I look in the mirror and see new lines on my face, a bit of drooping in places that never drooped before. I could wallow in self-pity and mourn the loss of my youth.  Instead, I choose to celebrate my years and experience.

I reflect on the rich, crazy and wonderful times I experienced in my life – being a hippie in the ‘60s; being a denizen of CBGB’s and part of the burgeoning punk rock scene in NYC in the ‘70s; coming into my own in the ensuing years; experiencing life as an entertainment lawyer, and giving it up to follow my dream to become a psychotherapist.

Here are some tips I have learned for embracing aging and letting go of grieving the loss of youth:

• Know that wisdom comes from life experience, not from reading about it.
• Appreciate yourself and what you have learned.
• Celebrate your accomplishments.
• Acknowledge your imperfections without judgment.  No one is perfect, young and old alike.
• Accept your limitations.  So what if you can no longer run a four- minute mile?
• Embrace patience.
• Have compassion for yourself, and for all others on this path called human existence.
• Celebrate impermanence.  After all, if things were permanent, nothing whatsoever would be possible.
• Relish interdependence.
• Reinforce your personal sense of spirituality through the beauty of nature, the arts and life’s little miracles.
• Share your gifts and experience with others, and teach them what you have learned through life’s trials and triumphs.
• Enjoy the quiet times.
• Create a list of things you’d like to accomplish, and set about doing them.  It’s not too late.
• Have a sense of honest humility about the things you’d like to accomplish but know that you may not be able to.  It’s OK.
• Don’t dwell on regrets.  Again, nobody is perfect.  Acknowledge what you’ve learned from mistakes along the way.
• Maintain a sense of humor and perspective, and laugh often.