You are only as old as you think you are!

There is a famous saying, "You are only as old as you think (or feel) you are", and this relates to our psychological age. We can change our psychological age by interweaving personal and social factors. Among the major factors are our regular daily and work routine, job satisfaction, satisfying long-term relationships and feeling of personal happiness, love and compassion.

A psychologist from University of California, Larry Scherwitz, did an interesting study. He taped the conversations of nearly 600 men, a third of whom were suffering from heart disease, and the rest of whom were healthy. Listening to the tapes, he counted how often each men used the words I, me and mine. Comparing his results with the frequency of heart disease, Scherwitz found that men who used the first-person pronoun most often had the higher risk of heart trouble. In addition, by following his subjects for several years, he found that the more a man habitually talked about himself, the greater the chance he would actually have a coronary disease.

Counting the times a person said "I" was an ingenious way to quantify self-absorption. This means the less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers. The antidote for this is to be more giving, as Scherwitz concluded:

Listen with regard when others talk; 

Give your time and energy to others; 

Let others have their way; and

Do things for reasons other than furthering your own needs.

Now, tell me how old are you?