Born in Oregon, raised and live in California, slowly creaping up into my mid-30s, but my soul was extracted and preserved in the mid-90s SF rave scene and I haven't completely grown out of it yet, so I don't really get older, I just get better... When people ask I usually say that I'm an old man trapped and living in a young man's body - whose going through a mid-life crisis.

It may sound like a line, but it works, so don't knock it! I also sport an awesome natural afro, so kids tend to think I'm older than I am, while most fossils think that I'm young enough to set their daughters up with on blind dates.

PS: To all you guys out there: You know you're getting old when you hit on a woman who you think is just a couple years older than you whom you later find out is a GRANDMOTHER!

Yep, I'm another exception to your theory.   I'm 5'10", and I don't have a small head.  But I understand what you were saying about people with an unusually small frame often seeming younger.

Not always    I'm kinda, ummm, "hefty,"  so that theory doesn't always hold true.

My mom also looks very young for being in her mid 50's though, but she and I are the two in the family who were always considered  to have a "positive" energy surrounding them.  My mom is also the one who encouraged me to explore non-traditional spirituality.  She teaches ancient Hawaiian massage and healing.

I guess positive attitude may be the biggest factor in the aging practice.

I just read something in one of Gary Bonnell's books about how your face keeps changing until sometime around puberty when you "decide" on a version that you feel will be most beneficial for you.  Interesting.

That is interesting!    I'll have to ponder that one for a bit.  Could explain why some people as adults look identical to how they were as a kid.  Now they're just bigger.  But they basically haven't changed at all, versus people who look radically different from how they were as kids, and it's not really because of plastic surgery or anything, they just have gone through a metapmorphesis of sorts, more so than others.

Ah, see, now we have stumbled upon another contradiction!    My mom looked way younger than her age, yet was one of the most uptight, rigid, energetically constricted people I've ever known.   So rigid and tense and uptight, I can't emphasize it enough!   But one time when she stopped by my work for some reason, can't remember why, my boss saw her and said, "Oh, is that your sister?"   I told her it was my mom, and she seriously thought I was pulling her leg, and laughed, until realizing that I wasn't kidding.   She swore my mom looked 25. (she was 40.)   And she got that a lot, from a lot of people.  She looked good for her age, although the personality didn't match.   

I guess we can conclude that there are always exceptions to the rule, but I do agree with this:

It's true;  being around negative people CAN influence how we look; they're literally draining our energy and life force away, and that affects our health, and subsequently our entire look overall.   Stress and ongoing negativity can wear a person down and age them if they're not equipped with something in their core which is resistant to it, (in my belief.)

So anyway, big statured people and people with big heads look older than their ages, always.

Yep, I'm another exception to your theory.   I'm 5'10", and I don't have a small head.  But I understand what you were saying about people with an unusually small frame often seeming younger.

When I was in junior high and high school, people always thought I was at least a college senior.  (Which was great for getting into clubs and stuff.)  Part of that was that I was a very mature  old soul.  At least I was very mature when I was very young.   Being tall helped a lot, also.

I decided that looking 24-24 was the ideal, and have held that intention.

I just read something in one of Gary Bonnell's books about how your face keeps changing until sometime around puberty when you "decide" on a version that you feel will be most beneficial for you.  Interesting.

My grandmother was 60 when I was born, and looked soooo much older than my mother at that same age.  She was very constricted energetically, if that makes any sense, and I think it made a big difference.  I think being very rigid makes your energy get "stuck" and stagnant, which can lead to all kinds of problems.

My mother looked much younger than other women her age until about 5 years ago when she started spending a lot of time with a group of women her age that looked much older, and who I think had a much more negative mindset.   The change in my mother was so shocking to me.  She had changed so much over about a year, even her hair started to turn grey.

I believe in levels of consciousness and attractor fields, and I think that's how a lot of people are influenced by others.  (See Power Vs Force by David Hawkins.)

Beliefs and expections are very powerful.  When I say I think aging is an error, what I mean is that I think it's a mistake to think it is unavoidable.  I think it is a case where people see it happening, and assume it is necessary and just something that happens, and so they buy into the belief system.

I think those erroneous beliefs are beginning to break down as more and more people seem to defy expectations.

lyra wrote:

So anyway, big statured people and people with big heads look older than their ages, always.

While the above may contribute to assumptions on ones age, I don't really know if I can agree that big statured, big headed people tend to look older.  I'm 5'8", and think I have a big head.  (Proportion wise)  I'm still told that I look younger than I really am.

Alright, well, how about sometimes?       Small heads / rounded faces with large eyes, smaller nose and full lips equates to looking young;  big heads, square shaped features with strong bone structure, small eyes, bigger nose and thinner lips does not, and those were the people I was thinking about.  (and someone who looks like this is bound to get offended in reading it;  don't!  It's not meant as a jibe.)  Which reminds me, I forgot to mention that about the faces in my previous post, as it was something that I thought of this morning in trying to figure out what causes some people to appear younger than they are.   Weight is another I forgot to mention.  Having a fuller face makes one look younger than those who are gaunt and skinny.  There's loads of various factors, all of which should be considered when it comes to the mysteries of physical age analysis.

So anyway, big statured people and people with big heads look older than their ages, always.

While the above may contribute to assumptions on ones age, I don't really know if I can agree that big statured, big headed people tend to look older.  I'm 5'8", and think I have a big head.  (Proportion wise)  I'm still told that I look younger than I really am.

I'm 37 and I recently had someone tell me, "You go kid!"

Cool!  Well there you go!   

I've been thinking here and there about the whole age thing, and the concept of people nowadays supposedly looking younger than in days past.

When I look at old photos of people from yesteryear, there's no doubt that they all look older than today's counterparts.   Take somebody who was in their early 20's, and they look like they're 15 - 20 years older than someone of the same age nowadays.  I've been trying to figure out why this is...

Clothing and style might have a lot to do with it.  Moustaches, which young guys don't sport anymore, definitely age a guy.  People in the past were all about wearing hats as well, and their clothing was fussy.   That too makes one look older.   

People were also more serious back then, prone to frowning all the time.   Gay-ity and laughter and having fun was something only the rich could partake in.   So yeah, where was the lighthearted fun and relaxed, easy going nature?  It didn't exist for most.  Life was serious business, a struggle for most.   Today on the contrary, more women and men have it easy, and are more relaxed and actually have a shot at experiencing true happiness.  People have time for "frivelous" things and activities that contribute to a relaxed, youthful mindset.   And young and old alike dress casually, versus the days of yore with all that fussy dress and hoop skirts and corsets and top hats and time pieces dangling from a chain, squinted at through a monacle, worn by a dude in a double breasted jacket set off by shiny polished shoes.     Forget that!  It's all about khaki shorts with lots of pockets, sandals, jeans and T shirts!     Youth!

So, that might very well explain a lot of it, I don't know.  Another part involves genetics, and physical size.   No doubt about it, being tiny automatically makes you appear younger than you are.   I used to work with a British guy who was 27, but the poor guy was about 5'2", and weighed 110 pounds, and looked like he was 16.   I always referred to him as "the British kid", which was bad, I know, because he was married and had 2 kids!!    When he mentioned his wife was pregnant with their second child, I inadvertantly did what people had been doing to me....I blurted out, "My god...how old ARE you??"    I knew he couldn't be 16 to be working there as a programmer, but I figured okay, at BEST he's like, 20.   And that's PUSHING it.   I'd guess 18. 

Nope. He was 27.  But he was so tiny and quiet and reserved that he just seemed like a little boy!   Even worse was he was married to an older American woman, she was probably about 15 years older, and the first time she showed up in their minivan to pick him up, I thought it was his Mom!!!    (because he told me his mom and wife were coming to pick him up.....)   But then his mom (mum? ) got out from the back seat to stretch, and she looked REALLY old, so, it was obvious, and I was like, doh!  Nope, that's just his wife!   haha

So anyway, big statured people and people with big heads look older than their ages, always.

So maybe the mystery is figured out at last!

Vixen, I have a BA in Political Science too.  In retrospect it was more of a BS though....   Don't you think?

Cheerio, Lyra!  That British *accent* is even cuter in person.  Forget  French...talk to me in *British* baby.