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. 

Wisdom takes maturity and perspective — which often reveals itself through years of living and learning through personal experience. Awareness and allowing are not always a given as sadly some come to it later or not at all. 

The cosmic order has crystallized our fate within our muscular system. In our muscular system lives the spirit crystallized for the physical plane, which without our apparent knowledge leads us everywhere, directing our coming and our going in accordance with our karma. ~ Rudolf Steiner 

dad's 98th birthday with family, 2023

This information was a huge “aha!” for me. Could this me how illness and dis-ease manifest in our aging bodies? Food for thought indeed. 

Just as our will is inwardly connected with the mechanism of our bones, our feelings are inwardly connected with our muscular system. 

As Steiner taught, this muscular system is how our emotional being expresses itself. Our muscles are constructed and develop, closely connected to our feelings — permitting our human system to expand and contract. 

It is what sets the mechanism of our skeletal structure in motion. For this to occur, the whole human system — our body along with all its bodily functions — need to be aligned and in agreement. 

@EcoDeoNY

Doesn’t this make sense of how our awareness can affect our physiology? Without self knowledge where would our focus and choices lead us? 

On a recent visit to my ob-gyn, I was given the information that some breast nodes have formed into constellations — rather than clusters, apparently this is good news, lucky me. 

Having had lumpy breasts since the birth of my daughter, I am truly appreciating the revelation that I hold these constellations within myself. In my heart chakra — how auspicious indeed. 

This is the fascinating tale that fully unfolds within us — body, mind, spirit — as we age and learn more through our own life experience. Step by step our life is revealed to us on this unique journey we take.