Old age is not for wimps

Ageing is largely unexplored territory. The deeper dimensions of elderhood, if we care to explore them, are the very opposite of decline.

Italian designer Giorgio Armani, 88, lives in a state of perpetual dissatisfaction as he wants his current work to be appreciated not for something he has done in the past. PHOTO: REUTERS
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A friend in her 70s is battling physical disabilities, but her mind is still diamond clear, resolutely unbowed by age. "Old age is not for wimps," she said to me recently. While illness or disability can strike at any time in life, with the years we know we must expect the vagaries of an ageing physical frame.

Physically, we have our chronological age but, according to modern medicine, we also have a biological age and a psychological age. Besides these, I believe there is an age of intuitive maturity, tied to our deeper life perceptions.

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