The Artistry of Aging
“For most of us there have been – and will be – challenges in our lives that simply take away our ability to see and embrace beauty in any given moment….and to be unerringly grateful for it. We may lose our way for a time.
These moments of perceived beauty can be a potential light in the darkness we find ourselves in….”
“Adversity and the exquisite vulnerability of being human is a reminder to extend compassion and kindness. To return to a conscious relationship with a natural world that gives us life. To participate fully in our lives even within the inevitable challenges.”
“Mindfulness in the breadth of its practice could be one of the most important tools we have for the art of being peace in a chaotic world. Attention to the present moment as a way of life – attentive living – shows us our own ungrounded perceptions and old patterns of being that harm self and others. Then there is the opportunity to change them.”
“Reclaiming our sense of wonder in the everyday, ordinary moments of life” is something that often happens to us as we reach elderhood. Capturing that sense of awe that was a given for many of us when we were a child is now our precious gift in the latter years of life.
“”You do not belong to you. You belong to the universe. The significance of you will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume you are fulfilling your significance if you apply yourself to converting all your experience to the highest advantage of others.”Buckminister Fuller
“Throughout most of my life the elders in my village were honored and respected. Without them the community would not have substance or grounding. Vision or wisdom. Rites of passage for the young, or awareness of the life beyond this one.
We were the chosen ones….”
“Crossing over a threshold from one stage of life, or even in one single moment, can be disorienting. It may be a subtle transition over time or a sudden wake up call that you are now in Emerald City, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, and nothing is really the same.
Once you decide to avoid your comfort zones and take off into unknown territory the next story of your life begins….”
“Being an Elder is not defined by age, but rather Elders are recognized because they have earned the respect of their community through wisdom and actions or their teachings; through the vibrancy that radiates out from their presence and the unique artistry that only they can bring into the world.
Let us return to acknowledging elders in the fullest sense of the powerful presence they can be and are becoming. Respecting the life artistry that has been necessary to bring them to where they are today.”
“The healing, soothing, and peace of mind that comes from being out in nature, in the wild, or even just in your garden. It is a primal feeling of coming back to who we are, to reconnect to the soul of our being and what we are made of. Returning to the rhythms of nature, the cycles of the seasons, the circles of life…. “