Can life actually get better - NOT worse - as you age?

[Someone here]

@OBEler I've honestly stopped being happy since  the day I became an adult (not literally).  Happiness is when you are a child .childhood is paradise .look at those angels called children..they are happy for no reason. Old people (like 60-80) can't even sleep. My grandma considers sleeping for 3 hours straight an achievement. Let's be real for a moment please .

Edited 18 hours ago by Someone here

[Natasha Tori Maru]

@Someone here It could simply be that as you grew out of childhood you developed expectations and had expectations projected onto you.

I think in regard to aging up, you have a point touching on the complexity: we seem to trade one set of problems for another. We are less able, but more secure. Know what we want 'clarity', but don't always have the energy to pursue it. Master various parts of the world, but loose openness to knowing. Retire and have more free time: but with a body so broken we cannot enjoy it. Value others more as our social circle shrinks: only to have them die on you or battle debilitating illness. 'Youth is wasted on the young'

My advice to you is you cannot possibly conceptualize or try to imagine how you will experience aging. Just like you cannot conceptualize enlightenment. It's another one of those 'experiences'. I look back at my 30 year old self and almost pity her narrow scope of understanding. And knowing how ignorant I was makes me even more aware of how ignorant I am, now.

[Xonas Pitfall]

When would you say you noticed your energy and health depleting?

[Natasha Tori Maru]

40 minutes ago, Xonas Pitfall said:

When would you say you noticed your energy and health depleting?

I haven't noticed a lot so far. That being said I really take care of myself and respect my body more than most. 

What I have noticed is my recovery is longer - so things like hard weights, sprinting etc I need more time to recover. Shit like drinking and having less than 8 hours of sleep hit a bit different near 40. I am blessed with no injury or physical limitations.

I haven't experienced any cognitive changes yet. I never crash or slump. No brain fog unless I eat something I cannot digest 

[UnbornTao]

Another perspective is that life isn't going anywhere, even as circumstances change. 

Edited 16 hours ago by UnbornTao

[Carl-Richard]

My teens were amidst a few moments of escape a chronic mental health crisis so yes.

Edited 16 hours ago by Carl-Richard

[Someone here]

2 hours ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

It could simply be that as you grew out of childhood you developed expectations and had expectations projected onto you

On the money .

Expectations like "you gotta man up and make shit happen" . "You gotta hunt for money ..chicks & cars ."  " Where is your income? " ..its all matrix brainwashing.  I will tell you something..I have a hard time replying to someone calling my name ..I literally completely see that I'm not the human being Someone here .I know what I am but of course it can't be expressed and no one will understand me but I get it all thanks to Leo and Robert Adams. And I'm free from 99,9999 of mental suffering. I'm not happy still because of material stuff. But not because I care about the judgment from society..but because I do want certain things but I don't have them.

 

[Natasha Tori Maru]

1 hour ago, Someone here said:

On the money .

Expectations like "you gotta man up and make shit happen" . "You gotta hunt for money ..chicks & cars ."  " Where is your income? " ..its all matrix brainwashing.  I will tell you something..I have a hard time replying to someone calling my name ..I literally completely see that I'm not the human being Someone here .I know what I am but of course it can't be expressed and no one will understand me but I get it all thanks to Leo and Robert Adams. And I'm free from 99,9999 of mental suffering. I'm not happy still because of material stuff. But not because I care about the judgment from society..but because I do want certain things but I don't have them.

 

In my experience as you gain those things you seek, the desire is removed. This reveals a curious emptiness beneath. And diving into that emptiness has been the most revelatory and exciting part of growing older. The inner journey of purification as you attain things, and the synchronous falling away of seeking, lifts off the obscurity that expectation pushed onto us. Clarity. 

The importance of gaining pleasure or material things has been in the transformative experience and less the thing itself. There is no courage or virtue in being a celebrate monk in a cave unless you know what you are giving up. The experience of this reality is sacred.

I know you are already experiencing that process, because you have been on the path for a time already 😊 

...if you are doing it right, that is. And most aren't. Unfortunately most of society is locked in the wheel. Sleeping. And they won't comprehend the beauty of wisdom and experience in the face of the suffering that aging and limitation can bring. They fixate on the loss. Loss of beauty, youth. Ableness. Independence. And so the desire for these lost things takes over and locks people in a calcified mind of lack. 

I think this is why forgiveness and surrender are such strong pillars of progress.

Edited 13 hours ago by Natasha Tori Maru

[LoneWonderer]

Sorry people but I want to live a long and healthy pain free life as long as possible. I've always fought against the idea of becoming weak and feeble, overweight and complacent with age. 

Also I'm 26 so wtf do I know about life right? Anyways to whoever may read this, live like Bryan Johnson in your 20s and 30s and reap both the rewards of health and wisdom into your 40s and 50s is what I say.

Cheers

[Magnanimous]

10 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Everything gets better except your health and energy goes to shit.

Is that better overall or not......

[Leo Gura]

7 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

Is that better overall or not......

Depends on how good your health is.

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

13 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Everything gets better except your health and energy goes to shit.

So the 2 most important things you have as a human go to shit. Great. Not suprised at all of course, but reminding myself of what's gonna happen always makes me cheery LOL

[Miguel1]

For a lot of average, normal people, probably gets worse. They start simply just vegetating, turning into zombies. At least from outside observation.

For us serious self-developers and pure spiritualists, life tend to get better as we mature, get to know ourselves deeper, develop more courage and wisdom to go after what we truly want from life - considering the fact that health doesn't deteriorate too badly.

But at the same time, damn the hard core spiritual work does create the most depressing black pill existential crises. I deal with that by diving deep into creating art. Intuition says that with proper integration, the black pills turn into tremendous power for cutting-edge and amazing breakthroughs in any fields that I touch, but mostly art, as that is my main focus.

Edited 4 hours ago by Miguel1