Ripening

Snowy Day/Blue Ridge Mountains, N. Carolina/1/31/26/Photography by Gaye Abbott

“When you build a home inside yourself, you stop needing others to “complete” you. You simply share your completeness with them. You stop begging for attention and start radiating presence.” ~Buddhist Teaching

Buddhist Monks Walk For Peace, 1/31/26, Virginia, USA

Sitting in a warm and comfortable sun room in the home where I am caring for a kitty named Booda, I gaze out at the sparkling snow covered landscape and reflect deeply on this stage of life and what is happening in our country and the world.

As I sit here in comfort 19 Buddhist Monks walk the icy, snowy and very cold terrain toward Washington DC on US 1 in their 99th day of walking from Fort Worth, TX embodying the peace, loving kindness, compassion and mindfulness that they are bringing as reminders and practice to so many in the world. Directly in contact with those who wait on the side of the road for them to walk past bearing flowers and respect for what they are doing on behalf of all humanity.

Yes, I have been following this walk daily via video and posts, most often with tears running down my face as I witness, and join, the tears of others; the disabled and suffering who are receiving peace bracelets; the children who bare signs, flowers and pictures they have made for the monks; and even law enforcement who are making certain these devoted monks are protected and cared for.

The impermanence of this lifetime is showing up more and more for me these days. Physical changes are what I notice most. Learning to be at peace with them instead of resisting or trying to “fix” them within the paradigm of aging in this country is an on going practice. Acknowledging, accepting and being at peace with aging in a physical body is sometimes challenging.

What would it feel like to know that aging can simply be resilient ripening. Ripening into a completeness within from where peace and acceptance is generated. No longer using life energy to compete for attention, but instead radiating presence even in the most challenging of circumstances and in our inevitable moments of suffering.

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The credit for this photo goes to Crisp Pics LLC Event Photography, and shared originally by Maya Hart

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“My immediate thought upon seeing this one photograph was that this image doesn’t need words, for the image feels like:

~love that didn’t disappear

~loss that learned how to breathe

~resilience without needing applause

It symbolizes America if you stop and think about it.

Without a single word, there’s so much being spoken here.

A lone figure in the cold, holding flowers close…not out for show…not for anyone else to see. That gesture feels intimate, almost prayer-like. Grief, remembrance, love, reverence… maybe all of them braided together. The winter around him makes it even louder…life paused, stripped down, quiet…yet color is still being offered.

What moves me most is the tenderness. Strength doesn’t look loud here. Yet, there is so much of it. It looks like stillness. Like honoring something (or someone) with presence rather than performance.”

~SummerLyn Guthrie

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Ripening can be extending our presence out into the community in as many moments as we are gifted with. Being kind towards self and others when the situation may call for being reactive; holding compassion for those who are suffering and locked in anger; being mindful with words and actions and the effect they may have on others; embodying the peace we wish to see in our lives, our country and in the world.

This is my peaceful day….to live mindfully and with an open heart.

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Gaye Abbott, Wildly Free Elder, 02.01.2026