“It’s not so hard living 400 years”

My friend Matt* swiveled his barstool as the stranger continued, “… you just have to keep finding new friends.”

“And you know what weirded me out?” Matt asked me as he retold the event.

“No, what was it?”

“I had been looking at myself in the bar mirror and was thinking how I know I’m going to live a long time and considering what it would be like to live a few hundred years.

“Then, as soon as he finished saying it, he walked away.”

All psychics can tell you stories like this. We hear several people give us the same message in a short span of time. Or in extreme cases, can be in bed when a radio alarm clock plays a song or program, we fumble and hit the switch,  but the radio drones on. The universe cares less about our understanding of causality than that we get the message.

You may have difficulty believing this, but when it happens to you – you pay attention. Or at least it would have benefited you to.

Matt and I looked young for our ages. People back then couldn’t believe I had been married for over 20 years and, though I’ve stopped exercising, my doctor said I could pass for ten years younger.

Every morning I used to wake up and utter the phrase, “Choose life, choose health, choose youth,” to set the tone for my day. For a while my schedule allowed me to exercise a good 15 – 20 hours a week. One hour of yoga starting at 5:30 am. On the days I didn’t lift weights, I’d do an hour of aerobic exercise; elliptical machine, stairs, swim, bicycle – whatever was available. On weight days I’d drop the aerobics down to two 20 minute sessions and do weights for about an hour and  a half in between.

Lǐ Qīngyún photographed in 1927 at the residence of General Yang Sen is said to live from 1677 or 1683 to May 6, 1933.

I felt excellent and loved the workout as much for the benefit it gave me as for the experience itself.

Perhaps in the late 1960’s or early 70’s, I heard the story of Li Ching-Yuen, a man from China born in 1677 by some accounts who lived until 1933, buried 22 wives if I remember right – I see in a couple of internet searches the number is 23. In any event, the story of Li Ching-Yuen and other long lived people gave me confidence I had the potential to live several hundred years.

In 2007 I went through a layoff; this was a little before the recession hit. That meant I had to focus on business and exercise had to be let go. A while after that my wife became seriously ill.

It became more important to focus on her recovery than my life extension program. She and I are in this together. I’m willing to shave off a few years here and there to remain in sync with her. Besides, it would do neither of us any good for me to be a paragon of health in isolation while watching her deteriorate.

People who are not married  a long time, or in a long-term committed relationship may find that a little hard to believe. It’s true, though. So I put my effort into caring for my wife rather than myself. How long I live is not important and never really was. It just seemed to me that if it were possible, there was no reason NOT to live to one’s full potential.

Coincidentally, the Dalai Lama must have been thinking about mortality this week:

Every one of us is getting older, which is a natural process. Time is constantly moving on, second by second. Nothing can stop it, but what we can do is use our time properly; that is in our hands. Whether we believe in a spiritual tradition or not, we need to use our time meaningfully. If over days, weeks, months and years, we have used our time in a meaningful way – when our last day comes, we’ll be happy, we’ll have no regrets.

~ Dalai Lama **
23 April 2012

Stephen, who you’ll meet when Unfolding: Nexus is published, once looked into the Akashic Records for me and said I have about five or six lives left before I’m done living life as a human. With rare exceptions, we all have to die at sometime. I’ve seen glimpses of  my future lives, so the number of years I spend in this one is not as important as the quality of the years I have.

Want to give it a whirl? Here are a few things to consider:

o Sit up straight – your mother was right.

o Practice moderation in all things – so was Socrates.

– Don’t eat ice cream every day.
– Eat it twice a month.
– Cut back on meat.
– And so on down the list…

o Exercise  – your body is made for it.

o Subdue your ego.

– It’s not the important thing – you are.
– Participate in something larger than yourself.

o Develop sound mental habits

– Pray
– Meditate
– Develop a positive internal dialog

o Learn something new each day

– Share it

o Take herbs and other supplements.

o Avoid fad food.

– Look for a diet that’s over 1,000 years old.
– Eat it.

o Practice being calm

– Empty yourself of wide emotional swings.
– When tensions rise

+ Ask, “What will the world remember of this 50 years form now?”
+ Act that way.

Is there a point to living longer than normal?

What’s normal?

The quality of our lifespans have been expanding for millenia. Why buck the trend? Don’t be one of those people who say, “If I’d have known I was going to live so long, I would have taken better care of myself.”

Pick a number –

Go for it!

– Jeffrey A. Limpert

__________________

* Name is changed
** The real one

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ching-Yuen
http://wehrintheworld.blogspot.com/2009/06/life-expectancy-over-time-charts.html

Image Information:

Live Longer

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/waltstoneburner/6078388974/

By Walt Stoneburner

_______________________________

Li ching-Yuen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Li_chingYuen.jpeg

Public Domain