old soul

(the topic of this post certainly does justice to the title of the blog.)
for any students in the class of folg, i've got a little homework assignment for you. ruminate on this: for the second time now in the last couple years of my life i've been told, without any flippancy, that i'm an "old soul." this from two wholly disparate personalities too: one was a 22yr old hippyish girl who was working as our receptionist and the other a 35ish (sorry kim don't know your age) female friend who had been married for i think 10+ years. this subject is topically revelant of course because i just celebrated a birthday this past weekend.
when the naifish receptionist dropped the moniker on me a ways back i didn't take it as terribly complimentary, nor for that matter do i think she meant it so. i can't recall the exact context of her exclamation but she was a subordinate of mine and i want to say it had to do with some kind of delegation of responsibilities. as it were, ms kim called me the exact same thing on saturday only (i assume) she was being complimentary. she asked how old i am now and was impressed by my relative youth.
so what exactly does it mean to be an old soul, and what does that say about either myself or the way i present myself to the world? there are very contrary ways of approaching these answers but i'm inclined to think it means a person is a mature or otherwise composed individual who gives off a kind of reserved or aloof or judicial veneer. on the other hand, an old soul could just be a curmudgeon, a beat-down man who's so depraved he's lost even the impression of innocence.