her own experience. Her exciting new book explores and analyzes our culture’s social, psychological, and spiritual assumptions about aging in the midst of our youth-obsessed culture, and all from the baby boomer perspective. She looks deeply into how our minds create unrealistic expectations just out of habit, and how important it is that we challenge those false assumptions about ourselves and our aging process.
Maggie says:
I found that as I aged, doing good became more important than looking good. I had enough stuff. I was moved to express my authenticity, deepen my spirituality, and challenge the beliefs that kept me contained and my personal world small. It seemed more important than ever to fill my life with the people, experiences and adventures that engage me and encourage me to live fully and authentically, so I can live the rest of my years with more gusto, passion, and curiosity than I’ve ever known before.”
The name of one of her chapters is: Don’t believe everything you think, and it’s very true! The thoughts that float around in our heads, and the fears that grow from them, actually have very little basis in reality. They stem from a lifetime of conditioning. We must challenge those beliefs and then carefully and rationally choose another perspective.
There’s just so much wisdom in this book! I know what I’m reading to celebrate my birthday, and to continue aging with grace and gusto!!! Thank you Maggie and age on everyone!
