This week: The Spirituality of Aging Edited by: Sophy New Year  
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Hi, I'm Sophy New Year ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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Last week I found a poem on Facebook, and shared it on my own page the day after my birthday with a thank you for all of the birthday wishes. The poem by Bernadette Noll is found below:
I want to age like sea glass.
Smoothed by tides
but not broken.
I want my hard edges to soften.
I want to ride the waves
and go with the flow.
I want to catch a wave
and let it carry me
to where I belong.
I want to be picked up
and held gently by
those who delight in my
well earned patina and
appreciate the changes I went
through to achieve the beauty.
I want to enjoy the journey
and always remember that if
you give the ocean something
breakable...it will turn it into
something beautiful.
I want to age like sea glass.
I love this poem, and all it conveys. I'm not sure I would have appreciated it as much when I was in my 20's or 30's, but as I embrace my early 60's, it touches my heart with profound meaning. The beauty of sea glass only comes with time and the softening of rough edges, battered by sand and waves. And while aging is not associated with the kind of beauty as youth typically is, there is a different sort of beauty associated with aging. A few images of aging beauty come to mind - the crinkly laugh lines and other well earned "wrinkles" we acquire, the healed or healing scars of life battles we survived, sometimes topped off with a silver crown of hair.
Like sea glass, my hard edges have softened over time thanks to the waves that have washed over me for so many years. I try to laugh more and worry less, be kind, and not waste time on things that don't really matter in the end. As I mentioned last year when I turned 60, one of the benefits of growing older is that we stop focusing so much time and attention on the insignificant things - we stop sweating “the small stuff” so much. Instead, we begin to shift to caring deeply about things that matter most.
Left to its own inclinations, the mind is prone to sloppy habits that don’t serve us well – feeling sorry for oneself, obsessing about the undesirable behavior of others, casting oneself in an unrealistically flattering (or unflattering) light, feeling entitled to a better version of reality than the one we’re in. Among the disadvantages of letting one’s mind wander into those dingy corners of the mind is to miss marvelous realities that are actually happening right in front of us – many of them beautiful, and all of them fleeting.
Perhaps it’s one the side effects of aging, but my mortality occurs to me somewhat more regularly now. It isn’t morbid – I don’t dread death nor am I fascinated by it. I am just matter-of-factly aware that my lifespan is limited. Of course I've always known that - but I didn't really "grok" it until the last 10 years or so. It was a reality I knew existed - "out there" somewhere - but when I was younger I didn't really embrace it the way I do now. The reality is that we all have some finite number of days ahead, and I need/want to make the best of those days I have left. I don’t want to waste time being distracted by unrealistic or unimportant things.
Among the realizations that occur to me is that there may come a day – depending on how my life ends – when I’ll think back to the present moment and appreciate it more deeply as my time grows obviously shorter, valuing this moment in time better than I did when I actually lived it. Maybe we could think of this as preemptive regret or preemptive grief, which is to say that whatever aggravations or deprivations I’m prone to nurturing in this present moment - someday in the future as my hourglass is running out, I might well long for the chance to have another day like this one.
My perspective about life, about LIVING, has certainly changed as I've aged. I truly want "to catch a wave and let it carry me to where I belong."
How has your life perspective changed as you've aged?
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Below you'll find some spiritual offerings from other WDC members. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review. If you have something you would like me to highlight, please do share it with me, thanks!
This one was written in response to my newsletter on Solstice - and I love it!
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On aging -
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Here is a response to my last newsletter "Spiritual Newsletter (July 21, 2021)" about "Following Your Bliss" -
From Lostwordsmith 
I loved the topic of your newsletter today! I agree with 'following your bliss becomes a calling' and it does go much deeper than just doing what you want. Actually searching your soul to find / realize what it is that really brings you bliss is often a hard journey. One very much worth taking though. I also want to thank you for featuring my poem 'Cosmic Lighting' in your newsletter.
So glad you liked it - thank you for letting me know.
      
From Patrece ~
I really want to thank you for this very insightful and uplifting newsletter. I found it on the newsfeed and felt pulled to read it. Probably because I saw it there at a time when I am struggling to figure out what I want and need to do with my own "one wild and precious life," because I find myself stuck in an awful rut that I just can't seem to pull myself out of. Right now, I just don't know what it is that I need to do and that gets frustrating. But I remind myself now, with the help of what you have shared, that it wasn't so long ago that I was strong and resilient and willing to take risks to follow my heart and to make the most of myself and my life, and not just for my own benefit. I think that aging and some medical conditions have caused me to feel I have no choice but to play it safe. But playing it safe results in feeling hallow. Thank you for reminding me that my life isn't over and that being willing to take risks is the only way to move forward.
So glad you found it helpful - blessings on your journey. 
Please keep your comments and suggestions coming! Until next time! Sophy New Year |
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Spiritual: August 18, 2021 Issue [#10931]
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