I'm happy to be a contributor to Dr. Carol Orsborn's digest Fierce with Age. Dr. Orsborn is someone I have been getting to know better as we share notes and strategies in the work we each do in the field of aging.
In her
latest issue of Fierce with Age she focuses on the themes of loneliness, being alone and choosing solitude. She included an excerpt of my book Songs of the Inner Life, in which I reflect upon being solitary and content with that. Click the link above to read the excerpt and the other contributions. Her digests are always worthwhile reading.
I
find that I am content in my own company. This must be what I need at
this time in my life. My daughters are grown. I’ve been single for over a
decade, and I’m sailing toward 70. I don’t know if I will live till the
morning or until I’m 80. But I do know I am in the winter of my life.
And that gives everything I experience and want an edge.” - See more at:
http://fiercewithage.com/digest-of-boomer-wisdom-inspiration-spirituality-20/#sthash.OldJFoAa.dpuf
Loneliness can be a problem as we age. It's important for our well-being to cultivate some dear friends, engage in some meaningful activities in groups we enjoy and find ways to come out into the community to share and contribute.
What are your methods for staying connected? Are you content in your own company, or do you find that you are lonely more than content?
Issues like loneliness are something that I help clients with in my
Retirement and Inspirement Coaching practice. Sessions can be done in person or long distance via Skype. I use a variety of tools, which may include rapid eye therapy, hypnotherapy, EFT (tapping), CCT (energy work), meditation and creativity exercises.
I love this exhuberant image of Albert Einstein and I resonate with what he has to say about play.
Play is an antidote for depression and loneliness.
Play naturally uplifts the spirit, activates the endorphins to increase joy, galvanizes creativity, sparks flexibility and spontaneity and increases well-being.
Play is good for us at any age. What kind of play do you enjoy most in your life?
What kind of play would you like to bring into your life?
P.S.
If you are in Oregon's Rogue Valley, join me as I read from my new book Songs of the Inner Life at the Ashland Library on Monday August 5th at 6:30pm.
Childhood
is finished, adolescence long gone, early adulthood and middle age,
vanished. Yet even into my late forties, I held onto the hope that by
some special magic provided to myself alone I would escape aging, not to
mention dying, that somehow, I would be borne along on the beneficent
stream of time, nicely preserved at a pleasant age, say 30 or so, hair
all shiny black, body slender, with the smooth skin of relative youth.
What a struggle it was, surrendering that fantasy. It took years of
releasing, mourning and grieving. I ‘m not saying it’s completely done
yet. But much of it has lifted off.
I find that I am content in my own company. This must be what I need
at this time in my life. My daughters are grown. I’ve been single for
over a decade, and I’m sailing toward 70. I don’t know if I will live
till the morning or until I’m 80. But I do know I am in the winter of my
life. And that gives everything I experience and want an edge.
The Universe continues to be generous, there is no doubt about it. I
have found it worthwhile to have a sense of humor about its abundance.
Once in awhile, I have the urge to go up to the top of the nearby
mountain and just shout “
J’accepte! J’accepte already!” as loud
as I can, in the hope that the Universe will reconsider my case, and
speaking to itself as I’m sure it does, might say, “I think she has
learned her cosmic lesson, don’t you?” and lighten up on the red hot
lava flow it kindly sends me from time to time in its infinitely wise
way. However, I suspect that I am still not finished being smelted in
this particular crucible.
J’accepte, j’accepte, smiling.
J’accepte in
whatever mood or circumstance. I am learning acceptance. So far, I have
discovered that it is not pushing away. It is not giving up. It is
just allowing things to be as they are.
How ironic it is. That’s what I think when I remember this time.
Wanting to expand out into more spacious experience, then shrinking up
in fear at the enormous power of it. How safe it seems to stay with what
is familiar, rather than taking the leap into the unknown. I wanted the
big mythic knowledge, and I wanted to hang onto my little self. That
was my struggle. I grappled with it as I lived my ordinary hours and
days, sweeping the clearing in front of the cabin, making dinner,
walking out on the mesa with the wind making waves in the tall grass,
looking at the stars, having affairs, studying healing, swimming,
writing poetry, working at the general store in Bolinas, that sweet
refuge of a village, one of the most beautiful places I’ve had the
pleasure to inhabit.…
Nor can I report that I have finished the work of letting go of the
little self. I wish I could say that. Then again, if I were done, would I
be bragging about it? No, I would be way past bragging about my
accomplishments, spiritual or otherwise. I think that when that time
comes, it will be a blessed relief. Or maybe by then the idea of blessed
relief will be in the past, too.
For more on
Songs of the Inner Life, click
HERE
- See more at: http://fiercewithage.com/contributors/guest-blog-by-gaea-yudron/#sthash.6Xi8Zsda.dpuf
Childhood
is finished, adolescence long gone, early adulthood and middle age,
vanished. Yet even into my late forties, I held onto the hope that by
some special magic provided to myself alone I would escape aging, not to
mention dying, that somehow, I would be borne along on the beneficent
stream of time, nicely preserved at a pleasant age, say 30 or so, hair
all shiny black, body slender, with the smooth skin of relative youth.
What a struggle it was, surrendering that fantasy. It took years of
releasing, mourning and grieving. I ‘m not saying it’s completely done
yet. But much of it has lifted off.
I find that I am content in my own company. This must be what I need
at this time in my life. My daughters are grown. I’ve been single for
over a decade, and I’m sailing toward 70. I don’t know if I will live
till the morning or until I’m 80. But I do know I am in the winter of my
life. And that gives everything I experience and want an edge.
The Universe continues to be generous, there is no doubt about it. I
have found it worthwhile to have a sense of humor about its abundance.
Once in awhile, I have the urge to go up to the top of the nearby
mountain and just shout “
J’accepte! J’accepte already!” as loud
as I can, in the hope that the Universe will reconsider my case, and
speaking to itself as I’m sure it does, might say, “I think she has
learned her cosmic lesson, don’t you?” and lighten up on the red hot
lava flow it kindly sends me from time to time in its infinitely wise
way. However, I suspect that I am still not finished being smelted in
this particular crucible.
J’accepte, j’accepte, smiling.
J’accepte in
whatever mood or circumstance. I am learning acceptance. So far, I have
discovered that it is not pushing away. It is not giving up. It is
just allowing things to be as they are.
How ironic it is. That’s what I think when I remember this time.
Wanting to expand out into more spacious experience, then shrinking up
in fear at the enormous power of it. How safe it seems to stay with what
is familiar, rather than taking the leap into the unknown. I wanted the
big mythic knowledge, and I wanted to hang onto my little self. That
was my struggle. I grappled with it as I lived my ordinary hours and
days, sweeping the clearing in front of the cabin, making dinner,
walking out on the mesa with the wind making waves in the tall grass,
looking at the stars, having affairs, studying healing, swimming,
writing poetry, working at the general store in Bolinas, that sweet
refuge of a village, one of the most beautiful places I’ve had the
pleasure to inhabit.…
Nor can I report that I have finished the work of letting go of the
little self. I wish I could say that. Then again, if I were done, would I
be bragging about it? No, I would be way past bragging about my
accomplishments, spiritual or otherwise. I think that when that time
comes, it will be a blessed relief. Or maybe by then the idea of blessed
relief will be in the past, too.
For more on
Songs of the Inner Life, click
HERE
- See more at: http://fiercewithage.com/contributors/guest-blog-by-gaea-yudron/#sthash.6Xi8Zsda.dpuf
Guest Blog by Gaea Yudron
Guest Blog by Gaea Yudron
Guest Blog by Gaea Yudron
