The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Part of the reason we become less gregarious with the years is that
we become judgmental and intolerant of people’s quirks, all of which
does not enhance our experience of life. We can alter that as well by
coming to understand human nature more deeply and accepting
people as they are.
Aging has a psychological component and can be a self-fulfilling
prophecy—we tell ourselves we are slowing down and cannot do or
attempt as much as we did in past, and as we act on these thoughts, we
intensify the aging process, which makes us depressed and prone to
slow down even more. We can see icons in the past like Benjamin
Franklin, who went in the opposite direction, continually challenging
his mind and body as he aged, and who by all accounts retained the
most delightfully childlike and jovial disposition well into his seventies
and eighties.
Present generations:
Your goal here is to be less a product of the times
and to gain the ability to transform your relationship to your
generation. A key way of doing this is through active associations with
people of different generations. If you are younger, you try to interact
more with those of older generations. Some of them, who seem to have
a spirit you can identify with, you can try to cultivate as mentors and
role models. Others you relate to as you would your peers—not feeling
superior or inferior but paying deep attention to their values, ideas,
and perspectives, helping to widen your own.
If you are older, you reverse this by actively interacting with those
of a younger generation, not as a parent or authority figure but as a
peer. You allow yourself to absorb their spirit, their different way of
thinking, and their enthusiasm. You approach them with the idea that
they have something to teach you.
In interacting on a more authentic level with those of different
generations, you are creating a unique bond—that of people alive at the

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same time in history. This will only enhance your grasp of the zeitgeist.