Growing old gracefully is not just a matter of coasting into the sunset - it's constantly treading water. Elite runner and writer Jean-Paul Bedard shares how his philosophy of movement, gratitude and forgiveness helps him to stay young at heart and mind despite a difficult past.

I used to live in the moment, and that moment was usually an all-consuming desire not to just escape, but to annihilate -- to numb everything inside of me. I was suicidal and wanted nothing more than oblivion. I can remember the morning I walked out of that hospital like it was yesterday, but in fact, it was 7,328 days ago, and I've been clean and sober ever since.

So many hours and days of my life I focused on what was not working. Then I learned about gratitude. The more I practiced repeating my gratitude lists, the more natural it became for me to see the positives in people and situations, and to be grateful for all the small, wonderful things occurring in my life.

The concept was simple. Every night, write down something – anything – that I was grateful for that day, fold it and pop it into a glass jar. For 365 days.

Why not turn it around to have a grateful heart which thanks these great artists for the many years they gave us? Why not celebrate them for fulfilling their destinies and passions?