I went to see Sunset Boulevard last night starring Glenn Close. Close was absolutely fantastic, portraying the figure of Norma Desmond in this dark and rather twisted drama. Norma is an aging actress whose mind has frozen in the era of when she was at the height of her success and youth. The storyline was a sad reminder of how important it is to accept our inevitable aging process and to embrace it positively. One of the last lines in the play is "There is nothing wrong with being fifty unless you are acting like you are twenty".
A fantastic book that I read recently written by face reader, Jean Haner (The Wisdom of Your Face), wonderfully goes against this crazy current culture of the hatred of aging. According to Haner - not only does each wrinkle represent an important life lesson, but she actively encourages us to increase certain lines such as the ones at the sides of our mouth. These lines when very marked, apparently mean that we are living our life's purpose. 'Crow's feet', described here as joy lines are another one to further develop - kind of like feng-shui-ing our faces - the more joy lines we have - the more of it will flow to us!
As a woman in my late thirties who would ultimately like to age gracefully rather than falling for the trap of trying to rewind time, I find this kind of information psychologically helpful. There are days when I look in the mirror and already I think 'What the Hell happened? Maybe it is time to do something to help ease the lines under my eyes?' However now being armoured with Haner's knowledge that the lines under the eyes represent deep emotional experiences in our thirties, I am more likely to accept what I see in the mirror. During my early thirties I lost my dear father, got married and had two children - so I am certainly not going to eradicate any of those emotional experiences away. Haner also happens to note that in traditional face reading - the bigger your snoz, the more important the decade of your forties could be. I love it!
I have used my new face reading information to look at my own children's faces and although a child's face is constantly developing, there are certain features that can indicate tendencies within personalities. For example I've discovered that my daughter is more of a dawdler type. This has provided me with invaluable understanding that allows me to have the patience to let my daughter take her time. You would be amazed at how this has created more peace in our home in place of my constant nagging.
The actress Cameron Diaz has just brought out a book called The Longevity Book, which specifically targets the issue of aging and how we relate to it. She explains that seeing ourselves biologically as bones, blood and skin allows us to more easily accept our aging process in a positive light. Here Diaz encourages us to focus more on the fact that our heart is pumping is rather than the lines on our faces. The point here being that it is in fact an honour and a miracle that we are aging because as Diaz writes "Aging is living, because If you're aging, that means you're alive". And alive is good!