WILDLY FREE ELDER
The Artistry of Aging
Tag: Reflections of Life
There Is Nothing Ordinary
One of the definitions for being in awe speaks to “feeling a powerful mix of amazement, respect, and wonder when you encounter something vast, grand, or extremely powerful.”
In my experience definitions often seem to be linear and disembodied, when in reality a word(s) can hold so many unique and wild experiences all clambering to be held in a single moment in time. Why confine a word to follow rules when being in awe or wonder is experienced differently for each of us. It doesn’t have to be vast, grand or powerful.
We may take the ordinary in any one day or moment for granted until we realize that none of it is “ordinary” when we are fully present.
The Nature of Joy
“The nature of joy. Found in everyday interactions within the unfolding of life moments; in the ability to see and create beauty and to treasure it; and embraced by gratitude for simply being alive as ourself. “
Journey Into The Unknown
“From a very young age I cared for other people. That calling took up most of my life until I reached the elder stage of life. Now I take care of animals. They are so much easier. Yet it is still a care taking pattern.
In the last few months I seem to have entered a state of being guided to shift my perspective on purpose. We all know about the shifting we must do as daily life presents its pleasures and perils – but this feels different. It calls for trust and courage to step off the cliff of monotonous and sometimes damaging patterns and live more fully….”
Embracing Life’s Unpredictability
“I am asking myself a lot these days this question. What is it to be fully human???
Tears roll down my face more often right now whether it be that my heart is touched by beauty or the song of a bird; I am watching a video of a child in a wheelchair handing a flower to a monk on the Walk for Peace; hearing the story of someone who just lost their dog of many years to cancer; reading about the formation of Singing Resistance communities in the U.S. – peaceful protests protecting and supporting the immigrant population here; feeling, hearing about, and coming in personal contact with the great need of so many to connect, belong somehow, and find some sense of inner peace in a world that seems to have gone crazy.”
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.”
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.”
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)…”
The Ancient One
“How about self care as a revolutionary act? Our nervous system doesn’t think in pieces. The fear, the rage, the anxiety and uncertainty — isn’t just intellectual. It’s physiological. Our bodies are absorbing this era in our tightened shoulders, our sleepless nights, our frayed tempers.
There are ways to unplug from all of this…..”
Soul’s Calling
“How could I possibly live this life within a mainstream narrative that dismisses age as something to overcome, or combat, or somehow change. Hair has silver streaks and skin has lost elasticity, but the soul – that innate deepest part of us – celebrates it all.
For this is the time of life when a new song is sung, even with the challenges that seem to continuously emerge.”…
Reseeding The World
“As we reach our elder years most of us will have experienced pivotal moments of great loss and grieving. Eventually we recognize it is time to step back into the world – into our life – again. Like planting a seed of ourselves and finding what nourishes it into bloom.”