Been thinking about aging. Partly, I suppose, because I’m developing a course on the true potential and promise of aging, and partly because, well, I’ll be 79 soon (and JoAnn will be 80, though she tries not to think about it, and hates it when I remind her).

Aging is a strange thing. Our bodies get old, of course. But the unconquerable spirit that is in us all – the truth of you and the truth of me — doesn’t get old, does it?

I’m sure you were as touched as I was by the courage of Kirk Douglas as he came on stage at the Oscars and showed how nothing can take away that unconquerable spirit that is in him. It’s unborn, and undying, the truth of who we all are.

The remarkable story of Frank Buckles

Consider the remarkable story of Frank Buckles, who died of natural causes at his home in Charles Town, West Virginia, on Sunday at the age of 110. Mr. Buckles enlisted for World War I at the age of 16 , after being less than truthful about his age.

A man with a truly unconquerable spirit, wouldn’t you say?

How can we connect more deeply with this unconquerable spirit we saw in Kirk Douglas and that Mr. Buckles surely revealed in his life?

Here are some thoughts.

How to be true to our own unconquerable spirit:

1. Be true to your integrity

It doesn’t matter what situation we find ourselves in – or whether it’s large or small — there is always the right thing. We only have to listen to our heart, and the right thing, whatever it may be, makes itself apparent to us.

Whenever I think of integrity, or the unconquerable spirit, I think of my Dad, who lived until he was 95, and liked to say you could put his medical history on the back of a postage stamp.

Dad was a reporter all his life on big British newspapers, and on one famous occasion, was ordered by a government spy tribunal to disclose the sources he had used in a story.

As he told the court, he would be untrue to himself and to his journalistic ethics to comply with the court’s request. Dad was sent to prison for six months – but it was a small price to pay for being true to his own integrity – his own unconquerable spirit.

2. Learn to walk the middle way

The unconquerable spirit loves balance. Sometimes, of course, finding the right balance in our lives can be quite a trick.

I love my blog, for example. I love writing a new post, and sharing the truth of my life as best I can. I love the opportunity to meet new friends that blogging provides.

But as much as I love my blog, and would like to see it succeed — and make a little extra money for JoAnn and me to supplement our fixed income — I can’t be hostage to my blog.

I know that quite a few bloggers deal with this issue. But ultimately our own integrity and balance is more important than any external activity or goal.

3. Find a compass in life

Finding a compass in life is essential to knowing our own unconquerable spirit and essence.

For me, that compass comes down to stillness. Because it’s when I am still — perhaps right now, or maybe this afternoon for a few precious moments in a coffee shop — that I sense the presence of what is eternal in myself. What is untouched — amazingly — by any of the turmoil of the world or the aches and pains of my body.

Love and blessings. May peace be with you.

It’s Boot Camp Time at the A-list blogger club

By the way, the A-list blogger club, to which I belong, and which is such a tremendous resource and help in my blogging life, will be running a new boot camp from March 6 to April 2.

The boot camp is entitled: the Art of Blog Seduction: How to Attract Subscribers to Your Awesome Blog. Mary Jaksch, co-founder of the Club with Leo Babauta, tells me participants will learn such things as:

• The crucial must-know design elements of an attractive blog;
• How to create supreme usability on your blog;
• The art of creating an irresistible brand;
• How to use videos and podcasts to attract readers; and much more…

I took part in on of the A-List Blogging Bootcampa not too long ago and it was terrific. The value that Mary and Leo offered in the boot camp was truly exceptional, as is their follow-through. As I mentioned last week, Mary is one of the most genuinely helpful people I have ever met.

Click HERE to check out The Art of Blog Seduction

Picture credit:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4394271933_1c48404d4e.jpg
Note: I’m an enthusiastic affiliate of A-List Blogging Bootcamps

Aging is a strange thing is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

Trust God – the one true being back of all things — because it is the very base of all true power, happiness and well-being.

I’m reminded of this simple truth each morning when I step outside to admire the magnificent blue spruce tree that grows just outside our front door.

There are at least five ways in which this noble tree teaches me and inspires me. I thought I would outline them for you because I believe they are very relevant to us as we seek to find our place or keep our footing in this rapidly changing world.

1. It does not resist life.

When the weather is kind, and the air is still, the blue spruce tree is also still, and peaceful — unmoving.

But the tree trusts God. It is not attached to peacefulness. When a storm blows up — as can happen very quickly here in the foothills of the Rockies — its branches move effortlessly back and forth, offering no resistance to even the fiercest gusts.

 2. It is content to be where it is.

The close proximity of this beautiful tree was a big plus for me when we first considered buying our new home.

How glad and thankful I am that it trusts God and is content to prosper and grow where it is planted. Because of this I know that the blue spruce tree will still be there this evening when I go outside and sit on my bench again to admire it.

Even so, let us trust God and grow where we are planted – in the fertile soil of our own timeless, untouchable being.

 3. It is persistent.

Because it trusts God, the blue spruce tree — one of my best friends in all the natural world — just keeps growing no matter what.

But we have a responsibility to keep growing too, don’t we?

4. It connects earth and sky.

The blue spruce tree is a bridge between earth and sky. It reminds me that this is my purpose also — to trust God in my living, and be a bridge between the world of spirit and the external world.

 5. Last but not least — the tree inspires by its presence.

What draws me to the blue spruce? Why is it so beautiful? Why does it evoke in me such strong feelings of love and admiration?

This tree is utterly mute insofar as words go. It inspires by its presence –  something sweet, strong, and unconquerable, characterized by love and trust and respect for a larger whole that ultimately is indefinable.

Picture credit:http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2757/4400881070_213c73f19c_m.jpg

Trust God: 5 things we can learn from a blue spruce tree is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

It matters not how strait the gate/How charged with punishments the scroll/ I am the master of my fate/I am the captain of my soul. — W.E. Henley

JoAnn and I saw “Invictus” the other day. What a gift. My thanks to the director, Clint Eastwood.  Invictus” (Latin for “unconquered”) is the name of a short poem written by an Englishman, William Ernest Henley, in 1875. The poem helped give Nelson Mandela the strength to handle the vicissitudes of his life.

The movie portrays most beautifully the timeless truth that if we stay true to our integrity, our own true character, we will find freedom even in harsh or difficult circumstances.

Morgan Freeman, as Mandela, does a wonderful job of portraying that gentle, yet strong character that is the birthright of every one of us. It brings him through his years in prison. It gives him the moral strength to forgive those who had mistreated him and tried so hard to break his spirit.  

Matt Damon is also superb as the young white South African rugby captain who, inspired by Mandela’s example, helps him unite his countrymen and bring peace to a fragile land by winning the rugby World Cup for South Africa.

One of the most touching scenes, for me, was when Matt Damon and his team visited the infamous prison where Mandela spent 27 years of his life.

As the young rugby captain looks out of a window at a bleak, deserted area we see a flashback in which Mandela, in convict clothes, is splitting a large rock. Bowed, swinging his pick, he stops and looks up for a moment at the watcher in the window.

Personally, I think this was a great time to release this movie.

Christmas means different things to different people. But for me, the truth portrayed in ”Invictus” is the same truth at the core of Christmas. Just as there was Love and Forgiveness in Jesus, so there is Love and Forgiveness in us. Just as Jesus stayed true to the inviolable Truth at the core of his own being – so may we.

Thank you for reading my blog. I wish you and your loved ones a very Happy and Blessed Christmas.

“Invictus” and the truth at the core of Christmas is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

I’d like to focus on persistence in this post. Persistence isn’t one of those big, flashy qualities that gets a lot of attention, but it goes to the very core of what makes life work. The universe surely needs persistence to keep its various galaxies and systems operating as they should. The redwood tree, just starting out on its journey, a little wisp of a thing perhaps 3 feet tall, is obviously going to need persistence to reach its true potential.

And so it is for us.

Calvin Coolidge, the 30th US president, had this to say about persistence. “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

My wife, JoAnn, belongs to a quilting group that calls itself the Finishing Club. JoAnn joined this group about two years ago because — one reason at least — she has quite a lot of quilts stashed away in hidden places here and there that never quite made it to the finish line. She thought, correctly, that being in this group would motivate her.

When she left home an hour or so ago to attend this morning’s meeting of this group in the basement of a local church, my wife took with her a quilt that has a rather special significance for her. She actually began this quilt 20 years ago. It was the first quilt she ever made, or perhaps I should say, attempted, and it got her started in quilting — but it remained unfinished and forgotten as new projects and new possibilities came along.

I should mention that JoAnn hit upon the idea of quilting at a time in her life when she was in a transition, wondering what she should do after retiring from Shell. One day she thought to herself, “I like to sew. Perhaps I would like to quilt.” She found she liked to quilt very much, and it quickly became not just a hobby, but a passion — a way of life.

In any case, a week or two ago, JoAnn decided enough is enough, and she set to work in earnest to finish this particular quilt that, as you can imagine, has a very special meaning for her. As she left home to go to the quilters’ meeting an hour or two ago, she was very much looking forward to displaying this finished quilt — to the accompaniment of a drumroll, perhaps, and loud cries of “well done.”

Personally, I love this particular quality we call persistence. In the face of life’s tribulations and setbacks, persistence is the only thing that kept me going at times. I’m sure this has been true for you also.

We may be used to giving thanks for things that we have in an external sense, for the material blessings that come along in our life. Let us take a moment to give sincere and grateful thanks for something that does not have any external form — except perhaps the form we give it in our own lives — but is an immense blessing nonetheless: The truth of persistence.

Persistence is part of your true nature. It is part of our true character.

Think about it. Someone, or something might have made a mistake, you know, and amidst the confusion of creating, forgotten all about the need for persistence. No, I don’t want to think about it. The very idea makes me feel very uncomfortable and ill at ease.

I’m going to let Confucius have the last word on this topic. He said, however many years ago this was, “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”

Actually, best of all would be if you have the last word. What do you think about this post? Has persistence played an important part in your life? Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or share the post with friends. Until next time – keep on keeping on.

In honor of persistence — what can take its place? is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age

Introducing a conscious growth workshop that he will be holding in a few months, Steve Pavlina, at www.StevePavlina.com, wrote a number of perceptive, valuable comments, including the following:

“This workshop is for people of above average intelligence. I’m not referring to IQ here. By intelligence I really mean self-awareness.

“Do you have a strong sense of yourself as a conscious human being? Or do you merely go through the motions each day without ever questioning your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? Self-aware people tend to be very curious. They ask a lot of questions. They wonder — about their lives, about their potential, and about meaning and purpose.

“I’d rather share this workshop with a group of 20 self-aware people than with 200 average people. I’m not saying that to be derogatory. The simple truth is that the average person hasn’t yet made a serious commitment to personal growth. Most people are still in the unconscious growth stage. They aren’t ready to take full responsibility for their lives. They do attract growth experiences, but they aren’t able to direct the process consciously, so growth is something that happens to them rather than as a result of their conscious intentions. Such people often live in victim mode, blaming external factors for their circumstances.”

I found Steve’s words most interesting and thought provoking. They underline, for me, how there are essentially two very different ways of experiencing life on this planet at this time. Two paths beckon before each one of us. We can live in victim mode, as Steve puts it, with our consciousness primarily oriented in all the limitations and suffering and disintegration occurring in the world and perhaps in our own lives.

Or we can choose to become increasingly aware of and enfolded in and aligned with the serene, timeless perfection that is present with each one of us regardless of background or circumstance.

Oh my. There is so much confusion in our lives, isn’t there? All you have to do is turn on the television, pick up a newspaper, do a bit of surfing on the web, and there it is — one huge ocean of confusion. It can make you sick in a hurry. You don’t have to get on a boat to be seasick. You can get seasick right here on terra firma if you allow yourself to be distracted even for a moment from your own still presence — the place within yourself where sanity and wisdom and true happiness hang out.

Joanne and I have a calendar which we really enjoy, which basically consists of a quote from the Bible along with a picture from nature. The quote for today is this: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14.26).

Yes, they are religious words, and some people may reject them out of hand for that reason without even thinking about them. But I find, as I wend my way through this particular human life, that there is a comforter with me, just as the quote says.

I will never understand the stillness that I feel within myself when I open myself to it, a living presence that does indeed “bring all things to my remembrance.” But the mere fact that I do not understand it does not limit its power or its wisdom or its robust beauty. I can experience it. That’s the point. I can experience it even though I do not understand it.

I think this is what Albert Einstein was getting at when he said: “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious — the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.”

Yes, we can be a victim if we want. It’s pretty easy. I’ve had quite a bit of experience of that particular path. But we also have the choice, as Steve Pavlina so eloquently pointed out, to take full responsibility for ourselves and let our true nature and potential be known and revealed at every level of our experience.

The true comforter is waiting. We can choose, in this very moment, the path of true joy and strength available to us all.

A path of true joy and strength beckons you is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Living with grace at any age