Being Valentine's Day, social media platforms are flooded with related messages including those in favour of and those against the celebration. Being empathic, I personally enjoy the spike in the energy of love and romance that permeates the air around this time of the year. The planet is in dire need of the healing energy of love.

One of the posts though, caught my attention. It read something to the effect that Valentine's Day is only for those that are 25 years old and younger. That triggered contemplation on my part, about the current perceptions concerning age.

We have been systematically brainwashed into thinking that we need to wind down as we get older. Retirement is set at a particular age and even earlier for women. We are bombarded subliminally with messages like these that cause us to question our self-worth because it leads us into believing that we are no longer considered productive after a certain point.

Having studied energy and various healing modalities over the years, I am well aware of the impact our thoughts have on our bodies. Our brains are our command centres and every thought and belief pattern we hold to be true within our core is accepted and implemented by our bodies.

WE TRULY ARE WHAT WE THINK!

I once had someone make an appointment to consult me concerning a niggling knee pain that hadn't resulted from any known physical injury. On closer inspection, it came to light that her malady was metaphysical in nature. It had manifested soon after her boyfriend proposed marriage. She was uncertain about the step she wanted to take next and it manifested as a pain in her right knee, the masculine side of her body. It had not occurred to her up until that point, how heavily the decision had been weighing upon her subconscious mind. Discovering the root cause of the pain helped her understand the impact of her thoughts upon her body, much to her amazement.

We seem to blink and the years pass. But with each passing year a wealth of knowledge and experience is gained by every single one of us. So, the older we get, the more experience and value we are able to offer to every situation we encounter in life. It sadly makes no sense, therefore, that we force into retirement our very best assets.

The Malian writer, Amadou Hampate Ba said: "When an elder dies, a library burns down."

There is that other saying that life begins at forty. But an article in The Daily Star on 08/01/2017 says that 60 is the new 40! "According to Cigna Insurance Services (UK) life really begins at 60... researchers are now saying that it is never too late to learn something new; and on top of that 'knowledge and experience' have no alternatives. And to develop experience you need to become a little bit older, bolder and wiser."

I couldn't agree more! I was faced with the daunting task of single handedly setting up this website with no prior technical knowledge to fall back on. After countless tutorial videos (and a lot more tears) I made steady progress, glitch after glitch - like finding myself on either the blog or gallery with no way to return to the main page, I had to discover, through trial and error, how to add a button "for Dorothy to CLICK her way back home" It has been a tremendous learning curve, akin to learning a complex foreign language. It is still a work in progress, especially trying to get the mobile view to mirror that of the desktop.

We endure many trials and tribulations along the journey to discovering our strengths. We grow and gain invaluable experience. Therefore, there must be a concerted effort made to bring about a shift in perception concerning the current notions regarding our "seasoned citizens" as I prefer to call them.

We should refuse to be brainwashed into thinking that we have to roll over and play dead once we reach a certain number of years on the planet! After all, God is constantly chiselling away at each and every one of His great works of art, till their very last breath! If He does not cease to mould and shape, or retire anyone prematurely, why shouldn't we live with equal passion about each and every breath as well, regardless of age?

By Adiela Akoo

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