And I think that is true. What strikes me is that Old Bill points us first to a marriage based on true minds. In other words, he urges a connection of understanding, of mental intercourse, of intellectual correspondence, of love through sympathetic knowing, of interactive appreciation, of interactive and mutual respect. This love is constant despite the vicissitudes of time, the difficulties of life--its ups and downs. It does not change due to aging. When rosy lips fade and and death draws neigh, love that is connected through true minds--or compassionate understanding does itself not change. We change. Life changes. Love with this basis does not change.
Love, The Long Life Enhancer
Research shows that love, loving, and being loved is a longevity enhancer. Abigail Trafford's book, "As Time Goes By" talks about being loved and loving again at 60. As a commenter on a review of her book on www.wowOwow.com noted, her own mother loved and was loved three times in her life--the last love and marriage at 90. Blue Zone Research studies the regions of the world where people commonly live active lives past the age of 100 years 'Blue Zones' are 'longevity hot-spots'.
The health benefits of love are far ranging--connection, communication, care, happiness, sex, fun, mutuality of interests--all these contribute to lowered stress and a stronger immune system, and better production of new tellures at the mitrochondrial level. It is at the mitrochondrial level that new cells and our basic energy is produced. Stress especially long term and unremitting stress--such as that in an abusive relationship--interferes with this production and promotes the development of free radicals--or damaged cells--the more damage the sooner death. Here is a long report from the Kronos Longevity Research Institute that details much of the biochemistry of longevity Read more :.
SO along with laughter, the chemistry of LOVE, the experience of love, the effects of love on the quality of life and longevity are undisputed.
Yet so many women (and men) find it difficult to "find" love. They "look" for it as if it were a prize to be located in an Easter egg hunt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg or were the afficomen hidden at Seder http://godssecret.wordpress.com/2009/01/ for kids to find. Love is not something outside of ourselves. It starts first within, in an appreciation of our own true mind, in communicating with ourselves that we are worthy and worth being loved by ourselves and by others. As our own rosy lips have faded and will fade with aging, we must love ourselves MORE to counter the overwhelmingly strong pop culture messages that disdain aging and hate and fear older people.
Our inner self then is the place to find love and it magnitizes a meeting of true minds. As we are electromagnetic systems--vibrating at certain megahertz, the love vibes we emit change as we first start accepting, appreciating and loving ourselves. What this means is that we have high self-esteem and feel good about ourselves. Those are the vibes that are emitted to potential lovers. These are the vibes that will bring a meeting of true minds and constant love.
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