Aging has benefits. I used to glibly say, ‘it beats the alternative’, but just the other day a friend cleverly pointed out that I cannot be sure about that. He is correct, we do not know what is on the other side of life. Growing older has helped me realize that the miracle of being; waking up, breathing, stretching and starting out on another day, has been tremendously under appreciated. And that ‘being’… it only lasts a moment. If we where to genuinely acknowledge the magic that we are, that surrounds us and that connects us, we would be walking around with shit eating grins across our faces just about 100% of the time.
How can we recognize this miracle? How can we honor the magic? How do we stay in love with being?
Practice. Practice gratitude. Practice kindness to others. Practice being in touch with our deepest self, and comfort that self. This will most likely require us to get off the beaten domestication path of judgement, comparison and gossip.
Voltaire also said, “Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.”
So here is to getting off the well-trodden path and heading down a new road. I encourage you to find others who are like hearted. Find ways to explore your connection to the Universe. Find ways to honor the Earth. Find ways to live with less stuff and more tenderness. Take really good care of yourselves.
renewing and regenerating
Speaking of ways of practicing. A client stopped in a few weeks ago with an inexpensive costume jewelry starfish she purchased years ago. She wanted to celebrate her sixtieth birthday by recreating the design in gold and diamonds. So we did. It seems particularly relevant since the Starfish represents the idea that all the answers we need are already inside us, and we have the ability to deal with anything that life throws at us. The Starfish is all about renewing and regenerating.
know me
Another client came by last week to do some birthday gift and holiday shopping. While here she saw a pair of earrings that I was constructing on my bench. "I want those, for me." So Arleen is now wearing the first pair of SaBeMe earrings. SaBeMe is an AER acronym for Safe Being Me. It is also a Portuguese word for "Know Me".
Thanks for walking with me.
I hope you get to acknowledge, honor and celebrate the grand and perpetual miracle that you are. Amy