"They are most fortunate who, instead of curling up to shut out the outside world, actively want to and also know how to take advantage of old age. They may have lost certain abilities and prospects, but they have gained others. They are now entitled to grant themselves new rights, enabling them to do things that for countless reasons had been psychological taboos. They can also enjoy the luxury of doing absolutely nothing, of letting themselves drift, playing with the passing of time. The appropriation of this notion of freedom is one of the privileges of a successful old age."Through sentiments, sensations and emotions I have attempted to grasp what it means to age and to define those precious moments of metamorphosis. What I have explored here is a total experience of the senses."Claude OlievensteinClaude Olievenstein is the head doctor of the Centre Médical Marmottan in Paris, and director of research at the University of Lyon. He is the author of Non-dit des Emotions and L’Homme Parano, published by Editions Odile Jacob.