WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
Choosing Joy Over Despair
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
~Robin Wall Kimmerer
I sometimes find it challenging to choose joy over despair these days. But also know the choice I make from moment to moment Impacts how I can be, or not be, fully present and available to friends, family, community and even myself.
When one does not have their “head in the sand” – a common protective mechanism of avoidance to the pain and suffering that is going on all around the world, in those close to us, and sometimes within ourselves – then we are bound to be faced with others despair, anxiety, pain and loss.
Where nothing is certain, being a human is messy, and everything is wildly changing. Where the mainstream media endlessly churns out ungrounded assumptions and endless rhetoric, stirring the pot of despair. Where we hear there is an empty chair at the Thanksgiving dinner table, a loved one having lost their life to a virus that does not discriminate. It is sometimes too easy to get caught up in this wounded world.
“How demoralizing and depressing it is to read or watch or listen to the news, if we just step back and think about the world around us, the people we know, there’s a disconnect between that utterly depraved picture of us that’s emerging, and how life actually really works, kind of day to day, hour to hour. The fact is, day to day, we have lots of positive interactions with a whole range of people, now, even in these socially distanced times. Let us not forget this…” ~Krista Tippett
Yet, within the wounds, rather like the tree in the image above, there is new growth and opportunities to re-frame our perspective and turn our attention to moments of joy and small pleasures. New growth that finds its compost from what has died or changed, and leaves us with clarity, a new found direction and hope. A perspective coming from interconnection – not separation.
“We’ve been organizing around parts even as we’re learning to see that in every sphere of life we inhabit ecosystems. …..Humans evolved as beings whose needs to touch and be touched, to converse, debate, and laugh together, to smile and flirt with one another, and to interact in groups, are central to healthy lives” ~ Agustin Fuentes, Biological and Evolutionary Anthropologist
Our senses tune us into what we see, smell, hear, and feel. The ecosystem of our bodies and what is around us. The imprinted “social beingness” that our DNA is coded with.
An entirely new landscape can reveal itself when we are able to re-frame responsibilities as privileges, and release a sense of obligation, shifting to opportunity where cooperation and collaboration are central. Where love is the leader. Where everyone and all life is valued.
Many years ago now I traveled with a small group down to the Northern part of Baja California. Our leader had been there before to this remote area with natural hot springs where the indigenous Paipai of Mexico lived. After an overnight stay along the way, sleeping in tents on a very cold ground, we reached our destination trusting our guide could find his way again as we traversed cross country over rough terrain.
When we arrived we were greeted by a woman in her fifties – Maria – and her father – Ramon – in his late 80’s. Only two indigenous Paipai left in this rough and isolated area of Baja. Birth home to them where they had lived their entire lives. We were to learn that many others in this community had left for more populated areas to seek work and an easier way of life.
It was apparent immediately that the older man could not navigate well except with the help of his daughter. We were warmly welcomed onto their land and were invited to camp out for a couple of days next to the hot springs and share meals with them.
Not having much Spanish we relied on our guide who was fluent. Out of the conversation over a couple of days we found out that the woman’s father was completely dependent on his daughter for his well being as he had lost his sight. This is a man who had loved to roam his land on horseback and independently carry on this life.
That was no longer possible and it saddened him greatly. His daughter’s daily life was taken up with caring for him, the household and the land they lived upon. Despair along with a certain level of acceptance prevailed.
On our last day there we shared a simple meal together and I felt it important before we left to thank this man who could not see me, by coming closer and touching his hand and saying gracias for their hospitality. This is when possibility appeared!
As I gazed at the man’s face and looked into his eyes I saw that he had what I thought were severe cataracts completely clouding his vision. I could hardly contain myself as at that time I worked at a well known medical clinic/research foundation in Southern California and had access to the Department of Ophthalmology and the head of the Division.
The outcome of this story is a testament to choosing joy over despair. Not overlooking or accepting that this indigenous man and his daughter had to simply live with his disability, but taking action on the possibility of restoring his vision.
It took a collaborative and cooperative approach to bring this man and his daughter up to be evaluated. And a true test of trust on their part to travel out of their small home base in Baja where they had lived all of their lives and had never been away from.
Yes, he did have cataracts in both eyes, but one had been injured many years prior from a tree branch hitting his eye when he was on horseback. The vision in this eye could not be restored, but the other eye was given back perfect sight through cataract surgery. This of course meant that his independence could be restored and his daughter’s obligations lightened.
Yet it did not end there, for my friend and colleague, the ophthalmologist, took action to develop an on going vision clinic down in nearby Tijuana, traveling down with other staff once a month to help those with vision problems.
Shifting despair to joy for many, including those of us who collaboratively and collectively were a part of these actions. Given the privilege of embodying the best of human kindness, hope and compassion.
Choosing joy over despair. Lest we forget, It happens millions of times a day….
RESOURCE:
Dare Darlin’ Dare
Image: Julie Ann Wylie along Cape Flattery Trail, Makah Indian Reservation, Washington; photographer Wayne Wylie
GUEST BLOG POST BY JULIE ANN WYLIE
Throughout years of seeking I’ve quite naturally embodied the interpretive & educational qualities of the Hierophant. Translating useful principles, methods and wisdom of others has been a necessary step for my own application and self-study. Passing along both process and outcome to querents along the way fulfills an inner drive to inspire self-healing.
I didn’t see this coming, in fact I wasn’t even sure I had it in me. Never before, best as I recall, have my own words, my unique thoughts, my inherent wisdom poured forth so bountifully.
It started innocently enough with a ‘YES’ to participate in a training for Poetry as a Tool for Wellness. The six hour course brilliantly fosters empathetic facilitators by introducing their curriculum experientially.
On the last day of training, two poems were introduced. I listened closely as they were read and as peers shared what these writings had evoked in them. Next, our trainer gave us 8-10 minutes to write about our impressions and I was ready to go! Thoughts were forming into words and words into sentences as she continued her instructions. Sensationally present within my body, I could hardly wait to get pen to paper as the head waters of this prose poured out …
Dare to share, to create, to open …
Dare I? Dare you NOT?
It’s daring darling that has landed you HERE, NOW.
Daring to start.
Daring to stop.
Daring to show up.
Daring to walk away.
Daring to say YES, oh, and NO.
Daring to care
It’s daring darling that has split the seams in the nightmares of your dreams.
It’s daring darling that keeps you returning to your pillow, almost giddy with wonder about what might be revealed this sleep.
It’s daring darling that drives you to the doors of vulnerability and daring darling that blows those doors open as you exhale or simply lifts your hand to the knob.
Dare darlin’ dare.
DARE DARLIN’ DARE by Julie Ann Wylie (Copyright 11/2020)
poeticmedicine.org julieannwylie.com
Our Wildly Free Elder global community welcomes Julie Ann Wylie into our fold. You will soon see her on our Elder Spotlight page. As an engaged and fully embodied participant within our community., she recently read this poem to a small Wildly Free Elder group who are exploring “What Does Your Life Stand For?” with Andy Kidd.
What Of Death?
We sometimes forget that all life eventually comes to its end. If we are privileged to live longer than most the inevitability of our own physical demise and transition comes to the forefront taking us into unknown territory and, for most, the inevitable fears that accompany this passage.
You see, we are constantly reminded of the cycle of birth, growth, change, death and regeneration every day of our lives. A tutorial or “rites of passage” given to us freely from the vast source of all creation without asking anything from us in return.
Do we pay attention?
Little “deaths” more vividly and intimately felt as we advance in years and reflect back on our lifetimes. Death of the ego in surrendered moments; of expectations; of lost beloveds and relationships; of old patterns of being; of physical functions either temporarily or permanently lost’; of seasons and rhythms in the natural world that are a constant presence throughout our lives – all an intimate part of this cycle of life, death and regeneration in its many and variable forms throughout our time here.
Do we recognize these lessons as being within the whole, interconnected pulsation of life? It took me awhile to do so. Each one of us must come to a reckoning with our own very individualized passing from embodied life.
This is a vast territory to explore and one which is abundant with books, stories told, spiritual/religious philosophies/beliefs which resonate and give us solace at stages along the way, and others points of views. Yet each of us has a unique intimate experience with death throughout our lives which leads us to the inevitable passage and experience leading to our own. A continuum that is written in the archives of our souls.
Each creature and living being has its own cycle, some living much longer than humans and others with brief physical lives that hardly seem to touch us. I have been taught well throughout my lifetime about endings. We all have been in some form or another.
What initiated me at age 14 as a young-woman-to-be when my mother died suddenly at age 39, was an abrupt loss that I didn’t know would craft my patterns and way of being for many, many years to come. She was my first human embodied death, with many to come afterwards.
For the most part they would come in unsolicited and unexpected ways. Perhaps in some preordained way we choose the lessons that weave themselves throughout our lifetimes. Even the ones that contain our own suffering and grief.
i was to go on in my life with the sudden death of my youngest son’s father at age 42, with immense repercussions for both myself and my 7-year old son; the death of my father at 89 passing in his sleep in the middle of the night as I reached the age of 40; to losing a child early on in a pregnancy, seemingly a soul that wasn’t ready to come in yet; to the loss of two beloved women friends this year to the ravaging effects of metastatic cancer; to the many lives lost of individuals that touched my life in some way, some who clung to life not willing to surrender.
Not stopping there my chosen medical profession brought me many more lessons about the continuum of life and death. As a facilitator of a brain tumor support group for families and patients while working in Neurosurgery as a nurse/technical assistant; as facilitator and creator of a yoga based stress management and alternative healing group for women living with breast cancer while working in General Surgery; being present in a clinic waiting area when a woman who had chronic pain for years fell to the floor and “coded”, and when brought back to life her first words to the resuscitation team, “Why did you bring me back?”; watching an in patient in the hospital literally will himself to die with no scientific or medical explanation for his passing; holding the hand of a beloved patient with a terminal brain tumor and saying to him that it was OK to go if he was ready (he passed within 24 hours); sitting with a family in a nursing home as a hospice volunteer and being of support as their mother’s last heartbeat and breath arrived, and with it the peace that emanated throughout the room along with the grief.
Simply accepting the inevitability of our own transition from embodiment may not be enough.
The rawness of full embodied being in this moment in time will never come again. It will be followed by another and another and another until that final act of surrender. Some with immense challenges and others filled with love, beauty and mystery – all to be savored in the miracle of the now we have been given.
All to be transparently acknowledged and felt to the very core of our being….recognizing when it is our time to let go.
The Solace Of Nature
“Silence creates an opening, an absence of self, which allows the larger world to enter into our awareness. It brings us into contact with what is beyond us, its beauty and mystery. Silence is not the absence of sounds, but a way of living in the world – an intentional awareness, and expression of gratitude, to make of one’s own ears, one’s own body, a sounding board that resonates in its hollow places with the vibration of the world. “
~Kathleeen Dean Moore, from the Orion article “Silence Like Scouring Sound”
Dwelling in the ‘silence’ of natural sounds, smells, textures, landscape – sensing with our elementally intertwined bodies. The interconnected life force of nature – wholeness – can bring us out of chaos and separation, and into reverence for the natural order, mystery and intimate beauty of all life. Back into a sense of balance and wonder.
Falling into the portal of nature we are strengthened and reminded of what is important….and what is not.
It was in the silence of a pristine snow covered landscape on a morning in Vermont, my boot covered foot breaking through snow the only human sound, as I started out on my morning walk.
The night before I had been awakened by a housemate knocking softly at my door urging me to get up and follow her outdoors into the frigid night air. The pure delight I saw on her face was enough for me to follow her into the darkness wrapped in only a robe and walk a short distance around a corner of the house.
As I rounded the corner with her I followed her lead and looked up into the star studded sky and almost fell to the snow covered ground as I gazed at a waterfall of light pulsing and flowing down toward the earth. In those moments of this dazzling Northern Light display that charged no admission fee, and asked nothing of me than to be still in the silent night, a childlike wonder wrapped itself around me.
Still enraptured with that experience only the night before, and acute awareness of being part of the larger world, I dropped into the pristine silent snow covered landscape as I begin my morning walk. Bare trees immersed in the low light of a Winter morning were suddenly broken by a flash of color.
A brilliant red Cardinal sitting regally on a branch, gazing in my direction.
The waterfall of Light the night before, brilliant red of the Cardinal on a morning walk – all wrapped in the silence of the natural world – released me into the sacredness, comfort and nourishment of simply being part of it all.
Expressing appreciation for the miracle of embodied life and all that interweaves with it in this shared sacred tapestry.
This continual unfolding creation of nature brings us back home again to the roots of our being where we can take a full breath in reverence….inspired and renewed.
Being And Becoming Elders
Seal Elders hanging with the rocks in the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary, Pacific Grove, California USA
New Wildly Free Elder Spotlight and Offerings/Holiday Specials
“Born in the British Isles, FireHawk came to the US as a very young man – to study and to find his way in the world. He spent his early professional years immersed in theatre arts and large-scale communication projects, using multi-media, emerging computer graphics tools, and his burgeoning love of photography (which continues unabated to this day)
He says that meeting his teachers, WindEagle and RainbowHawk, 28 years ago helped him to find something that he had been seeking”…..READ MORE HERE ABOUT FIREHAWK
Listen to the story of how Firehawk’s name came into being; engaging with his personal story (hear attack and wildfires) of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual challenges and transformations within aging and becoming/being an elder; and exploring “eldering” as a verb.
Also enjoy our ending with Gaye once again not able to find the “Stop Recording” button. We were simply having a great time together and didn’t want it to end! (purposefully did not trim this part off) PLAY!
HOLIDAY SPECIAL SALE: “Inclined Elders” by Ramona Oliver
This Book Will Be Invaluable If You:
- Have a desire to continue living a purposeful life, no matter what your age.
- Are interested in learning how to maintain a positive attitude from adulthood to elderhood.
- Want to learn how to create a living legacy and serve as a role model for future generations
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER HOLIDAY GIFT SALE PRICE
As a gift for you, your family, and friends, I’m extending a discount on both paperback and e-book through my self-publishing partner, BookBaby, – direct link https://bit.ly/3dpLrzN
PAPERBACK
Regular Price: $14.99
Holiday Gift: $9.99
Coupon Code: IEGIFTPB
EBOOK
Regular Price: $9.99
Holiday Gift: $4.99
Coupon Code: IEGIFTEB
Apply the discount code at checkout. You can use the codes for one or more books and the code is valid from November 1st through December 31st.
NOW…WHAT?
Join Us in Ceremony Online
On Saturdays November 14th, December 12th, January 9th, and February 13th 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM PST
| Dear Ones, This year, we held both our Spring and Summer Ceremonies online. As we move towards winter in the Northern Hemisphere, we warmly invite you to once again come to ceremony in the Digital Realm, so that we may be together in a sacred way, dream together and support one another in imagining “Now…What?” Simply click the button below to find out all of the details. |
| We are excited about the possibility of spending time in each other’s company in ceremony, exploring, co-creating, and playing a part in each other’s ongoing learning and growth. We send our love to you – stay safe… FireHawk & Pele |
Bare Bones
Written on 11/4/20 by Gaye Abbott
As I sit with foot elevated on a pillow with an ice pack upon it, the U.S. election results still not decided and a nation divided, and the results of a skin biopsy a few days ago that came back as a superficial squamous cell carcinoma – I feel stripped to the bare bones of the question, “where do I place my attention?”
In fact, I feel stripped bare period.
This is a particularly vulnerable space to inhabit. There are no sheltering or hiding places in transparency. It is simply raw and real – exposing the parts of us that we haven’t had the courage up to now to reveal to anyone other than those closest to us. And even then do we really share our deepest concerns, for fear of revealing to ourselves that we really don’t know who we are anymore in this chaotic world we live in.
Or perhaps with all that we have grappled with and are experiencing, we know, accept and love ourselves even more?
We are supposed to “have it together” and know what our next step will be. Yet there doesn’t seem to be external markers any longer that direct us to where our attention should go. We may feel lost or at best caught in a whirlpool of others expectations and cultures rules of order, lost in the chaotic pull of so much grabbing for our attention. Lost in the “pitfalls” of aging in a dominant culture that denies they will ever die.
Simply to confess to myself I don’t have the answers, nor do I know where I am going, feels to be an exercise in surrender.
There is too much moving in the wholeness of intimate interconnection to make grand plans or expect any more than simply placing attention on the present moment in which my foot hurts, but is very slowly healing; the election will be decided in a few days and will no doubt be revealing; and I will have a procedure next week to scrape away any residual cells on this Southern California sun marked skin.
Then let all that go.
For I realize the next moment offers an invitation into the bare bones of this last cycle of embodied life as an elder. Where so much passion, optimism, laughter, creativity, wild and elemental nature wisdom, and love reside amidst the challenges and the vulnerability.
A poetic improvisational way of living where I am part of the whole, intimately connected with life evolving.
It is when I go this deep, into the often messy bare bones, beauty and mystery of existence and rest there, that I am free….
Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 11/4/2020
I Don’t Know
Guest Blog Post by Tania Carrier of Advivum Journeys
I feel I’ve done something wrong.
My normal response to most questions – “celebrating the holidays?”… “shall we go for a walk tomorrow?”…” is the business hanging in there?”, is a quick scan and a definitive answer.
These days, however, I am heard uttering uncertainty.
“I don’t know” is a definite blip in the system.
The reverberations fill me with the same feeling I had when I once got lost hiking in Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands. Completely turned around and surrounded by tall trees that hid the horizon, I had nothing to show me the way, nothing to suggest a direction, safety or an outcome. No amount of staring at the map or down the path revealed the “right way out.” I did not know.
I feel that same prickly feeling down my spine now as I wonder what the future might hold.
Am I headed in the right direction? I don’t know.
When will this all end? I don’t know.
Should I be doing something differently? I don’t know.
Will I handle being cooped up all winter? I don’t know.
Will Covid bring the incubation time for a new creative start? I don’t know.
Admitting “I don’t know” isn’t socially acceptable.
All my schooling was about being on that hallowed ground of certainty, answers so definitive that they could be picked out of a multiple choice. The whole system applauded every right answer. A great predictive model of my future was based on the number of things that I knew.
Society hasn’t prepared me to admit, let alone live in, “I don’t know.”
At best, it is an unfortunate but transient state which immediately precedes humbly asking Google to rescue me.
And yet, here we are.
I did a quick poll amongst my friends; it seems we are all feeling a little “I don’t know,” and we don’t like it, not one bit. Most of us confess to bluffing an answer or projecting bravado where there is none.
But what if not knowing isn’t a cause for worry?
Isn’t it the truth that we never really knew?
Nothing is missing; certainty was never there in the first place.
The confidence and conviction I had about my life a year ago didn’t allow me to foresee what was to come. Any entrepreneur will tell you that knowing a business and predicting performance tomorrow is not the same thing. When I think back over the milestones that mark my life, most of them came without my foreknowing.
It is uncomfortable, but what if I accept my current reality as a state of wonder?
A place where scripts are rewritten, questions are playthings, surprises are frequent.
I remember the moment, clutching my map, I was able to calm myself down and take a 180degree turn away from panic and accept that I did not know where I was.
I sat in, “what is my next step?”.
No longer taunted by the questions I could not answer, I got curious about who I was as I experienced uncertainty. I pushed away the worrier and invited in the explorer. I moved into experimentation – what if I take this direction? I stayed present, noting the patterns of the trees and the greenery near the path. I celebrated out loud when I retraced my steps to the line on the map at the top of the ravine. I encouraged myself to stay levelheaded when I realized that it was not the line on the map at the top of the ravine. I noted the dropping sun and the nervousness that resulted and used it to metronome my steps.
I stopped trying to predict, to control, to foresee. Only then did I feel a little peace and the invitation to be where I was.
In the moment of uncertainty, there is an expansiveness of possibilities.
Innovation, creativity and unseen paths require comfort in the unknown.
Trying to predict how this pandemic will turn out is exhausting.
Certainty is an illusion. Prediction is wishing.
Acknowledging that I cannot see over the treetops, I feel lighter, relieved from the pressure of having to pretend I can foretell the answer.
Uncertainty has always been woven through life.
It is not more or less certain now; I am just more willing to acknowledge it, sit in it, play in it.
And accept that it has always been so (of that I am certain!)
And NOW For My Next Act…
Guest Blog Post by Donny Lobree
Having just passed to the far side of 60, I’d guess I’m one of the older techies you’d ever meet. I’m also a proud recent grad of Flatiron School. How did I get here and where am I going? Well, let’s see….
I’ve been in retail, been a tax preparer, bank teller, airline worker, and ran my own businesses. I’ve taught yoga, Reiki and even became a Certified Massage Therapist. Somewhere throughout those decades I personally met Princess Diana in a hotel in Rio, fell in love and almost married a man in South Africa while traveling around the world more times than I can barely remember. I lived through the worst of the AIDS crisis in the 80’s and 90’s in San Francisco; lost a husband, Julio, and became a healer. Somewhere in all that, I learned to speak 10 languages and worked myself up to becoming a semi-professional violist. Did I mention I wrote and published a children’s story about my beloved stuffed bunny? I think my very greatest joy and challenge has been working off and on over the decades as a Midwife to the Dying–I help people die and I sit with the grieving. To balance it out, I took my shirt off and became Mr. July 2016 for an SF non-profit and helped raise funds for our community’s most needy.
All that being said, it was a couple of years ago when I asked myself, “Well ok, can we please be done now?” And the little voice inside of me said, “ Sorry, Hon. There’s just a bit more to go. And by the way, what are you really doing with your life, Donny?”
What indeed.
And so as I entered this next stage of my life, I began to ponder: how can I synthesize and bring together all that I have been? What do I want my next contribution to the world to be? How can I begin to compose a graceful “coda” to this life over these next couple of decades? How can I help ensure a comfortable lifestyle for myself and my 71 year-old husband, Kirk, as we both continue to gather, examine–and release.
I have always been fascinated by computers and coding, having been firmly grounded in the contrasting pre-internet era of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. “What would it be like to play with some HTML?”, I thought. And so I begin to teach myself HTML/CSS and make simple websites. The whole process reminded me of learning a human language with vocabulary and syntax. The ability of thinking out of the box came fairly naturally to me as a classical musician: playing the viola has a lot of structure to it, but allows you to be creative as you play “on top of” your technique.
My coding experience just kept growing over months. After HTML/CSS then came JavaScript. “So many fun things to learn and cool-looking technologies to try,” I would constantly observe. These days, I’m expanding my repertoire by learning Java and the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React and Node). I’m planning on tackling Amazon Web Services towards the end of the year.
I never cease to be amazed by the ability coding affords us to make something out of plain air. And not just any old thing, but maybe something that will be of use to people to make their lives better or bring them closer together. Therein lies the “magic” of coding.
However, I had no real path in coding or any particular goal as I bashed around with coding tutorials. Then one day a friend suggested, “Why don’t you let people pay you to code, Donny?” What a thought! So over the next few months as I worked with that idea, I realized I needed to put some form to all this new seemingly random coding knowledge I was collecting. That’s when I started investigating coding schools.
It took me well over a year to choose my school. I was on every email list for every coding school I could find and took many free and paid pre-code school prep courses. I chose Flatiron School in the end. Why? What stood out about Flatiron as opposed to several other really good schools?
Flatiron is the only coding school I found that really truly has a heart–and big one at that.
From my pre-school coding interview to the account executives; from the bookkeeping staff and, of course, down to my eventual teachers and post-graduation employment coaches, everyone unfailingly and without exception demonstrated care, generosity in addition to precision, excellent communication and responsiveness. I have never for a second regretted my choice of code school and, as I like to say whenever I get a chance, “I am a grateful Flatiron School graduate.
Today, as I bring in all that I have been, or “soft skills” as you call it in techie-world, together with my fledgling “hard skills”, I find myself looking for a job in this era of COVID-19.
Although it is not impossible for someone of my age to get a job as a Software Engineer, the truth is that it is somewhat harder. “Age discrimination can be subtle,” as one counselor told me. Perhaps the 25 year old lead engineer will be thinking, “Can I play ping pong with this guy?” Or it can be more overt in the initial stages of the interviewing process where I have been actually asked, “How old are you”, or “What year did you graduate from high school”. In both cases, I respectfully declined to answer the questions. Below, I’ve included some resources regarding the federal and state laws regarding age discrimination if you’re curious.
Today, much like some of my colleagues from school, I continue the job search. Maybe I’m just beating my head against the wall? Perhaps taking the coding nomad approach would work better.
Let me close our time together with one parting thought. When you wake up in the morning, ask yourself the same question I ask myself: “What will I learn today,” and “How will I be of service?” Then see how far you’ll go!
Keep coding out your dreams!
Namaste,
Donny
P.S. I would love to connect with you and hear your thoughts. Find me here on Linked In:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/donny-lobree/
*Here are some links to articles regarding asking an applicant’s age during an employment interview:
https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0910/8-things-employers-arent-allowed-to-ask-you.aspx
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4037-illegal-interview-questions.html
Enough Is A Precious Feast
Artwork by Alex Grey
“In a gentle way you can shake the world.”
~Mahatma Gandhi
Attending to life is a sacred act of love.
Last year I visited my home town of San Diego, California in the beach area of Ocean Beach/Point Loma where I was born, raised and brought three sons into the world – with the purpose of spending time with family still living there.
It was like living my life backwards with so many memories arising as I walked my old haunts and the hard packed sand at the waters edge. On one of these walks I reflected on my entry experience at the airport a day before.
Since it had been decades since I flew into San Diego I found the airport not only larger, but more complex in an organized way. One of the improvements being that car rentals were now in one building in back of the airport. To reach this building one needed to ride the 11-minute shuttle to get there.
As the door opened for the shuttle bus I was to ride, a beautiful African American woman stepped down from the front of the bus onto the sidewalk with a huge smile on her face and greeted us all with an immense inviting and loving energy, calling us precious as she took our luggage and lifted it into the designated spots within the bus.
As another woman sat down next to me she turned and with a smile on her face said to me, “I’ve never been called precious before!” In just that one gentle way our bus driver had opened up and connected this woman to herself and to me.
It did not stop there! Once the bus was loaded and the driver had greeted everyone and stowed their luggage we were under way to the car rental building. As you know, travel can be stressful and sometimes the purpose of an individual’s travel can run the gamut from vacation to attending to immense challenges they may be faced with.
The driver greeted us on the PA system, asked how all of us were doing – waiting for our responses, and then proceeded to tell us a little about San Diego and what we were passing by on our short journey.
In the silence that followed this everyone on the bus all of a sudden started hearing oldies songs, like Moon River, that were whistled over the speaker system…..by our entertaining bus drive. And she was good!
Following that she invited us to sing children’s songs that she probably sang with her grandchildren, and which most everyone on the bus had sung as a child. We went the gamut from “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round & Round” to “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and finally to “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” (with animal suggestions from her captive audience) .
Next on the agenda she challenged anyone who wanted to participate to say tongue twisters with her….and one man from New Zealand standing on the bus with a very large box took it on and succeeded with the most lovely accent!
At this point we were just about to our destination. As I looked around all of the passengers were smiling and connecting with each other. The entire energy on the bus had changed. We were connected and enjoying the few moments it took us to get to our destination, the stress of travel forgotten.
As everyone stepped down from the bus our driver handed us our luggage from where it was stowed with a huge smile. I thanked her for such an entertaining and community connected trip with a shared connected smile.
This woman had engaged us in the short moments we were all together and created something extraordinary from a job and 11 minutes together that could have been quite ordinary simply getting us to where we needed to be.
Enough was indeed a feast!
When we as elders question whether we are good enough, or simply enough and question our value – we are caught in the entanglement of either cultures expectations, or our very own patterns and perfectionism.
What would it be like to simply let go of those expectations, a diagnosis, labels or identities – and discover who we are as extraordinary, empowered and creative beings in our fullest expressions in any given ordinary moment?
Perhaps we shall find that in honoring our “being enough” – our innate value – it takes us from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Shake the World and create a feast!
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Copyright by Gaye Abbott, 9/2019 from Wildly Free Woman
Love As Allurement – the Cosmic Creation Story
Guest Blog Post by Ann Roberts
This morning, a cup of tea in hand, I contemplated what to do with the day when my eyes glanced over to my bookshelf.
Books are a joy to me!
I take such pleasure in the commitment of the author to share their insights. It feels like a personal connection. I love how they have reached out to make a difference in my life by sharing what is important to them. I celebrate the diligence they have shown to bring the book into form.
I also appreciate the people that helped them. I always savour the Acknowledgments Page of any book I am reading. This is where the author says ‘thank you’ to the people that supported them. It is a window into the author’s life and the co-creative process they engaged in.
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Today my eyes rested on a book called ‘The Universe is a Green Dragon‘ by Brian Swimme. I am inspired by how he weaves his knowledge of the Universe’s nature with his understanding of spirituality. He presents complex ideas in a simple way, and the joy he brings to what he is sharing is so infectious.
The Cosmic Creation Story
The book is a conversation between a youth and a wise elder about the Cosmic Creation Story. It is wonderfully illustrative of how the Universe came into being.
It is also a beautiful example of how conversation across the generations takes place. In the book, the youth asks lots of questions, and the elder responds in an evocative way that invites even more questions. The interplay between them is such fun to follow. It feels like there is a twinkle in the elder’s eye.
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I took the book down from the shelf and sat with it closed on my lap for a couple of minutes. Looking out to the hills here in Scotland, I said to myself,
“Ok, what is the message for me today?”.
I often do this when I feel challenged or when I am looking for inspiration. I find the message offers me new ways of looking into what is happening in my life. So, I let the book fall open and my eye flow over the revealed page, and, to my delight, it was all about the universal concept of LOVE.
Love as Allurement
The elder says, “At the heart of this Creation Story is Love. It is not human love but a primordial quality that enables the Universe to be the creative force that it is.’
The youth asks, “What is love?”.
The wise elder smiles and replies, “Love begins as allurement – as attraction.”
This description of love as allurement is a beautiful sentiment, and I found myself thinking really big and then really small as I thought about;
- the love galaxies have for one other so that they are ‘called’ to be in relationship,
- the love one oxygen atom has for two hydrogen atoms that gives us water,
- the love of a bee to a flower, how they dance in beauty,
- the love a human has for a beautiful piece of music, how it touches the soul,
- the love of us humans for the natural world that brings us healing.
- the love of an adult for a child that seeks to nurture them into their fullness.
Oh my, I am waxing lyrical today!
My questions for today
As I write this, my optimism rising. So, as I sit here on a misty Scottish morning, I reflect on how I can tap into this allurement. Not only with my immediate family but with everyone and everything I encounter. What will be the quality of my connection? I imagine it will be fun.
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I like to finish off each newsletter with questions for you, and I wonder if there will be an allurement in my words that leads to a deeper connection. I hope so. Here I go.
- Have you looked up at the sky today to connect with your love of the Universe?
- Are you looking at your life through the lens of love today? If so, what are you experiencing? If not, what might be needed?
- Are there any blockages to the flow of love where you can bring healing?
Reprinted from The Sunny Optimist: Ideas, information and inspiration to brighten your day. By Ann Roberts
WILDLY FREE ELDER 