As the years amble along, so does the body. Unfortunately it is mostly going south.

It is time to take a good look in the mirror (full length). If you are totally satisfied with what you see, you may stop reading this right now. But if you are like most of us baby boomers, our bodies and faces have a mind of their own.

This is not a dissertation on all the new methods of facial surgery and improvement. That’s because there are things you can start doing for yourself without the aid of a surgeon or dermatologist.

Check out your body. Do you wear the same size you’ve worn for the past ten years? Assuming of course you are satisfied with that size.

Diet is a bad word, one I personally detest. The minute I think diet… I want to eat. But start thinking about where you can pare off some calories. Eliminate your mocha java, sugar in your coffee, desserts, etc. You can actually change your eating habits where you almost won’t feel the pain. And your healthy and energetic side will thank you too!

For women, the hairdo is next. Have you been wearing long hair in a boring style since childhood? Long hair is great on the very young, but as the aging process sets in it may be time for a new and more upbeat hairdo.

Makeup: this too is for women only. Maybe you are wearing too much or too little. Drop in to your favorite department store. Those ladies behind the counters cannot wait to get their hands on your face and sell you a bunch of new makeup. So you can appease them by buying one or two products.

I know we all hate to pay retail. Evaluate your clothes and twirl all the way around as you look in your full length mirror. Do your clothes fit well? What about the color selection and how does it make your skin appear? True miniskirts and leisure suits are probably not appropriate… but it is all about how you look. You are the very best judge of this. Pick out clothes that make you feel good with lively colors that give you joy inside. Nothing is more beautiful than a confident person. This is a great beginning, and the cost is a whole lot less than drastic measures.

Facial exercises are great for both women and men. Easy to do and free after you purchase the video and instructions. The younger you start these exercises, the better the results. So, there are many small measures you can take to improve the way you look, and equally important, how you feel about the way you look!

Click here for Carol’s Web site.

When we baby boomers were young, we were rushing the years away. We could not wait to turn 18 and then 21 for all the freedom that comes with age. But by the time we hit forty, we were no longer in a big hurry for each year to be thrust upon us. We found out that with time comes responsibility and hard work. And when we hit “middle age,” we really want to slow the clock down. Thinking about and slowly ebbing towards retirement has some upside characteristics, but we still want the years to slow down. Especially when we look in the mirror and see the wrinkles slowly appearing … TURN BACK THE CLOCK!

How many times have you said, “Where have all the years gone?” It seems just like yesterday that we were giving our now grown sons or daughters a bottle, rocking them to sleep, going to their school functions and perhaps then their weddings.

Look at time on a daily basis. Remember when you were working and raising kids? If you had an extra half hour, which sometimes you didn’t, you ran at least five errands. Now as we get older we take a little longer (or a lot longer) to get things done, and even the planning of our time has expanded. Perhaps as you get up in the morning and you have five errands to run, you allocate at least two hours to get them done. And a whole hour to have breakfast and read the paper. If all you had available to you was a half hour to do errands, they would just have to wait.

And why not? You have spent a lot of years rushing around and this is your time to do things of choice rather than necessity. I remember planning a dinner party when I was much younger. I started cleaning the house and preparing the food the afternoon of the party. There was no choice. Today, when having company over, I set the table in the morning and get everything done by two in the afternoon. And sometimes I plan the menu days in advance.

Time has new meaning in life and as each year passes by, it becomes more and more valuable. What it boils down to is that our lives are merely minutes in the universe. We basically have only today. We know that yesterday is gone, hopefully along with our many mistakes and mishaps. Tomorrow is around the corner, and soon to be the present. The big lesson here is that every time you allow yourself to have a bad day … it becomes a yesterday that can never be retrieved.

To have a peaceful and serene day, one does not have to indulge in hours of meditation and mood altering situations.

Sure, every day brings issues to deal with and challenges to meet. Our list of things to do can be almost any size. Some of us work for a living and some do not. But we all have responsibilities.

Many things we have taken for granted the past few years now are a major cause of stress. Today we are in transition politically, economically, and socially, and are forced to make major changes in our lives and attitudes. But there is some good from all the outside chaos.

We are looking for less expensive ways to enjoy our free time. Some of us are starting to use libraries instead of buying new hardback books when they are hot off the press. We are walking and riding bicycles instead of popping into our cars every time we need something from the store. I think this helps us feel more appreciative in general about our lives.

Most of us follow a ritual of daily activity, depending on our lifestyle. If there were a magic wand that could erase problems and difficulties I would gladly wave it in front of you every day.

Today in our current society we are busier than ever just taking care of details. Computers help us pay our bills, emails take the place of hand-written notes, not to mention iPods, Blackberrys, GPS’s. Fax machines and cell phones, once extraordinary inventions, are just old stuff now. And with all these changes, somehow it takes longer to do some of the most mundane activities.

After spending many hours on the telephone pressing buttons to take care of a billing problem, with luck you may reach a real human being. You think the problem is solved until next month when the error appears once again. What about the cancellation notice of your insurance for no reason? What about the faulty merchandise you are trying to return? It is no wonder many of us feel frazzled at the end of the day.

So what is the solution to all this craziness we are experiencing in our lives?

First, give yourself five minutes to meditate. That is all you need; no fancy instructions. Sit quietly and breathe in four counts and out four counts. If there is music in the background, that’s fine but it does not matter. Then take about five minutes to write your intentions for the day. Keep it simple and be sure you can follow them. Then, the most important thing is to write down all the things you are thankful for. This is insulating and reminds you of your wonderful life. If there are some things you wish to happen, write them down too, as if they are already happening.

Wake up and smile, stretch, smell the coffee (or tea), and get out of bed saying to yourself, “Thank you for another wonderful day and opportunity in life.” Finally, remember that when you smile, it takes ten years off your appearance.