The Power of Your Mind:
Age Is Merely a Number - True or False?

I dislike clichés, which are trite, stereotyped expressions that tend to lose impact because of overuse.  But, in celebrating my 71st birthday, I am begging your indulgence to allow me to use one to make a point: Is the statement, “Age Is Merely a Number,” true or false?

Answer:  It is true, if you believe it; it is false, if you do not.

I have constantly preached healthy practices that result in long, beautiful, youthful life spans, programs and products for from head to toe, inside and out, and I have put myself up as testimony to the fact that what I preach works.  But there is one very important aspect that I want to focus on this birthday.  Simply stated, it is your mind—your attitude—and the fact that you must believe in order to achieve.

All of our feelings, beliefs and knowledge are based on our internal thoughts, both conscious and subconscious.  We are in control, whether we know it or not.  The biggest difference between people is their attitudes.  We can be positive or negative, enthusiastic or dull, active or passive.  However we choose to be has an enormous effect on our youthfulness and well being, the way we feel inside, and the way we look.

Our present attitudes are habits, built from the feedback of parents, friends, society and self, that form our self-image. If this is negative, our lives can be miserable; but we can change it through positive thinking.  Positive thinking means admitting into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success.  It is the expectation of good and favorable results.  A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action.  Whatever the mind expects, it finds.

Positive and negative thinking are both contagious.  All of us affect, in one way or another, the people we meet.  This happens instinctively and on a subconscious level, through thoughts and feelings transference and through body language.  People sense our aura and are affected by our thoughts.  Is it any wonder that we want to be around positive persons and shun negative ones?  People are more disposed to help and want to be with us if we are positive.  They dislike and avoid anyone broadcasting negativity.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of a can do, positive attitude as it pertains to our aging process.  It is a popular subject, but many of us, nevertheless, do not allow it to penetrate.  Dr. Norman Vincent Peale wrote the book, The Power of Positive Thinking, in 1952.  It is still going strong, having sold 20 million copies in 41 languages.

Let’s look at some notable quotes on the subject.  Maybe they’ll be of help.  I know my inspiration was bolstered by them over the years:

• Abraham Lincoln:  Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
• Frank Lloyd Wright:  The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.
• Pearl Buck:  The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it.
• Lance Armstrong:  One of the redeeming things about being an athlete is redefining what is humanly possible.
• Paul Meyer:  Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon…must inevitably come to pass.
• Earl Nightingale:  Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude towards us.
• George Washington Carver:  99% of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
• Zig Ziglar:  It is not your aptitude, but your attitude, that determines your altitude.
• Norman Vincent Peale:  Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.  The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it.  You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.
• Aristotle:  Happiness depends upon ourselves.
• Tom Blandi:  Our attitudes control our lives.  Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad.  It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.
• Unknown:  Do not resent growing old.  Many are denied the privilege.
• Sydney Harris:  When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?”
• William Arthur Ward:  If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.  If you can dream it, you can become it.
• Buddha:  Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
• Mary Kay Ash:  Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.

• Christopher Reeve:  I am a lucky man.

So, now do you believe me? For all of the above mentioned people, “Age Is Merely a Number” is/was Truth!

I wish you all a long, happy, beautiful life.  I suggest you save this newsletter to reread on your birthday.