WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
DAY 4: Playful Offering
Anyone who has watched squirrels in trees and on the ground are being given a reminder to play. Though most biologists and animal behaviorists say that adult squirrels do not play I beg to differ with them. I just watched some today at the nearby Nature Park.
I have observed the young and the “older but young at heart” as one put it, referring to it variously as “funny five minutes”, “mad half hour” or “mad session”, in vigorous play. This in turn not only made me smile but joyfully want to join them, or create my own playful game. Though I doubt they would welcome my human presence. 🙂
It is important to me to always hold a space for improvisational play – and I am not talking about card or board games here! Did you know that….
- Relieve stress. …
- Improve brain function. …
- Stimulate the mind and boost creativity. …
- Improve relationships and your connection to others. …
- Keep you feeling young and energetic. …
- Play helps develop and improve social skills. …
- Play teaches cooperation with others. …
- Play can heal emotional wounds.
Reminders and encouragement to play are all around us. It is left to us to take advantage of the moments and not hold back. Those very moments of free form improvisation with others, or even alone, shifts attention from old stale patterns of being to living joyously from our hearts and creative souls. Watch children!
I try never to miss an opportunity to play, for invariably if I let go of hesitation and resistance I feel gloriously free and energized every single time. One day walking into the local natural food co-op store in the middle of the initial “lock-down” last year I immediately was impacted by the heavy energy.
Some innate urge to somehow shift that energy moved me to come as close as safety at that time would permit to one of the produce staff who I knew had a great sense of humor. I greeted her and then spontaneously both of us broke out in song, masked mind you, along with the music playing throughout the store and sang to the vegetables! Needless to say, the entire energy in the store lifted – and I am not even a very “good” singer.
As elders many of us get to that stage of not really caring what others think about us. So I say why not PLAY in whatever way shows up in the moment. Just yesterday I was seen breaking out in funky dance moves in the middle of the Whole Foods produce section because I couldn’t stay still to the music playing. Received a few funny looks but lots of smiles and some moving with me. (There must be something about produce sections for me. 🙂
Play date anyone??
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).
If you don’t want to miss any of these posts simply sign up for the blog here:
https://wildlyfreeelder.wordpress.com/blog/
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 12/4/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElder
Considering a move? Finding Home: Conscious Relocation Services by Gaye Abbott
DAY 3: A Breath of Good News
Every day we are bombarded with negative news whether it is on our smart phones, in mainstream media or on social media. I often wonder how much that impacts the escalation of fear and anxiety within us, and that pervades our world right now.
Today, like every morning, my hit of “good news” via The Good News Network, arrived in my inbox. To start the day learning about and being exposed to positive actions, innovations and inspiring stories sets the tone of the day for me.
The website, with its archive of 21,000 positive news stories from around the globe, confirms what people already know—that good news itself is not in short supply. Just this morning the headlines were: New Solution to Ridding Oceans of Microplastics Uses Acoustic Waves, Red Light Therapy Could Improve Eyesight After Declining Due to Age, Watch a Huge Spotted Eagle Stingray Glide Majestically Around Scuba Diver and Deaf Football Team Goes 12-0 On Its Way to California State Championship
Every time we share (or create) positive news it opens a pathway to embrace trust in the unfolding of life….and in each other!
I am also curious about how powerful it might be if we used our social media networks for collaborative good. A couple of days ago the post below surfaced on my FB feed:
“While all social networks are full of hatred and negativity, I want to dissolve it with pleasant news and facts. The world isn’t that bad, look back:
The Norwegians have decided not to drill oil wells in the Lofoten Islands (with $53,000,000,000,000 in oil reserves) to preserve the islands ecosystem.
For the first time in Malawi history, a woman has been elected as the speaker of the country’s parliament.
Esther Challenge cancelled 1500 marriages with underage girls and sent them back to school.
Swedish donors receive a thank you text every time their blood saves people.
Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, the almost endangered species population of sea turtles has increased by 980%.
Thai supermarkets gave up plastic bags and began wrapping up their purchases in banana leaves.
Holland became the first country without stray dogs.
South Korea organizes dance parties for people after 65 years to fight dementia and loneliness.
In Rome, you can pay for a ticket in the subway using plastic bottles. Thus, 350,000 bottles have already been collected.
California restricted the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in stores so people can take pets from shelters.
Rice farmers around the world are starting to use duck fields instead of pesticides. Ducks eat insects and pinch weeds without touching rice.
Holland sows roofs of hundreds of bus stops with flowers and plants – specifically for bees.
Iceland became the first country in the world to legalize equal salaries for men and women.
German circuses instead of animals use their holograms to stop the exploitation of animals in circuses.
LarvalBot underwater robot sows the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef with microscopic corals, grown specifically for ecosystem restoration.
To reduce the number of suicides, Sweden organized the world’s first psychiatric ambulance.
4855 people stood in line for hours in the rain to test stem cells to save the life of a five-year-old boy.
An Indian village celebrates the birth of every girl by planting 111 trees. 350,000 trees have already been planted so far.
Thanks to the ban on humpback whale hunting, their population has grown from several hundred to 25,000.
The Netherlands has built five artificial islands specifically for the conservation of birds and plants. Two years later, there are already 30,000 birds living there and 127 species of plants are growing.
NASA satellites recorded that the world has become greener than 20 years ago.
Since 1994, the number of suicides has decreased by 38%. It saved about four million lives.”
Posted By Sergey Gradil on FB, 2/26/2020
Are you ready to go out today and create your own good news?
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).
If you don’t want to miss any of these posts simply sign up for the blog here:
https://wildlyfreeelder.wordpress.com/blog/
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 12/3/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElder
Considering a move? Finding Home: Conscious Relocation Services by Gaye Abbott
DAY 2: Whimsy & Humor
Laughter is such an important healing force for me, and for most humans I would say. It takes us out of our daily humdrum, and at times challenging lives, and allows us to lighten up and see the extraordinary in the ordinary. It also brings us closer together – to ourselves and to others. And it stimulates the feel good chemicals in our body!
Who hasn’t shared a belly laugh, or uncontrolled laughter with others where tears are rolling down our faces. Just a couple of weeks ago I was taking my regular morning walk to the Nature Park, only two blocks away from home, where I engage with doggies and their humans and others out to simply take some moments in nature.
That day I ran across two women who innocently asked me about where the path goes and in the telling of that we stuck up a most engaging conversation – like minded hearts and souls sharing anecdotes and each others presence. During that delightful conversation I made the comment about the only time I wish I was male is when out hiking along trails or camping in the wilderness.
One woman looked at the other and pointed at her saying – oh she has that covered! I then heard (and had demonstrated for me) about a device that women can take camping that directs urine away from the body making squatting unnecessary. All 3 of us howled with laughter as Thalia demonstrated what it was like, and how powerful it felt, to direct a urine stream away from the body anywhere you darn well please. Well men we now understand about the peeing contests! Out of that spontaneous connection I have gained a friend, Joan. I look forward to more delightful conversations and deepening of the friendship.
Every day I open to laughter, humor and whimsy as a precious gift. Like today when going out my door, I looked up and saw a young man in full Santa costume riding a motorcycle down the hill. He was so quick that it was only a momentary experience, but it left me with a smile on my face and was something I shared with others during the day bringing a smile to theirs.
When we see through the lens of whimsy and humor, and share it with others, everything seems a tad less serious.
Please share YOUR experiences with us!!
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).
If you don’t want to miss any of these posts simply sign up for the blog here:
https://wildlyfreeelder.wordpress.com/blog/
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 12/2/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElder.
Considering a move? Finding Home: Conscious Relocation Services by Gaye Abbott
31-Days of Joy & Laughter
“Art is not simply works of art; it is the spirit that knows beauty, that has music in its soul and the color of sunsets in its handkerchief, that can dance on a flaming world and make the world dance too.”
W.E.B. Du Bois
Sunrise Over the Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville, N. Carolina
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)
DECEMBER 1 – My joy each morning more often than not is to be immersed in the beauty of the sunrise over the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western N. Carolina. The image above was taken from my bedroom window where i watch the sky shift from twilight to sun rising above the mountains during my morning writing practice with green jasmine tea in hand. What happens in between the first show of light and sun rising is magical and awe inspiring!
If you take your attention away for even one single moment you will have lost the constant shifts in color, form and texture. Finding joy wrapped in natures beauty encouraging me to take on this one day with a clean slate.
One morning I will turn on some music and dance the colors and beauty of the sunrise….
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 12/1/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElder.
Considering a move? Finding Home: Conscious Relocation Services by Gaye Abbott
The Honorable Harvest
Lover’s Leap Trail, Hot Springs, N. Carolina, USA
A friend in Scotland spoke to me recently about the Harvest Festival celebrated there and how it involves all parts of a community in it’s endeavor to come together for the good of all beings, to learn from each other and the natural world, and celebrate the abundant sustenance that nature brings when humans are in sustainable and respectful relationship.
Based on the natural cycles and rhythms of seasons these practices of community celebration offers to bring humans back into right relationship with what essentially sustains and nourishes not only our physical being, but our emotional grounding and spiritual connection with all life.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, an indigenous elder, in the beautiful video below, reminds us that a culture of sharing is a culture of resilience. And that every breath you take is a breath given to you by plants. That we only take what we need from the natural world and always ask permission first, respecting when the clear message is no or not now.
With the fast paced and chaotic life swirling around us have we forgotten how to listen to the plants that sustain us? To be in reciprocal collaborative relationship with the natural world in order to maintain the balance and interconnected community of all life.
To respect and be grateful for each breath we have been given and give back in a way that is stewarding and mindful. To relearn what it is to listen to the messages of trees, plants, animals and seasons that are always whispering to us the wisdom of living in union giving back in reciprocity.
As we come closer to the national holiday of Thanksgiving here in the U.S. my plan to be out in nature on that day to express my gratitude for all that I am given will have me exploring ways in which I can give back as I learn even more about the trees, plants and wildlife in this area I now call home.
The recognition that as elders we have an important role to play in this revitalization of relationship between the natural world and humans through our conscious actions, our creative artistry, our wisdom and our relationships.
Every day is an opportunity to live from gratefulness and abundant “enough” in relationship with the natural world . Perhaps taking to heart some of the practices below offered by A Network For Grateful Living will remind you why you are here and the impact you can make.
Here are some suggestions from A Network For Grateful Living:
Practices to Cultivate a Truly Grateful Thanksgiving
- Begin your day by noticing your breath. Try to tune in to your breath before you get out of bed in the morning, before you even open your eyes. Notice the fact that you’re breathing. You’ve awoken to a new day, and you’re alive. Tune in to the way your body naturally inhales and exhales, about 1000 times an hour. Remember this gift of breath as precious and never a guarantee; it is something shared with all living beings. What arises when you remember this truth? How might gratefully tuning in to your breath change the way you awaken to the day?
- Take time to tell someone in your life you appreciate them and why. Perhaps it’s someone you live with, someone who lives elsewhere whom you call or talk with virtually, a neighbor, or someone whose services are “essential” to you and others. If it’s someone you’re not able to connect with verbally at this time, perhaps you could write a letter or send an eCard. How does it feel to articulate your appreciation for someone? What happens in your body and your heart? How does it impact your sense of belonging?
- Explore, read aloud, and share this collection of Thanksgiving Blessings from voices around the globe, as you deepen a commitment to gratefulness for the gifts of life.
- Enjoy these grateful living conversation starters for your virtual or in-person gathering. These prompts also work well for individual reflection or journaling.
- “Give thanks for what you have been given,” says Robin Wall Kimmerer. We invite you to watch the beautiful, short video below — alone or with others — and to take time to give thanks for the sources of our nourishment. If you’re fortunate enough to have healthy food to eat on this day, how does your experience change when you pause to give thanks to the plants themselves and to honor all those whose labor and love have made this food possible?
- “Grateful action is what puts the life into grateful living,” writes Kristi Nelson. Moved by the consideration of the blessings in your life, how are you called to serve others? Is there a neighbor who may be alone this holiday who would benefit from a home-cooked meal or piece of delicious pie delivered to their door? Is there an organization whose essential work could be enhanced by your contribution of time or treasure? How will your Thanksgiving week be made richer by serving others from a place of gratefulness?
- Learn anew about Thanksgiving. While this holiday can feel celebratory for many, its inaccurate historical accounts of Native Americans can perpetuate ongoing harm and racism when left unaddressed. Acknowledging the presence of both pleasure and deep pain on this day, we invite you to explore the following resources. These offer the opportunity to redefine Thanksgiving and to actively change the way we celebrate, give thanks, honor the land, and cultivate communities of belonging — today and every day.
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 11/23/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElder.
Considering a move? Finding Home: Conscious Relocation Services by Gaye Abbott
Expect The Unexpected
Black Bear, Asheville, N. Carolina
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Mary Oliver
Even in the most mundane daily activities there are surprises embedded in the ordinary. Since moving to the Asheville, N. Carolina area of the U.S., where nature is vibrant and wildlife is abundant, I have learned to open all of my senses wherever I am.
Though the image above pictures one black bear crossing the road imagine if you will 3 black bears at an intersection crosswalk waiting to get to the other side of the road. Not a country road mind you, but only half a mile or so to downtown Asheville.
I was so astonished by these 3 bears at the intersection where the road to the Botanical Gardens and the University of N. Carolina crosses over a main road (Broadway), that I lost the opportunity to capture them on my phone camera.
As one of the bears walked directly in front of my car to get to the other side, the other 2 were lounging at the curb not quite ready to go forward. Perhaps waiting to see if their family member made it across safely (or waiting for the light to turn green :-)).
Though some cars were willing to wait for these wild bears to cross, others were not, thus an extraordinary opportunity was shortened for me. My astonishment lasted for days and I have to say was laced with a bit of sadness that wild bears were living so close to a highly built up area by humans.
As we walk the pathway to Winter Solstice immersing in the darkness the bear reminds us of the importance of solitude, quite time, and rest during the holidays when so much can take our attention.
Ordinary life is filled with opportunities to perceive and experience magic, joy, astounding beauty, and the sacredness of life – even on the way home from the grocery store! Expect the unexpected.
The more we share the experiences and journeys we take that profoundly touch us, the less we remain stuck in grooved patterns that make us forget why we are here. Share your stories!
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
.
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 11/05/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElder.
Considering a move? Finding Home: Conscious Relocation Services by Gaye Abbott
Compassionate Connection
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
~Mary Oliver
Once you have lived a few embodied years, or a great many decades as the case may be, there is a tendency to either let go and surrender into the unfolding of life, or attempt to control and judge life which of course comes with its own lessons.
Perhaps you are straddling the two unsure of your choices and decisions. Or like the man in the short film below find that by placing attention on being kind and connecting with life, instead of retreating from it or complaining about your lot in life, everything changes.
The identity that you have clung to for so many years may not claim the wholeness of who you are. There are unending opportunities each day to step out of our illusion of control and separateness, and instead see through a different lens..
I wonder if everyone did one act of kindness and made someone laugh each day, whether that would change the world?
Just last week I was in a large office supply store and couldn’t find what I wanted in the fountain pen refill section. After inquiring when they might get a new supply in I was joined by one of the customer service staff to assist me. Essentially what he told me is that they were not getting any more supplies in of that item and that their store no longer sold them online either.
Now at that point I could have wallowed in disappointment but instead I let go into sharing spontaneous humor with this man as he told me the bad news. He happened to have had the hiccups and what came out of my mouth (which obviously bypassed my brain!) was “people have been known to die of hiccups.” He had a small handheld device with him that communicated with someone in the back of the store so he said to this unknown person, “this woman just told me people die of hiccups”. And then I followed that up with “and I am a nurse!” which he then related to the unseen person “and now she tells me she is a nurse”. A bit of a pause as I was trying to think of something helpful to say, and then I said, “just hold your breath for a little bit and they will go away”. At that point he exclaimed to the person on the device, “and now she says to hold my breath and that will certainly stop them as I will be dead!!”
,At that point in time we were laughing hysterically with tears flowing down our faces and I am certain we somehow reached that invisible person listening in to the conversation too. Instead of his being sorry he disappointed me, and me not leaving the store with what I came there for, all 3 of us were left with an endorphin rush from the improvisational exchange.
And guess what? His hiccups were entirely gone after that playful exchange!!
We all want to be happy and sharing humor is a very rich and enjoyable way to connect compassionately with others who just may need that bit of laughter in their day. Watch the transformation happen when you cease to judge (yourself and others), open your heart and connect with kindness and humor.
Life is not linear but spiral instead. Keep the flow going….
We need to stop judging others and realize that we have no idea what someone else is going through. If someone is being rude, give them the benefit of the doubt that they may be having a rough day. You may just have one of those yourself someday soon…
And if we make it okay to be open and honest when we are struggling, it allows each of us to have a deeper level of understanding. So let’s all work on becoming more compassionate. Together, we can help each other and ourselves.”
Filmed in Barrydale, South Africa by Green Renaissance – https://www.greenrenaissance.co.za/
Featuring Anton de Villiers.
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 10/20/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElder.
Considering a move? Finding Home: Conscious Relocation Services by Gaye Abbott
Dancing With Trees
1600 year old ancient Oak, South Carolina
(Re-posted from Breathing Spaces, Gaye Abbott, 10/3/21)
A very young voice filtered out from the trees at the local Nature Park where I walk every morning, only 2 blocks from my home. 4-year-old Liam and his father were out in nature for some father and son time this cloudy Sunday morning.
When I engaged with Liam, back pack on and a map in his hand, he told me that they were looking for acorns to plant in the park so more trees could grow. The map with a highlighted strip across it apparently guided Liam and his father along the path, and his backpack held a small container of gathered acorns, which he was very proud of.
We talked about squirrels and how they gather acorns for the Winter, and Liam was most insistent that they couldn’t bury them in the ground because the dirt would go right through their claws. With a little more conversation Liam understood how squirrels could store the nuts away, and then he was off on the path looking for a place to plant the acorns. A little later on I came across them again and Liam was planting his acorns in a place where the potential oak trees could grow and thrive.
Dancing with trees? Most certainly within a young boys context and with his father’s guidance. This young child is learning within nature that we as humans are a part, not separate, and that our conscious actions can make a difference. He is learning to dance with life!
My hope is that LIam goes on in his life connecting as deeply as he did today – with his father, with the trees, with the squirrels, with the dirt – and understands how everything is woven together in a community of life. May he be able to say to himself,
I AM HERE
I BELONG HERE
I HAVE A ROLE IN THE WHOLE .
“Be wild every now and then. By regularly doing that, you will be reminded of how much nature means to us, how much solace it can bring, how much joy and peace and hope. You will be reminded of how deeply we are connected to all living things.”
Dance with life!
Gratitude to Green Renaissance for this beautiful video! Filmed in Hermanus, South Africa. Featuring Sue Swain.
BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Church of the Wild, How Nature Invites Us Into the Sacred, by Victoria Loorz
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 10/2/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to Breathing Spaces or WildlyFreeElder.
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Embodying Attention
Image taken 2017 by Gaye Abbott, Wolf Creek in Grass Valley, CA
Take a few moments to pay attention to this image from the deck where I lived in Grass Valley, California just a couple of years ago. Take in not only what is present, but also how it makes you feel. Look closely and notice what you are feeling in your body sensations, your breath, your thoughts. What stories emerge?
This was taken in the October morning light. A time when the shadows captured more than what is directly in the lens of my iPhone. I am by no means a “photographer” like some of my dear friends. But what I do practice is embodied attention.
Attention to what is right in front of me, around and behind, above and below. Attending to how whatever I am attending to affects my breathing and the bodily sensations that go along with that.
Do I make up a story? Do I fall into wonder, curiosity and awe? Is a sense of curiosity evoked? Is there a tendency to deflect whatever it is that is taking my attention? What emotions am I feeling?
This is in complete opposition to “distracted attention” that has so many people either multi-attending, or scattering and jumping their attention from one thing to the next as the stimulus of our world, the news, our phones, email and social media hold us captive.
In other words missing our own lives.
Are we truly paying attention to the details of the simple experiences in life? The masterpieces that unfold right before our eyes from moment to moment.
That bring peace of mind and open our hearts to the beauty and miracles that unfold day after day after day. That connect us with others, the natural world and the very essence of our life as deeply as we yearn for.
What you might not see in the image above is another component that is somewhat hidden in the shadows, but is none the less a simple part of the natural world.
Coming home from a few days away last month I almost missed it as well, until I came into the wide angle lens of embodied attention and found the nest. A nest built with passion and ingenuity in a season that was rather out of sync with traditional nest building times.
Yes, I am extremely fortunate to live in a space where I simply go out onto my deck to worship amidst 100’s of trees and relish the sound of the flowing creek below.
Yet, aren’t there 100’s, perhaps even 1000’s, of moments each day when we can remind ourselves to embody (take in with all of our senses) – versus em-mind – what is placed before us no matter where we live or what is happening.
Might “time” slow down a little and afford us the luxury of timelessness….even for just a few moments.
Sometimes it may be painful to open that much in our attention. But what may come of openly experiencing our lives versus fragmenting attention in a way that evokes stress, tension and anxiety because we are not taking in the whole of our experience in the present moment.
An opportunity to live our lives with open, embodied and engaged attention. To pay attention with our whole being to what has meaning for us. It is our choice!
…..to fall on our knees in gratitude for this breath and the next.
All Rights Reserved by Gaye Abbott. Copyright 2017 http://GayeAbbott.com
If you wish to share this post please link to the Wildly Free Elder website. Thank You!
This post has been reprinted from the blog Life At Wolf Creek
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For Presence
Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path.
Let the flame of anger free you from all falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.
May anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.
~John O’Donohue, For Presence, from “To Bless This Space Between Us”
Sometimes I forget what it is to be fully human. With all the consciousness, potential, diversity of emotions playing within, embodied physicality changing and shifting constantly, vulnerability that we sometimes push aside into a dark closet lest fear take the upper hand…..and the innate interconnected presence with everyone and everything.
It is in those moments of forgetfulness that wonder, courage, presence and joy may recede into the background.
is it possible to dive into the rich and vibrant colors of the dahlias in the image above, to remember the light of our own being within the candle flame in a time of life that presents challenges never navigated before, to breathe with the River Birch outside the window celebrating birdsong, squirrel antics and a myriad of smaller creatures that cannot be seen yet still hold an important part in the evolution and diversity of life unfolding.
The mantra of one woman here in the Asheville N. Carolina area who contributed greatly to the local community was “Don’t Postpone Joy”. The story that was told to me was of a woman who was intimately and generously involved in, and contributed to, many projects and causes in the local Asheville community. She was passionate and devoted to making a difference with her presence and within that found joy.
Joy of simply living fully within our own presence. Of making choices that align with heart and soul. Her vulnerability and challenge? Cancer – which eventually took her life.
Each line of John O”Donohue’s blessing “On Presence” asks us to receive fully all it is to be human until the last breath we take. I like to believe that is how he lived his too short life, taken suddenly from this physical embodiment without permission.
Perhaps in the remembering of what it is to live passionately, even within the challenges we all face and the wounding we have all incurred, we shall recapture the potential and possibility – the juiciness of being – to celebrate together in collaboration of what it is to be human.
“Elemental Musings” offers postings by a nature lover and elder in transition in the Blue Ridge Mountain area of North Western N. Carolina, in addition to postings by the Wildly Free Elder community.
Post by Gaye Abbott, 9/16/21, Natural Passages Consulting.
We ask that you reference Wildly Free Elder if you wish to pass this on…and thank you for doing so!
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