WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
Your Life Breathing
Having grown up only a few blocks from the Pacific ocean, and now living in the mountains of N. Carolina, I sometimes yearn for the salt tinged air, sound of seagulls and surf, crunch of sand sifting through my toes as I walk the beach, and the sensual feeling of the rhythm of waves washing through me as a reminder of the ebb and flow of our own lives.
What I have learned, and keep learning – it often takes repetition! – is that the moments at any stage of life are to be taken one step at a time. Being mindful of the words and thoughts we repeat to ourselves, that often squeeze the joy of simply being into the contracted small containers of judgement – of ourselves and others – worry, anxiety and fear.
It seems easy to go there these days.
This morning I had to give myself a pep talk changing the thoughts and words that relentlessly try to shrink my joy in life and overall well being into life giving possibility. In vast appreciation for this stage I am inhabiting and for all those I have touched….and who have touched me. For the natural world and all I have to be grateful for.
More than enough.
It is with all of this flowing through that I came across a blog post written in Breathing Spaces at the end of 2018 and am now sharing with you. The writing muse had left me for a period of time when I wrote this. In taking myself to the Sonoma coast, while living in N. California, the elements and sensations collaborated to bring me back home to simply being and trusting.
The power of words – their energy and their contextual roots – reaching deeply into human psyche. Unraveling stories – coming alive to be lived now, yet straying into future and past.
How tightly we hold on to them, until they can only gasp for breath begging to be set free. Attempting to create meaning and security when all of a sudden they fly away and become something else entirely – casting into the depths, un-prying fingers and minds from around them.
To creation of worlds and words and feelings and sensations we have never experienced before, like a virgin opening to voluptuous sensual connection and animate life.
Come now, let me tell you a story that has never been told, so free of the contraction and constraints of our daily lived grind of sameness. Let us embark, set sail, like a first step without fear – diving deeply into the unknown beyond what we know
….. or think we know.
Listen to the passions spoken so clearly Sourced by your body, heart and soul, flowing into the peaks and valleys of life where everything is “enough” – including yourself.
Trust the knowing. Then letting go of even that in a free fall where the landing place reveals itself only in the now and now and now.
Be still for this is your life breathing….
**This piece was written for Breathing Spaces on 12/25/18 in celebration of the writing muses coming actively back into my life once again after 2 years away (most probably on some exotic coastal island enjoying themselves!). Written on the Sonoma Coast of Northern California, it felt as if time stood still while the words flowed without any thought or struggle, blowing over the sand and sea on a gorgeous Christmas day…..Gaye Abbott, 1/6/19
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Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 1/23/22. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElder