The Art of Dying Young ...

Age is considered a function of time. It is calculated as chronological time from birth. May be that concepts needs to be revisted. How about age as a function of lifestyle or daily habits? What if their is a lifestyle that can keep us younger for a long time.

So here are my 7 daily habits of living young.

1. Reduce stress: Stress ought to be the number one factor in aging. Work stress, traffic stress, money stress, shopping stress, minimum-payment-due stress, what-to-do-on-longweekend stress. The way out of it , ACCEPT LIFE. Let things be. Accepting does not mean, not doing anything about the things you don't like.. but first being okay with the way things are. And giving up that there is something wrong.

2. Eat right : Diet is a billion dollar industry. Atkins, south beach, weight watchers ..you name it , it seems everyone and their cousin has a book on diet. The key point that is missed is listening to your body. Everyone is not the same, and if you listen to your body it is giving you signals all the time what works and does not work for you. So observe what the body is telling you and eat accordingly. (And don't forget those vitamins)!!

3 Meditate: First came IQ and one's success was related to his intelligence. And then Daniel Goleman introduced us to Emotional Quotient or EQ and his theory that success depends a lot on being able to deal with a variety of circumstances and people without affecting your emotional state. But recently it was realized that this is not enough. With a record number of CEOs behind bars for fraud, its seems that there is more to success than IQ and EQ. This missing thing is been coined as spiritual quotient or SQ. Its about the values like inner peace, making a difference, living in the present moment. While you don't need to have the SQ of Dalai Lama , you can definitely add more peace to your life by taking on some form of meditation like yoga, spiritual reading, breathing exercise to your schedule.

4 Work Out: In todays world our time is divided into doing things, that what we have to do(powerpoint, documents, spreadsheet) and then things what we want to do (blogging, messaging, youtube, orkut). Either waus we spend 80% of our non-sleep time sitting in one place, glaring at those 1280 x 800 dots. Take a break from that. Go work out. Whether it be some sports, rollerblading, going to gym.. give your body a change that it deserves. And top it with some form of stretching,yoga or pilates or just POCD (plain old clubbing and dancing).

5 Indulgence : Have a passion. Indulge in that everyday. Be it music or cooking or just meet a good friend for dinner. Indulge in doing something you enjoy immensely without a reason. Just as a celebration. A celebration of being alive and everything that is good.

6. Do a good turn : It has been scientifically proven that the hormones released by hate and jealously causes diseases. On the other hand the chemicals produced by love and activities that makes a difference causes positive effect on the body. So do something good everyday, help someone for no reason and your body will reap the benefits for years to come.

7. Appreciate and acknowledge: Last but not least, before going to bed appreciate what went well during the day. Too much of our life is spent on complaining what went wrong and we often forget things that went well but could have gone wrong. And the amazing family and friends we have. So list atleast five things that you could be thankful for. Remember iff you can't come up with five, there is something wrong with you not life.

So stay young till you live and then die young. Thats what i plan to do. And then here is what life looks like

Parking on South Beach 12$
Cover charge to get in the club 15$
Rum and Coke at the bar 8$
Being ID by the hot bartender : Priceless!!

There are some things money can't buy (and feeling young is definitely one of them...)