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.”…..
“We come into this world with a myriad of sensations calling our attention. Throughout our lives we will discover many bodily experiences, some pleasant….and some definitely not. Often the latter is where we dwell.
Yet underneath all of those sensations and experiences lies a miracle of finely tuned and interconnected systems that literally keep us alive and breathing every single moment. “
“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”
“The intention of silence and solitude for six days was entered into with a great letting go on January 1, 2023. Little did I know it was to be taken apart. Until then the seeming lengthening of available time in the day, coupled with the freedom to simply be present to each moment, was enhanced by a personal decision to ban all digital or electronic means of connecting or communication.
And then everything changed 2 days later when I happened to check my email…..”
“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…..”
“…. want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.” Mary Oliver
: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….”