WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
Category: Artistry of Aging
Finding the End of the Rope
“Life in general contains a certain amount of upheaval. Each person chooses their own way of being a positive and engaging presence during dramatic change, challenges, and transformation.
How do we learn to step away from the chaos and find our peaceful center and stillness amidst all the noise? There are always a multitude of unique ways to do so and I have found it takes letting go of the outcome, trust, and courage to honor inner guidance – individual, couple, or group….”
Journey Into The Unknown
“From a very young age I cared for other people. That calling took up most of my life until I reached the elder stage of life. Now I take care of animals. They are so much easier. Yet it is still a care taking pattern.
In the last few months I seem to have entered a state of being guided to shift my perspective on purpose. We all know about the shifting we must do as daily life presents its pleasures and perils – but this feels different. It calls for trust and courage to step off the cliff of monotonous and sometimes damaging patterns and live more fully….”
Embracing Life’s Unpredictability
“I am asking myself a lot these days this question. What is it to be fully human???
Tears roll down my face more often right now whether it be that my heart is touched by beauty or the song of a bird; I am watching a video of a child in a wheelchair handing a flower to a monk on the Walk for Peace; hearing the story of someone who just lost their dog of many years to cancer; reading about the formation of Singing Resistance communities in the U.S. – peaceful protests protecting and supporting the immigrant population here; feeling, hearing about, and coming in personal contact with the great need of so many to connect, belong somehow, and find some sense of inner peace in a world that seems to have gone crazy.”
Ripening
“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.”
Audacious Aliveness
“A book came into my life this week that speaks to “Kokoro” – heart mindfulness. Living from an intelligent heart and feeling mind. A bit of Japanese cultural wisdom to actively live within.
What I am also calling audacious aliveness – fearlessly free, courageous nourishment, embodied wildness, intimate relationship with nature, and at times daring to create our own language free of fear and anxiety, all while cultivating stillness even among great uncertainty.”
Choosing A Slower Life
“The season of Winter here in Western N. Carolina, embraced by the Blue Ridge Mountains, has a sparseness and economy to it draped in bare branches and a monochrome environment. Feeling more exposed and open, and at the same time yearning to curl inward to restore, reflect, and perhaps grieve..
It is here that we cannot escape the death of all living things. The endless transformation of birth, growth, death, transformation, change. The fear of any of this is part of our disconnect. The seasons come and go…. and so do we.”
The Courage to Follow Your Soul’s Calling
“Humanity often feels stuck to me, following the dictates of what is “right” or “wrong” within the mainstream cultural directives, present thinking, or others expectations, not realizing that we may be losing ourselves in the process and at the same time losing the earth’s diversity that we are an intimate interconnected part of…..”
Being Present
“Every single day is filled with possible ways to make a positive, compassionate and perhaps innovative and creative impact. It comes in the form of connection – to each other, to ourselves, to the animal and natural world and our environment that we are an integral and interconnected part of.”
Courage With Self-Compassion
“As elders we are often asked, consciously or unconsciously, to be invisible and not take up too much space as our younger counterparts or adult children seem to simply not have time for us. It takes courage to speak out and take care of ourselves and each other by not hiding. By bringing our wisdom, compassion, humor, consciousness, our heart – and yes, our courage to every interaction we have each and every day.”
Lessons In Surrender
“It could be said that this is the perfect practice for growing older as well. For the moments are precious and in essence all we have. Finding freedom in letting go that keeps us expanding into surrender while fully honoring who we have become and are becoming….foreplay for that last moment of life when we experience the final letting go…..surrender.”
WILDLY FREE ELDER 