Cultural norms have warped the perspectives about aging. Pure and simple. Aided by the healthcare industrialized machine that has coopted the very notion of living and dying, society is numb to the idea that life is an unpredictable process that unfolds perfectly. Perceptions about time and space presume few allowances for understanding that the opposite of old is not young, but NEW. Beginnings abound in each moment if we have sense to step across perceived boundaries to claim the abundance waiting to be enjoyed.
Inevitabilities, uncertainty, bumps, and thrills do occur. Beliefs about life set the stage, but as Shakespeare’s eloquence parlayed in coded expression, the I AM, is the central figure as life plays out tragically or comedically. Identity creates destiny.
Where does the responsibility and accountability for life reside? If we claim less than 100% of the owner’s manual, life is acquiesced to powers outside of who we think we are as human beings.
Culturally the focus of health begins with what is broken according to symptoms rather than root causes. From my perspective it becomes apparent that if we start with the assumption that we are whole as a being, the discovery lies in remembering the sensibilities of what I have forgotten about who I Am.
Books, movies, stories and theater show us characteristics we can choose to claim. The sage over the misfit. The heroine over the victim. The Way Shower, the Navigator, Protector, Warrior and Elder. Who we choose to be allows our HealhSpan to equal our LifeSpan. We are each more than we yet believe we are in life and work.
What if you claim the assumption that aging is an asset? What if wisdom seeps up as we allow the continuous unfolding of I Am?
"I yam what I yam and I'm good at it." Popeye knew.....
My 96 yr wise mentor taught me to see the ‘new’!