The Artistry of Aging
“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.”…..
“The author of this true story is a dear friend of mine who lives in eastern Canada near to Toronto. He is in his early 60’s, and says about himself, “Brian Alger is a musician, writer, educator, and retired entrepreneur passionate about creativity”
“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…..”
: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….”
“This is an opportunity to remember why we are here…..and what supports and sustains us. The natural world.”
Will we be more mindful of taking from her in the days to come? Our lives depend upon it….”
:In nature…and in life….receiving is reciprocal and woven with giving. What I didn’t grasp in the past is that I was always receiving when I was giving. Yet what would it be like to completely receive without being compelled to give back. Thankfully in my elder years I have surrendered into that experience.”
“The holiday season is often filled with excess and consumerism. I wonder what it would be like to offer a gift of kindness to each other or to strangers out there who you pass by every day.
Every time I go out into the world there is a practice I attend to most days. I do at least one act of kindness and share laughter with someone. When I saw the post on Good News Network about Captain Sir Thomas Moore I thought it was a great gift to give to you the reader, especially during the holidays.”
“Thus my offering this darkest day of the year (Northern Hemisphere) and lightest day of the year (Southern Hemisphere – save it for July!) is a magical Winter Solstice story for children. I have to say that I was enchanted…..”
“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…..”