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Look for the Moon in the Morning, is a collection of
inspirational essays written especially for women by Leda
Sanford , while she was the editorial director of Get Up &
Go!, the magazine for women living anew .
The magazine received more than 100,000 requests for a
brochure featuring a sampling of these essays - which
attests to the widespread appeal of Leda's message.
These essays express her philosophy that it's never too
late to recreate ourselves, to explore new horizons and
to enhance the quality of our lives.
Available from Elders Academy Press www.elderpress.org
Phone 415-861-3455. Also at www.amazon.com.
Excerpt from Look for the Moon in the Morning
The Art of Living Is the Art of Aging
Instead of giving in to stereotypes, make your
own definitions.
Do you remember when it was accepted knowledge
that once a woman had a baby she would lost her girlish
figure, and after two or three children—well, as they say
in New York, fuhgedaboudit. Yet today we see women
with flat tummies and great bodies pushing baby
carriages or lugging a couple of children. They’re trim
and in shape.
When did that previously accepted idea get rejected as
erroneous and become an untruth? It happened in the
late ’60s and ’70s, from my recollection, when women
first began to refuse to accept the loss of control over
their bodies simply because society told them that
flabbiness was an inevitability. They simply refused to
resign themselves to what former generations had
quietly accepted.
We are at that same place today when it comes to
aging. More and more people refuse to accept that
aging is synonymous with disease and despair. We just
won’t believe this. And because we won’t, and are
willing to use every means possible to maintain our vigor,
vitality, and vision of life, we are the pathfinders who are
redefining the essence of the good life by showing that
aging is part of it. The good life is not defined by the
boundary of whatever age you are—60, 70, 80. it is
essentially defined by YOU, your attitude, your mentality,
your spirit, and your commitment to quality of life right to
the end.
New standards of health, behavior, and excellence are
providing us with the motivation to maintain ourselves;
they also remove the need to apologize for how old we
are. Examples of other people who seem to defy the old
rules of life also provide us with inspiration to do likewise.
Consequently, there are no excuses for letting ourselves
go or for giving in to bad habits. Those habits, harmful to
body, mind, and spirit, are the true source of the decline
and deterioration that aging has been blamed for. The
only apologies we should make are for not being as good
as we can be, no matter how old we are.
| Leda Sanford was recently interviewed on the radio program Money and You Click here to hear the interview |
