WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
Category: Elderhood
Elder Voices
The landscape of aging into elderhood. Navigating the terrain is indeed an art. The artistry of finding ones unique way in an unknown never been there before choreographed dance of light and dark, sadness and joy, sickness and health, belonging and aloneness, sacred and mundane, acceptance and rejection…..living and death.
Each one of us walks a unique path….
Day 31: Elder Muse – Into the Silence
“I do understand why silence is challenging for many people. We are surrounded by the tumult of sounds, mostly man made, that are constantly around us or that we choose to have around us. What would happen if all that was gone?
We might suddenly be confronted with ourselves amidst the vacuum of no stimulation. A space where you are asked to let go, accept, befriend ourselves and forgive…..”
Day 13: Elder Muse – The Wisdom of Elders
“Living into and embracing our own aging is an art. I can’t say that I have perfected it but I can say I am aware that every day is an opportunity to explore, discover, be curious, accept the challenges and learn from them.”
Day 10: Elder Muse -The Great Bell Chant
“Come, take my hand and enter a space of understanding, self compassion, natural beauty.
These moments are precious for you will never get them back again.
Let go with each sound of the bell and enter the sanctuary of the breath….in this moment and the next.
Until your heart opens as a lotus flower, filled with the preciousness of life…your life, all life.”
Day 1: Elder Muse -Life Is A Marvelous Gift!
“The porch vantage point offers a front row seat to the unfolding moment. The leaves left on the almost bare trees acting as nature’s wind chimes giving witness to the ever changing cloud formations dancing across the expanse of blue, almost like playing tag with each other.
Rain during the night has left a glistening freshness to the air. I breathe in deeply and notice the fecund smell of earth freshly christened with…..”
The Door Is Wide Open – But Don’t Let The Old Man In
“Facing the fact of our own mortality is something we fall into intimacy with as we enter the elder years of our embodied life.
What is dignified aging? ….”
Letting Go of the End of the Rope
“We were standing in a circle all blindfolded. This was the beginning exercise of the ropes course that some of my “sole proprietor” business women friends and I had signed up for when I lived in Sonoma County, in Northern California.
If you have never done a ropes course it is quite an adventure and a test of courage, balance, trust, discovery, team support…..and willingness to let go and try something that you may never have done before (and may not ever do again!).
Granted this was decades ago I did this, but my body still remembers the experience. More about the standing in the circle blind folded in a moment…..”
Aging Priorities
“No matter what your gender is these words by Judi Dench remind me what is important as I age….and what is definitely not. What a remarkable face she has, as does the man below.
I would imagine that the stories these elders will tell you and the wisdom they share is worth the price of admission. Admission to elderhood and the remarkable and at times challenging journey of aging.
I decided in an instant today to really look at my aging face in the mirror….. like a lover would gaze at their beloved. …..”
Attention Is The Beginning of Devotion
“If asked what my first thoughts are as I awake each morning this is what I say. Gratitude for waking up and feeling the breath fill my body, and in the Spring how much I love the sweet sound of birdsong outside my bedroom window. After preparing green jasmine tea my writing notebook finds its place on my lap with fountain pen poised as I gaze out at the River Birch outside my bedroom window. The question posed each and every morning is “where will I place my attention today?”….
Just Be It
“They were walking slowly with poles in hand, the husband watching that his wife negotiated the hill before her. Seeing their slow and somewhat shaky pace on a very narrow trail I cut across the grassy slope, which was much steeper, so that I could be ahead of them and went on my way leaving them behind.
A bit later they were heading towards me on the trail and I was able to see more clearly the shirt that the woman wore which said in big bold letters “JUST DO IT!”…..