I've noticed something as I get older. When I run on the treadmill, I'm sore the next day...unless I stretch really well. In the past, I could play a full 90 minutes of soccer plus overtime in the snow and just walk off the field afterward... no soreness the next day. Sadly, those days are over. Now, if i don't stretch regularly, I'll likely pull something when I try to really exercise. I think the same is true of us mentally/philosophically/spiritually. As I get older (and I notice this in others also believe it or not), I sense a tendency toward being brittle in what I believe, the practices I deem acceptable, and my perceptions of what is truth. I'm more inclined to quickly dismiss new ideas, afraid of them, because they may stretch me too far and hurt me. However, if I'm regularly stretching myself (by reading/considering/dialoguing/listening to ideas/books/people i don't necessarily agree with), I find it much easier to engage the more diffic