Is old age a time for summing up what life has been?

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Prismatic

New Member
Location
Southern California
Maybe some of the details have vanished from memory, but I find that remembering things in the older years often reveals elements that escaped me before. In my younger years I pretty much took things as they came, without much analysis. Now I see my relationships and my jobs in a somewhat different and deeper light, from a new angle. These insights don't totally change what I remember, but they often shift the emphasis or reveal different motivations.
 

Prismatic, I think realizations come to us at different intervals... naturally most of these come as we rack up more memories. :)

I agree, reflection on our lives wasn't a big deal when we were much younger. We were too busy.

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Yes. While certain memories were treasured in the younger years, today I make more of an effort to create happy memorable moments with both family and friends. Life is precious!

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Prismatic said:
...... but I find that remembering things in the older years often reveals elements that escaped me before. In my younger years I pretty much took things as they came, without much analysis.......
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I've always been pretty much the opposite. I have always looked ahead, planned, budgeted, followed through. I didn't take things 'as they came', I made things happen for myself. I still rarely reflect on anything in the past. I still plan what I'm going to be doing in the future, but now, over a shorter time period, usually what I'm going to do in the next year. I've never been passive in my approach to living.
 
Hi Prismatic!

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Prismatic, this is a wonderful thing to ponder. As I child I would take things day to day and even in my teen years. Once I was married and eventually had my daughter my outlook of things changed a lot. I began to think about thing differently and what was in store for me in the future. At this time of my life I was going to be turning 30 years old and had my entire life ahead of me. So I decided to start writing a journal about many things that were happening in my life. My daughter who was just a baby and all the travels that we as a family have taken over those many years. I continue to write the journals, but not as frequent as I did and have events such as all three grandchildren being born and graduating high school and one graduating college. I sometimes go back and look at things in those journals and remember the past.
 
Welcome Prismatic

I am contemplating your username and find it very interesting.

Prisms can affect out vision, distorting or enhancing clarity, and I am thinking about the prisms that we look through at different stages of our lives. I am an ex teacher so it will be no surprise to learn that I view life as a series of teaching moments. Every experience from cradle to grave teaches us something and every interaction we have with another teaches us both. We forget most of these moments but sometimes when we least expect it, we remember an experience, something we read or heard and it seems to be there for one reason - it is relevant to our present circumstance.

Now in my 77th year I often find myself thinking about events and people and the way they have shaped me. I seem to recall only the positive lessons, almost all of the painful ones have dropped away. My emotional response is one of gratitude and calmness about my future as my days continue to run out. So to answer your original question, I do think old age is a time for summing up our past lives but let us not forget that there is more life yet to come. May our summation of life add to our inner strength, even as our bodies are becoming weaker.

How does life look through your prism?
 
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Prismatic said:
Maybe some of the details have vanished from memory, but I find that remembering things in the older years often reveals elements that escaped me before. In my younger years I pretty much took things as they came, without much analysis. Now I see my relationships and my jobs in a somewhat different and deeper light, from a new angle. These insights don't totally change what I remember, but they often shift the emphasis or reveal different motivations.
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reminds me of a poster I created

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