older & wiser

Ageing is an art we all too easily overlook since oftentimes it is a double-edged sword. Ageism rears its ugly head in so many cases — a bias too often practiced in societies obsessed with youth and ill equipped to face death.

“For older people, ageism is an everyday challenge. Overlooked for employment, restricted from social services and stereotyped in the media, ageism marginalizes and excludes older people in their communities.” ~ World Health Organization

For menopausal women this is a particular challenge as we undergo a roller coaster ride of changes. I used to laugh at the concept when I was unaffected and I didn’t understand.

With good genes from both parents and our ancestors I would ridicule batchmates who started slowing down years ago and some even a decade or more younger than me.

on the beach

But the year I turned 65 it all came crashing down on me. Suddenly I noticed soreness or stiffness blooming where there didn’t used to be any. I broke one foot, then two years later, the other as well. How? Running full tilt with heavy bags in both arms. Yes! 

Now as I’m aging, my appreciation for life and the process of getting older is expanding. It is an exceptional gift to age year after year — no matter how we feel about our age. 

an animated world

Long before any ism or religion existed in humanity's consciousness, animist practice was the embodied experience of living beings. 

Animism is not a theory, a philosophy, or an idea. It was simply how things were. A common understanding - across the entire world, for all of time. 

The fabric offerings tied to a tree mark offerings to a being of the landscape.
Olkhon Island, Irkutsk Oblast, Russian Federation. Roberto Quijada, CC BY-NC

Animism is not a religion one can convert to but rather a label used for worldviews and practices. It identifies and describes acknowledge relationships between nature and the animal world. A driving force and influence over humans and a way of being that needed to be respected.