I have felt several deep shifts in my lifetime to date. 73 years . But this one is the most confusing, the least optimistic and yet also the one that I feel the least connected to. It's happening.. but do I need up pay attention. Does it need to be part of my journey in some deep way or just a coincidence. I feel like your shift is magnified by your recent loss. I can't include that in mine. Mine is just a world evolving ( which I've always related to optimism until now) faster than I can or choose to keep up with. Maybe the letting go is the shift that I'm actually experiencing. Whatever will be will be. Hard words for an aging activist. The "shift" is now frightening or undeterminable, unless I allow myself to become the goo. The goo just is i am just being in my little ol world that I've spent my lifetime creating. I'm gonna enjoy it in spite of the shift. My shift has landed. I think..,..
I feel for you, Deborah. As we age the fact of our mortality becomes ever more clear, and since there are few of us who are ready to go gentle into that good night, even when we want to, even when we say we are ready, the involuntary shifts in awareness can feel frightening and undeterminable, as you say. At any age though, letting outgrown methods of self-protection and identity turn into goo is the most direct way to integrate new awareness. You are so much more than an aging activist. Love.
As always, you share pain and promise with an ever-light and wise touch,Janina. Beautifully said.
I like what both you and Deborah share. Since we're all sort of in the same orbit, I have to say that I found last year, when I turned 77, to be one of shedding the old and a-borning the ever-more-true Rondi in new and more powerful versions. And at 78, this seems to be continuing--I'm healthier, with more purpose and direction than I've had in years. It's not just the politics, although I do have a self that feels a mission there, not yet fully realized. It's more that the disparate parts of myself are like the iron filings on a Chladni metal plate, not as much scatter, much more pattern coming into alignment.
I love your subtitle. It's not only "if you let it," but said similarly: "when you trust it."
Rondi, thanks so much for these comments. They inspire me! I love hearing that you are feeling so empowered. That's what I want too. I find it challenging to accept physical infirmities of age without letting that dampen my emotional confidence and spirit. Yet isn't the desired big shift that happens as we age to realize that body and spirit are connected but have very different trajectories? xoxo
Sorry to be late replying! I'm a fan of Rudolf Steiner's 7-Year stages of development, but without focusing on it per se, I had to go look it up when I turned 77, because I could feel a maturing of a former me, rising up in a new way. For example, I was into meditation when I was young, but have not had that discipline for quite some time. And now, I'm being called to certain practices, or new ones, to meet the self that is now at and new and surprising stage.
When I wrote my memoir and relived a lot of my story, I believe I lit a small fire in me--and that was good. But also, I discovered there was a part of me that was spiritually lazy or tired, that was just taking the gifts of the past for granted. That's probably why the meditation has become more urgent. And I'm being shown how chaotic my inner life still remains. No earth in my horoscope, I say.
Your trajectory comment...I'm using my body more, even pushing it more, than in the past. Making up for promises unkept. So I'm hiking, dancing, swimming, teaching water aerobics, about to lead a class in line-dancing, revisiting yoga (harder now, because I crave the movement more).
At the same time, I'm seeking the mystery of my body, the mind over matter piece, plus the surprising revelations that certain things can be unlocked with focus and intention. Practices like Jin Shin Jyutsu, for example, an energy healing technique. These show me that there will be an art to leaving this body one day. Lightly, joyfully, perhaps. . . XO
I have felt several deep shifts in my lifetime to date. 73 years . But this one is the most confusing, the least optimistic and yet also the one that I feel the least connected to. It's happening.. but do I need up pay attention. Does it need to be part of my journey in some deep way or just a coincidence. I feel like your shift is magnified by your recent loss. I can't include that in mine. Mine is just a world evolving ( which I've always related to optimism until now) faster than I can or choose to keep up with. Maybe the letting go is the shift that I'm actually experiencing. Whatever will be will be. Hard words for an aging activist. The "shift" is now frightening or undeterminable, unless I allow myself to become the goo. The goo just is i am just being in my little ol world that I've spent my lifetime creating. I'm gonna enjoy it in spite of the shift. My shift has landed. I think..,..
I feel for you, Deborah. As we age the fact of our mortality becomes ever more clear, and since there are few of us who are ready to go gentle into that good night, even when we want to, even when we say we are ready, the involuntary shifts in awareness can feel frightening and undeterminable, as you say. At any age though, letting outgrown methods of self-protection and identity turn into goo is the most direct way to integrate new awareness. You are so much more than an aging activist. Love.
As always, you share pain and promise with an ever-light and wise touch,Janina. Beautifully said.
I like what both you and Deborah share. Since we're all sort of in the same orbit, I have to say that I found last year, when I turned 77, to be one of shedding the old and a-borning the ever-more-true Rondi in new and more powerful versions. And at 78, this seems to be continuing--I'm healthier, with more purpose and direction than I've had in years. It's not just the politics, although I do have a self that feels a mission there, not yet fully realized. It's more that the disparate parts of myself are like the iron filings on a Chladni metal plate, not as much scatter, much more pattern coming into alignment.
I love your subtitle. It's not only "if you let it," but said similarly: "when you trust it."
Rondi, thanks so much for these comments. They inspire me! I love hearing that you are feeling so empowered. That's what I want too. I find it challenging to accept physical infirmities of age without letting that dampen my emotional confidence and spirit. Yet isn't the desired big shift that happens as we age to realize that body and spirit are connected but have very different trajectories? xoxo
Sorry to be late replying! I'm a fan of Rudolf Steiner's 7-Year stages of development, but without focusing on it per se, I had to go look it up when I turned 77, because I could feel a maturing of a former me, rising up in a new way. For example, I was into meditation when I was young, but have not had that discipline for quite some time. And now, I'm being called to certain practices, or new ones, to meet the self that is now at and new and surprising stage.
When I wrote my memoir and relived a lot of my story, I believe I lit a small fire in me--and that was good. But also, I discovered there was a part of me that was spiritually lazy or tired, that was just taking the gifts of the past for granted. That's probably why the meditation has become more urgent. And I'm being shown how chaotic my inner life still remains. No earth in my horoscope, I say.
Your trajectory comment...I'm using my body more, even pushing it more, than in the past. Making up for promises unkept. So I'm hiking, dancing, swimming, teaching water aerobics, about to lead a class in line-dancing, revisiting yoga (harder now, because I crave the movement more).
At the same time, I'm seeking the mystery of my body, the mind over matter piece, plus the surprising revelations that certain things can be unlocked with focus and intention. Practices like Jin Shin Jyutsu, for example, an energy healing technique. These show me that there will be an art to leaving this body one day. Lightly, joyfully, perhaps. . . XO
Rondi, you are an inspiration! So much of what you say is helpful to me. Please keep up the good work, and keep telling me about it... xo