WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
DAY 6: Rest & Solitude
“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”
Chief Crowfoot
Life moments are fragile and fleeting. Gone before we have even settled into them.
Placing attention on the present moment is a practice we seem to be more adept at as we age, yet still get frantically captured in mainstream madness and old life force depleting patterns of “doing” and “wanting to belong.”.
It is when we finally come to rest in the solitude of our own making that we are still enough to breathe fully.
This 6th day of the Joy & Laughter Project I have come into stillness after a long day of absolute restorative solitude yesterday. Listening to the wise body guidance to simply stop.
Taking moments to gaze out the window at the sunlight resting on bare branches, the wind dancing the River Birch tree to a tune that only that duo may partner in, the light, color and cloud formations changing in every single moment, fully tasting the vibrancy of food, delighting in the bird calls weaving their way into consciousness.
Holding the days to come as opportunity, even when out and active, to pay attention . To hold rest and solitude not as something to enjoy once obligations and responsibilities have been “taken care of”, but to integrate into each and every day.
Sometimes it is challenging to do this as the cultural mandate to “be productive”, “make a difference”, or “economic concerns” attempt to bully the rest and solitude aside. Who wins is your choice.
Listen with full attention and surrender……..with hands in the air.
About 31 Days of Joy & Laughter Project:
As elders with a long life behind us and not as much embodied life before us, and as humans on the planet Earth at this time, we are being faced with incredible challenges that compete to take our attention.
A couple of days ago I realized I no longer choose to have my attention taken by the fear, doom and gloom broadcast daily, whether on our smart phones news feed or while talking to others. I am weary of it all and need a higher vibration energy bath!.
It is not that I don’t want to know what is happening in the world, but instead the question I am posing to myself, and to you, every day is – where do we want to place our attention? We most always have a choice.
For the month of December I am placing attention on joy, laughter, creativity and acts of kindness as a experiment to see what unfolds. Seeking out and being aware of moments of joy sometimes hidden in the deep pockets and lining of each and every day that seem to get passed over without even looking back. They are always there.
Each day in December you will find a small nugget of joy, humor, creativity or small act of kindness that found me and pulled my attention which will be posted here. I invite you to join me and share your experiences and what you noticed so that we may spread it around! (Please use the “Comment” section below).
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You can also find all of the posts in the archives here: http://wildlyfreeelder.com/2021/12/
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 12/5/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElder