Why is it that as people age it seems they become more negative, not all of them, just a lot of them?
In life either you follow your desires or you try to live a desireless life. Know that you can never reach satisfaction by fulfilling your desires. Your desire will be fulfilled, but you will not feel fulfilled. Fulfill desire and you will have more desire. Then, when people come to the end of their life and sense they do not have much more time to live, they become frustrated for having not fulfilled all their desires. Anger comes from unfulfilled desire. Anger makes these people become difficult, and possibly die angry.
Face old age the right way
There are those people that have lived their life in a selfless manner, letting go of their ambition and desire. They know that life has a different meaning, other than trying to fulfill desires. They’re living their life meaningfully every minute, and they don’t nurture ambition and personal desire. In this way they are more ready to face old age and to face the moment of transition. Everyone has to go through that tranisition. We’re not going to be young forever, so we have to cultivate something that is lasting.
Invest in your spirit
The meaning of the spiritual life is to invest into something that lasts after you die, after you leave this body. Invest in your spirit. The more you invest in your spirit the happier you are leaving this body, because you feel fulfilled. Not that you satisfied all your desires before you leave this life, but because you are fulfilled. You will never feel fulfilled if you try to achieve satisfaction from the outside, thinking “I will do this, I will do that, I will complete this, and then I will be happy.” Invest your life energy into finding the fulfillment of this moment, that is a spiritual life, and then you are okay.
Author: Swami Sitaramananda
Swami Sitaramananda is a senior acharya of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers and is director of the Sivananda Yoga Farm, California and the Sivananda Yoga Resort and Training Center, Vietnam. She is acharya of China, Taiwan, and Japan as well. Swamiji is the organizer and main teacher of the Sivananda Yoga Health Educator Training (SYHET), an 800-hour program on yoga therapy, accredited by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Swamiji is the author of Essentials of Yoga Practice and Philosophy (translated in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese), Positive Thinking Manual, Karma Yoga Manual, Swamiji Said, a collection of teachings by Swami Vishnu in His Own Words, as well as two poem books. She is responsible for the Vietnamese translation of The Completed Illustrated Book of Yoga. Some of her audio lectures on Yoga Life, articles, and webinar presentations can be found on the website.
