Getting Old – Archive Article 8th October 1999
December 13, 2008

Getting old is not identical with fate. Individuals play a major role in designing their own process of aging. Tony Buzan and Raymond Keene have written a brilliant book on aging called: The Age Heresy: You Can Achieve More – Not Less – As You Get Older. Tony Buzan is the creator of Mind Maps and the concept of mental literacy. Also, he taught me “speed reading” three decades ago, when I was a university undergraduate – one of the best investments I have ever made. Also in the UK is the co-author Raymond Keene, an international Chess Grandmaster and one of the leading figures in British chess playing. These are both experts on how the mind operates. The book argues that people do not so much get older – they get better. But a person needs to work at it. First, they must stay socially involved. Among those who decline, deterioration is the most rapid in older people who withdraw from life.

Second, they must stay mentally active. Well educated people who continue their intellectual interests tend to increase their verbal intelligence throughout old age.

Third, a person needs a flexible personality. People most able to tolerate ambiguity and enjoy new experiences in middle age, maintained their mental alertness best through old age. As the book notes: “Old dogs rarely have real difficulty learning new tricks; they more often have difficulty convincing themselves that it is worth the effort”.

Fourth, an older person should stop putting themselves down. As the book explains, a 6 year old child who forgets their sweets or homework does not suddenly say: “I’m six years old and my memory is going”. If a child is smart enough to avoid putting themselves down, then adults should follow their example.

Indeed, older people often have a better memory than they acknowledge. Long-term memory is that process which is so “automatic” that many people don’t even realize that is memory. For example, every word of every language a person speaks daily is a function of their long-term memory. It is also an example of the incredible continuing power and accuracy of those mental skills.

This is all part of the bigger issue of reversing the current negative social attitude towards aging, which suggests that age is somehow bad. Therefore, there has to be attention to positive aging, for example, the portrayal of older people in the media.

The book quotes Aristotle: “Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. It is the best provision for old age. Educated men and women are as much superior to the uneducated, as the living are to the dead”. Thousands of years later, that is still good advice.

It is also a reason why Wesley Mission is involved in so many formal and informal educational activities, such as Wesley Institute for Ministry and the Arts and the School for Seniors. Wesley Mission is one of the largest providers of educational activities of any church in Australia.