This month we’re talking about being Timeless—not young, not elderly, not even middle-aged. Timeless describes those of us who are vibrant, curious, sexy, healthy, and adventuresome—characteristics usually associated with youthfulness—who are past a certain age.
In the 2015 movie, Hello, My Name is Doris, actress Sally Field (who might just be the iconic definition of Timeless) plays a woman who has a crush on a much younger man, her coworker named John. As she pursues John, she takes up his interests and hobbies and becomes close friends with people more than thirty years younger than herself. One of the nicest things about this movie, is how easily Doris is accepted by her new friends. It’s not hard to see why, Doris is curious and interested, as well as being interesting because of her greater life experiences.
Susan would have loved this film, especially because it dealt with a mature woman’s romantic life (which we see so little of coming from Hollywood). She would also have loved it because Doris embraces so much of Susan’s teachings. Doris opens herself up to new experiences, she says “Yes” to the Universe, she lets herself be joyful. The character of Doris comes the very essence of Susan’ idea of Timeless. Younger people are attracted to her because, as Susan wrote, “If you have ever been around a person who is open and enlightened, you are struck with their humor and ability to laugh at themselves. All the brittleness is gone, and only fluidity remains.”
Who wouldn’t want to hang out with a person like that? We should all be a Doris, even if, like the character, it takes most of our lives before we can live like that. We should all work on being Timeless.