Look through the birthday cards at any card shop and you will see a lot of jokes about age. Starting at 30, the message is that getting old is a negative experience and that it means being over the hill, wrinkles, dentures, senility, sagging body parts, gray hair or baldness, declining sexuality and the list goes on and on. Black balloons become popular gag gifts.

No matter what your age, the negative stereotypes about aging abound. My 30 year young son has even started believing these stereotypes, without questioning them.

I look around and see vibrant, dynamic people of all ages some with 9 decades of experience and I know that the stereotypes just are not true! Theres the 95 year young peace activist, the 85 year young mountaineer, the 80 year young business woman I cannot even catch up with long enough to interview.

What is their secret? How can you avoid the stereotypes and live vibrantly into your 90s and even reach the century mark?

My granddad, who lived to be 97 1/2 (in his words, mite near 100) planted grape vines when he was in his mid 70s. People thought he was delusional, but we sure enjoyed the grapes off those vines years later!

Here are three of his secrets of enjoying life for almost 100 years:

1. He enjoyed life! He worked outdoors, loved nature and tended to his cattle, his grape vines and fruit trees. He loved people and was always glad to see friends and family and meet new people.

He was interested in the world, kept up with the news and with the Braves baseball team. Even though he only had an 8th grade education, he knew what was going on in the world.

2. He adapted to change and dealt with what life gave him. A friend whose grandmother just celebrated her 100th birthday told me this, the ability to adapt to change, is the number factor in longevity.

Things were not always easy: he was wounded (gassed) in WWI, the dust bowl and depression hit his cattle ranch hard, my grandmother had brain surgery when she was in her 80s and they had to go live with my parents. But he always kept a smile and he did not quit.

3. It was his positive attitude that carried him through! He chose to see the humor in life and to keep believing that people and life were good. His attitude is what allowed him to change and thrive.

Your attitude is your #1 key to living a vibrant, fulfilling life. It is the perfect antidote to avoiding the negative attitudes toward aging.

Keep your attitude young, and enjoy getting older very, very slowly!