WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
Tipping the Scales Away from Fear and Towards Love
There are times when I come across someone who aligns with the vibration I hold for myself and the world. A higher vibration of love, compassion, kindness and wholeness. Vivek Murthy is one of those individuals who sees and perceives from a much larger viewpoint. His clarity and transparency is refreshing and inspiring.
Vivek Murthy is the 21st Surgeon General of the United States having also served in this role from 2014 to 2017. He hosts the podcast “House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy” and is the author of “Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World”.
We are indeed “in a tender place” as Krista Tippett says in her introduction to Vivek Murthy in the podcast below. So many in loneliness and despair, especially our younger generations….and our elders.
Sometimes it isn’t until we are a “certain age” that we trust who we are inside and feel confident enough to bring that out into the world. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to get there. Many never do..
Personally I came into this life to be and become a “healer”. I can’t even tell you how many times that calling in life has changed faces. It began as “caregiver” as a parent, nurse, massage therapist. Then blossomed into yoga therapist/teacher and energy medicine practitioner.
Now at an age where I don’t seem to need labels of identity I have found that it is a simple matter, though sometimes wrought with challenges, to shift from fear to love – the foundation of “healing”. It has taken me this long to realize that love is the oldest medicine we have for “healing” and wholeness within ourselves and with each other.
Learning that our strength is the fundamental ability to give and receive love. Not a technique, a new therapy or pill…..but a vibrational heart and soul energy, if you will, that far surpasses any of that. In the face of pain, disillusionment, fear, loneliness and grief we do have the power to bring acknowledgement, comfort and support without needing to “fix” anything. To find “home” for ourselves and others without GPS or AI!
It comes from our actions and our interactions; our decisions and our choices. Our own self awareness and respect. These are our innate direction finders. to move us from contraction and protection to openness and trust in any given moment.
Vivek Murthy poses this question, “Who are we and what are our values?” and gives us some suggestions:
- Spend 15 minutes/day connecting with someone you love other than those you live with
- Give people the gift of your full attention when you talk to them – stranger, family or friend
- Find opportunities to serve others – forge connection and reaffirm you have value to bring to the world
- Within Solitude and Silence – know your own value – connected to others and the quality of relationships.
I invite you to listen to this powerful and transparent interview with Vivek Murthy below. Be inspired to improve and rebuild social connection, foundation and well being in the face of so much current upheaval. Each of us has something to bring to tip the scales from fear to love within ourselves and with each other.
“We need a modicum of vitality to simply be alive in this time. And we’re in an enduringly tender place. The mental health crisis that is invoked all around, especially as we look to the young, is one manifestation of the gravity of the post-2020 world. How to name and honor this more openly? How to hold that together with the ways we’ve been given to learn and to grow? Who are we called to be moving forward?
Dr. Vivek Murthy is a brilliant, wise, and kind companion in these questions. He’s a renowned physician and research scientist in his second tenure as U.S. Surgeon General. And for years, he’s been naming and investigating loneliness as a public health matter, including his own experience of that very human condition.
It is beyond rare to be in the presence of a person holding high governmental office who speaks about love with ease and dignity — and about the agency to be healers that is available to us all. There is so much here to walk away with, and into. This conversation quieted and touched a room full of raucous podcasters at the 2023 On Air Fest in Brooklyn.” Krista Tippett, On Being
More often these days it seems our ability to talk to each other is broken amidst the divisiveness. To have meaningful dialog and ask questions. This can then lead to experiencing loneliness, isolation and mental distress – a disconnection and feeling of not belonging. Perhaps the short meditation below can be helpful to bring us back to what really matters…..
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Gaye Abbott, Wildly Free Elder, 08/04/23