Victoria Moran - Younger by the Day

From Page to Practice:

Real Women on Becoming Younger by the Day

Every other Tuesday, 14 women from across America get together to talk. They laugh, share stories, encourage each other, and listen. They talk about how it feels to be a mature woman today: the joys of achievement, of coming into their own, of watching their kids grow up. They also share their fearsparticularly the way it feels to grow older in a society that isnt always comfortable with women as they age.

Together with author and life-transformation coach Victoria Moran these women have taken on a six-month challenge: one day at a time theyre becoming Younger by the Day , cultivating greater energy, vibrancy, and confidence, steadfast serenity, timeless beauty, and an extended prime.

Now its your turn to join the program, join the conversation, and meet the women of Younger by the Day !

The following conversation took place on Tuesday October 19, 2004.

Victoria Moran: Hi! I wanted to have a couple of you identify yourselves geographically so the people who are joining us via e-book can get a sense of how diverse we are; I am going to let them know first who we are and what we are about. As you know Im Victoria Moran, the author of Younger by the Day , and the wonderful women who will be joining me in the next hour are members of the Younger by the Day focus group that has been going on for several months prior to the publication of Younger by the Day . These 14 women have been working with the Younger by the Day program and having all sorts of wonderful things happen as a result. We have been getting together every other Tuesday night on the phone and sharing, much the way that I suggest in Younger by the Day you might want to get together with women that you know in your neighborhood, in your city, or even the way we are doing iton a bridge-line phone conversation that includes women from throughout the United States and one woman from Canada. I also want to comment, for those of you who have purchased the e-book: I am not technological, and one of the readings in Younger by the Day talks about keeping up with technology as one way to stay younger. I have to tell you that youre farther ahead than the author if youre reading this book in e-book form. I think thats terrific, and believe me, you will beat me to the punch on that one. So, ladies of the focus group, what would you like to share about whats been going on with you over the past couple of weeks?

Letitia : This is Tish. I loved the chapter on speaking the language of transformation and found that just thinking in terms of transformation is just so life-changing. I think you suggested that instead of being tentative, [we should] be positive, and that sometimes we can be positive about something even if we might not fully believe it yet. Saying, Yes, of course I can do that or, I would love to do that propels us along to the point where we really do believe that we can do it.

Victoria: Your words are so powerful! We have the idea that words only communicate, but they also create . People say things like, Oh, he was really a pain in the neck and theyre really saying I am going to have neck pain. And people that say, I am so stupid will end up learning stupid things, because our brains and our cells hear what we tell them. So, we want to tell them good stuff. We want to tell the world the best, and expect the world to give us back the best.

Lani: This is Lani in Nova Scotia.

Victoria: Hi, Lani.

Lani: Hi. We got a new puppy, partly motivated by Younger by the Day , because I thought: How I am going to exercise in the wind and snow of winter in Nova Scotia? I think having a dog will do that.

Victoria: Wonderful! I dont think weve gotten into the chapter yet on adopting an animal companion (I think thats later in the year). Its a wonderful thing, because animals are always young even when they are not. I have an 11 year old dog. She is a larger dog, so 11 is, you know, an age of substance. In the past year shes gotten grey hairs all over her facewhite hairs, I guess. Shes a red dog and has these white eye-brows, and now shes a little white around her nose and mouth too, and people ask if shes a mix until I set them straight on that and say she is a purebred Aspen (thats her nameAspen) and yes, she is a mix. But now that she has these white hairs they will say, Oh, she is old, isnt she? I think it is a society-wide problem that you cant even have a fabulous dog who believes she is a puppy get little white hairs without people saying, Oh, she is old, isnt she? You could come up with a great line, like She is a purebred Aspen, to respond to the old comment, or say shes lived a long time, and that means she is wiser than the average dog.

Female Speaker: And dogs still have that wonderful outlook and that playfulness. I know because I have two golden retrieversone is ten and one is eightand they still love to play ballthey just have that wonderful outlook on life.

Victoria: Because they dont speak English. So when people say, She is old, the dog thinks they are saying something like You want a biscuit?

Female Speaker: Right.

Victoria: Because, my dog dances if you say the word W A L K she just leaps into the air, circles in the air. Its balletic, and she probably shouldnt do it because she has arthritis in her back leg, but then we can dance. Dance! I wasnt going to do this until later, but since I started talking about dancing, I am going to do it now. For those of you who have gotten my e-mail today, I told you that when I was cleaning out my book case, I found a notebook and I found a chapter of Younger by the Day I had forgotten Id written and it never got in the book. So, because on DVDs they include things that didnt get into the movie, this can be an e-book with something that didnt get in the book. I am going to read this to you. This chapter was at one time going to be called Dance.

If you can walk, you can dance. Dancing makes a bold statement that you believe in life and you are part in it. This is not about exercise, although dancing certainly has that benefit. This is about dancing as a way of embodying joy. Sure, you can take dance classes or go out dancing, and I hope you do. But just dancingfor fun, for the heck of it, by yourself or with a willing partneris an immediate means for lessening anxiety and entering an altered state. If you find yourself tapping your foot in time to music, its a sign that you ought to be dancing. If you feel a surge of delight, thats dancing energy! Put on some music and move with it. Roll and glide, or shimmy and shakeit all works. You dont have to be good at dancing for it to make you younger. I think I learned the rumba and the fox trot back in elementary school when knowing such things was considered socially appropriate, but I remember none of it, except something about 1 2 3, 1 2 3 with the emphasis on the 1. I dance anywayusually alone in my apartment and it feels grand. A body thats dancing is not aging. So, how about it? Rejuvenate yourself with action. Put on some music and move around a little. You can call upon the spirits of Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Dennis, and Martha Graham.

And as I mention those wonderful dancers, I am reminded of the chapter in Younger by the Day about biographies; all three of these women have fabulous biographies. I remember reading the Ruth St. Dennis biography, and it captivated me. She was the least known of the three. It absolutely carried me away. She talked about discovering all sorts of philosophies and emergence and how whenever she traveled, she always carried a New Testament and a bunch of ID tests, and that was just a way to energize her when she was on stage. They all have fascinating stories. So, enjoy! Do some dancing!