What Anti-Aging is All About

It’s the end of July, the height of summer, but because I have the privilege of living in western Oregon, I awake to a gloriously chilly 54 degree morning.  It’s 6:30 on a Saturday.  I’m awoken not by my clock radio but by the rat-a-tat-tat of a bird pecking at insects in the rain gutter outside my bedroom window.  All the windows are open.  The room is cold enough for me to burrow under the down comforter.  And it there I stay, in that lovely state between dream and waking, for almost an hour.I think, and then I don’t think.  I breath the crisp air, conscious of it filling my lungs, and then not aware at all.  My mind wanders: what do I have to do today did I overwater the garden last night should I check the amazon ranking of the book did the cat stay out all night.  Then I go blank.  Then I conscious-dream about my mother. I stretch my legs, my arms, wiggle my toes, enjoying, thoughtlessly, how my body feels. And then I do think.  I think how delighted I am to have a strong, healthy and pain-free body.  I think about the energy I feel inside me waiting to be called on.  I think about how clear my mind is at this moment, how sharp my hearing.  I am both treasuring the moment and looking forward to how the day will unfold, both content and deeply curious.I drift away and come back again. And when I come back, I come back to these thoughts:  Yes!  This is what “anti-aging” is all about.  This, right now, is why I traveled the country talking to experts, why I read books and struggled through scientific journals, why I went to boot camp, detoxed, ate superfoods, why I did (do) yoga and CrossFit and Tabata, why I have the 7-minute workout app on my phone.  It is to feel like this. To think like this.  To be like this.