Steve Cameron: Shedding years for holidays

So, how was your Christmas?

The important thing, of course, is to understand the real meaning of the season -- and hopefully, that's where you are this weekend.

But ever since the days of the wise men, gifts have been part of the tradition, so ...

Whatcha get?

Cool stuff?

Have to admit I scored pretty well -- boy, did I ever need those slippers -- but this year I also decided to do something different.

I gave myself a gift.

No, not a new car or some other toy.

Nah, this was something much more meaningful for the days, months and years ahead.

I knocked 10 years off my age.

I may not be done, either. I'm thinking of slicing off five more -- maybe on Valentine's Day.

OK, you're thinking I've joined a spa or a gym. Maybe decided I should return to running seven miles a day. Or figured it was time to dye my hair.

(I'll laugh off that last suggestion. My hair is almost as brown as ever, which is amazing because my dad turned gray early.)

But no, it's none of the usual things people do when they want to feel or look younger -- and hopefully, add zestful, active years to their lives.

Here's what I've done: I'm thinking younger.

Turned back the social "time machine" in my brain.

And hey, it feels terrific, I've got to tell you. So exciting that, for a few minutes, I thought about going all the way back to my high school prom.

That would be silly, though. I like being an adult with some knowledge -- even a few hard knocks -- under my belt.

Perhaps you're laughing, and thinking that anyone can kid themselves about their age -- but that reality (not to mention assorted aches and pains) soon will overwhelm any fanciful "dreaming" about feeling younger.

Well, it turns out that you'd be mistaken -- and scientific experiments have proved it.

The most famous test was conducted by psychologist Ellen Langer, who took a group of frail, elderly gentlemen on a long retreat and insisted that they turn back their mental clocks.

She asked them to slice off 20 years, and then had them watch TV programs from that previous era, discuss politics of that time and listen to the appropriate music.

They weren't allowed to talk about anything that had happened in the previous 20 years.

Instead, Langer led discussions about "current events" that were really two decades old, and had her campers review "new" films that also came from the same era.

She went so far as to have older participants who'd become dependent on carers groom and dress themselves, and "act" as though they were 20 years younger.

Langer's theory was confirmed: After their time together, the men in her group looked and felt better, walked straighter and reported far fewer aches than they'd remembered before the experiment. They even had stronger grips and improved hearing.

And most stunning of all, they scored higher on intelligence tests.

What Langer proved, and now has become accepted wisdom, is that a determined effort to turn back your psychological clock also will turn back your physiological one.

Langer now has released a book on the entire process -- called "Counterclockwise" -- and megastar Jennifer Aniston quickly purchased the film rights to it.

Forgetting the Hollywood aspect to all this, though, the entire concept makes sense.

Our minds really do control a lot of how we act and how we feel.

When I step onto a golf course thinking my back is stiff, I take predictably creaky swings with indifferent results.

But if I stride onto the first tee feeling as though I've got the turn and snap that I had at 35, believe me, my mind somehow lets that swing cut loose.

So now I'm going to think a decade younger about everything, and yeah, maybe go even back past that.

What a great Christmas gift.

And I feel super, than you very much.

Steve Cameron is a freelance columnist for the Sun-Star. He can be reached at stevecameron1000@gmail.com.