How Belief and Behavior Interact

Belief drives behavior, except when it doesn’t. What we believe reflects in how we act. If we believe that we’re getting old (and not in a good way), our behavior will modify. For instance, gravity takes it’s toll. A lifetime of not standing up tall and straight begins to show with shoulders that round in, a head that sits forward of the chest, and a chest that slumps into the hips. We assume that’s a sign of aging, and therefore, we don’t fight as strongly to correct the issue. After all, we’re getting up there in age. It’s so much harder to maintain.

And that is exactly my point. It is harder to maintain. So what? It isn’t because you are now older that your posture suffers; it’s because you haven’t stood up straight since you were 19 years old, and trying to impress someone. Age is just the excuse to justify current behavior.

But what if you changed your behavior? Belief drives behavior, except when it doesn’t. Like everything else, change requires dedicated practice until the habit kicks in, somewhere around 66 days, according to the latest statistics. If you stood up straight, shoulders back, and head in line with your spine, would it change your belief about how you are aging? And the answer is, yes it would. Because you would feel better. You feel as old as you act, believe, and move. Even though your hands and face may show wrinkles, if that child inside you is still functioning, that child doesn’t believe in aging. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be so enchanted by Peter Pan, the eternal child in all of us.

I believe that I am getting older, but I don’t believe that I am old. There is a distinction. Someone getting older will still swing on monkey bars, but someone old may not risk the injury, or the ability to hang their full weight from their wrists. Everyone knows that old people have no grip strength (right?), but people getting older probably still do. The only change between the two is the belief system. It comes down to how much you have moved in the last 30 years and what you think that means. Maybe, instead of agonizing about your loss of general fitness, you might consider just moving everything more.

Of course it’s harder now, because you have been sitting or doing repetitive motions for the last 30 years. To change your belief, you are going to have to change your behavior. Do something new: speed walk instead of ambling, jog if you can, take the stairs more often, go out to a playground and swing, play a round of Hopscotch or get down on the floor and play with the dog or the grandkids. Move more, move often, think of yourself as a moving entity. And stop whining about how old you are.

That’s Aging Intelligently.