WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
Tag: Aging
Wisdom of the Standing Elder Beings
“Stepping into an old growth forest is like stepping from chaos into an ancient , intelligent environment of cooperation, interconnection and diverse community. Almost immediately I felt the presence of indigenous energy and wished that I had moccasins on my feet instead of bulky walking shoes, or better yet barefoot to connect directly with the earth beneath my feet.
In direct communication and connection with this generative, abundant and lush world teeming with life I crossed over the stream running under the bridge at the beginning of the trailhead and felt at home….”
A Symphony of Light
“My days are filled with more wonder and awe since I’ve stepped off the fast-paced train supposedly taking me to success and freedom. I’m referring to the train that offers everything including the objectification of relationships for profit and not too much real value. The train that proposes all the ways to succeed in business and sometimes even in life, but no real tangible rewards. The train that is nonstop until you wake up one day with the word “enough” on your breath and the throb in your heart to do something different.”
Solitude
“Solitude that was so rare as we raced through our younger years was most often to be avoided at all costs. If we only knew that it was the solitude that would bring us a greater awareness of who we are in our wholeness perhaps we would have welcomed it with open arms.
Leapt at opportunities to bare our heart and soul to ourselves in quiet reflection….”
Lessons From Reese
“As soon as we started out on our walk I knew that this would be different from our more vigorous walk in the morning. There was a different energy in our natural surroundings and within Reese herself.
A slower pace, more intense exploring of one single smell, rustle in the bushes, or piece of earth….”
PLAY!
:Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones. We have to break the rules. And we have to discover the sensuality of fear. We need to face it, challenge it, dance with it.”
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….
Solitude
“Sitting out on the front porch where I am house sitting I gaze at the sky, the mountains and the valley below. This is a familiar view for me as I lived here for the first three months after moving to N. Carolina and since then often visit with my friends and do the occasional house sit.
Yet this morning it is like I have never seen this view before. For in actuality I have not seen it just like this. The light, clouds, shadows, colors and ever changing seasonal landscape. Solitude for me is home. A constantly awaking spaciousness where I am in touch with all life and am an interconnected part of it.”…..
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 30: Elder Muse – “Death Walker”
“On this next to last post for 2022 what appeared, and insisted on being the focus, was something we don’t usually talk about with others. Something that we are closer to than we have ever been as elders even though it can come at any time in our lives. Death.
Death has been stalking me recently and asking me to pay attention to living fully NOW in this moment…..”
Day 28: Elder Muse – Dare To Be Wild
:Hiking up 1400 feet of elevation on part of the Appalachian Trail we came around a bend in the trail taking in the fresh air gifted by the surrounding trees and plants. Then there it was, Nature’s artistry. Spread out before us was a carpet of Trillium on both sides of the trail.
Truly a magical place….”