WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
Tag: Conscious Aging
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.”
The Four Natural Sanctuaries
“How often do we choose stillness over the endless call to do. It may surprise you to find a gift wrapped in the calm and peace of simply being present. Something you left by the wayside when you put on your human agendas and expectations.
Caught in a whirlwind of doing, surrender into stillness. “
In A Time of Destruction…
“It might be easy, and at times compelling, to concentrate our attention on the destruction happening in almost every facet of human and nature based life on this amazing interconnected planet of ours. Our media constantly broadcasts the negative and destructive forces in our face without any restriction or hesitation. Destruction is nothing new to the millions of years of life on this planet.
Yet, if we focus exclusively there we not only lose ourselves but forget what our contributions and offerings might be to the world. We forget that creation can be an antidote to destruction…..”
Seeing Through the Lens of Perspective
“It feels to me that curiosity and resilience are critical qualities to have these days. We, being humans, bemoan the state of the world – indeed it is in dire straits ecologically, politically, socially and in so many other ways. Yet, there is a great deal of good, untold beauty, and an abundance of innovation as well – much more than the trauma and violence, war mongering and power struggles.”
Vulnerability: The Gift of Being Seen
“As the years accumulate at some point we start recognizing that we have entered the last part of our embodied lives. This often comes with a feeling of great vulnerability as passing the mid-point there are now more years we have lived than to be lived.
It all becomes so very precious….”
The Beauty of Life In What We Give
“To be part of a “gift economy” where prosperity grows from the flow of relationships, and where the currency of being in those relationships is expressed in gratitude, interdependence and reciprocity – not the accumulation of goods. Where wealth is having enough to share and “making good relationships with the human and more than human world is the primary currency of well being.” (Robin Wall Kimmerer/The Serviceberry)…”
WILDLY FREE ELDER 