Mantra for Monday no. 104

Recently I've been listening 'Tuesday's with Morrie' as an audio book when I go for a run. 

I love listening to inspiring and meaningful words as I run across the tracks and fields, I choose this over music and let me mind run free. The only downside is that the words that find most meaning for me are often 'lost' as I have no method of noting or recording them as I run. However today I listened back to the chapter to remind myself of it's truth. 

The quote below is a based on the words in the book, I have not taken it verbatim but have extract the essence that resounded with me. These are written as Morrie's words (as he lay dying at the age of 78):

“All this emphasis on youth, I don’t buy it. I know of the inadequacies of youth, the young are no so wise… I embrace ageing, it’s very simple, as you grow you learn more. If you stayed at 22 you’d always be as ignorant as you were at 22. Ageing is not just decay, it’s growth. It’s more than the negative that you are going to die it’s also the positive that you understand you are going to die and that you live a better life because of it.

So, why do people always say “oh, if I were young again” 

You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives, unfulfilled lives, lives that haven’t found meaning because if you have found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back you want to go forward- see more, do more… all younger people should know something, if you are always battling against getting older you are always going to be unhappy because it will happen anyhow. 

Accept who you are, where you are and revel in that. Find what is good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now, looking back makes you competitive, and age is not a competitive issue. Part of me is every age… i’ve been through all of these ages and I know what it's like and have delighted in being all of these. How can I be envious of who you are when i've been there myself."

What is Mantra for Monday?