Eckhart Tolle watches himself age through small moments: a younger man offers his seat, someone faster asks if he's okay. Time gives experiences, then takes them back. Identifying with the body as temporary, not permanent self, makes aging feel like shedding rather than loss.
Suddenly the body's getting old. Well, it's amazing. It's an interesting experience. If you haven't been identified with the body, it's great. You can experience it as an interesting thing. I noticed just a few years, not that long ago, that I was getting old when sometimes when I'm in a waiting room, people, somebody gets up and says, please take a seat. Or I was walking up, I try to go for a walk most days up a hill, and a man was passing me, walking of course much faster than me. Young man, and he looked back as he was walking and said, "Are you okay?" Yes, thank you. I'm just getting old. So yes, old age comes, and tends then instead of adding things to your life, you begin to shed things. So time first gives you, and then time takes away, and then it kills you. Well, it kills the body.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
