Tag: Aging

Day 19: Elder Muse – A Penquin Kind of Day

“Exploring the natural world has been a lifelong passion for me and has fueled endless curiosity. As I layer clothing this morning to keep warm outside my attention goes to Winter, the Solstice only two days away

So today I am sharing some footage of a penguin colony focusing on one very small baby, the last to hatch. The social structure not so different from ours, and coming of age having it’s ups and downs too.”

Day 17: Elder Muse – Breath of Joy

“There is a very old Chinese saying that says, “One who half breathes, half lives.”   When you are feeling fatigue, lethargy, slight depression, or inability to focus have you ever taken a Breath Break? 

You may find that your breathing has some restrictions. The good news is that you can choose to change that in any given moment. Shallow, upper chest, or restricted breathing represents so many things.  It is a pattern not in alignment with well being, but instead restriction, limitation, and shutting down on life – YOUR LIFE!”

Day 15: Elder Muse – Eldering Magic Within Nature

“Have you ever been so immersed in nature that you truly flet you had becme one with it? A conceptual collaborative photography project between Finnish and Norwegian artists Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth started off as a riff on traditional Nordic folklore….and then transformed to individual elders all over the world communing with nature in a way they had most probably never imagined. Becoming the center point – celebrated, valued and seen. …”

Day 14: Elder Muse -The Wild Divinity of “Home”

“Have you ever found yourself wondering what “home” means to you personally? The mystics say it resides inside and I agree with this. Yet, there is much more to this journey to reflect upon, let go into…. and be present to.

Perhaps this is a quest we are on our entire lives…..”

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 11: Elder Muse – The Peace of Wild Things

“There is much to despair of in this world and if attended too frequently can cause us to lose our way. In this poem Wendell Berry brings us the antidote …..”

Day 7: Elder Muse – Embracing Moments

“As I took in the poem I realized that instead of expanding awareness in that moment it felt like a spiritual admonishment of sorts. Glancing over at the plant stand in my bedroom I spied a bumper sticker that I keep there which says “Don’t Postpone Joy”.

The use of “do not” makes me feel a little like a child that is being told to please wake up and listen or tend to the moment more fully. That I simply wasn’t adhering to the precepts for Conscious Life 101, especially as a supposedly wiser elder.”

Day 6: Elder Muse -The Elder’s Journey

” There are no elder rites of passage in our mainstream culture. In fact we must create one for ourselves. Our own unique rites of passage – not a one size fits all.

Opening into a conscious approach to growing older we may still ask the question of ourselves “how do I want to live my life?”. Not “doing what you love” as a profession or job, but instead the question to live in is what opens our heart, inspires our creativity, and brings us peace of mind.”

Day 5/Elder Muse: Pillars of Creation

“We often think of space and the Universe as “out there” as if it’s there and we are here, as if Earth is separate from the rest of the Universe – but we are technically “in space” right now. The Earth and our solar system is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old. The Universe is everything. Everything includes….”

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? ….”