I can’t help but be aware, as another birthday approaches, of the changes transpiring in this physical body that has been my home for more than 80 years. Goodness, is it my imagination? The font that I like to use to compose my posts appears smaller to me today than usual but that can’t really be the case can it?

How loyal this body of mine has been. How brave it has been. Many hardships and challenges have been visited upon this lean but wiry body since it was first created, and it has withstood them all.

I have a scar, about 3 inches long and half an inch wide on the inside of my leg. I was 6-years-old and was walking in the woods with my parents one day when I got caught while trying to step over a barb wire fence. I can only imagine how loudly I cried and the concern that my parents felt. But my body didn’t complain in the least. It just went calmly to work to heal the big gash I had received.

My body – like yours – has experienced many tribulations. But it is still here. It is still doing its very best to handle the challenges that life brings and maintain a balance in these rapidly changing times.

The time does come, of course, when our body can no longer continue to serve us. A good friend named Martin, who is 86, was recently moved to a hospice. He and his wife are neighbors of ours. I visited him a few days back and it was such a pleasure to be with him and chat about this and that, about the gigantic Tom Clancy thriller on his bedside table, about the good food he is getting and the pretty fountain and tree outside his window.

I don’t know exactly when Martin will pass from this human scene but I know he will pass with serenity and grace because that is how he has lived his life. I think he sees death as just another circumstance to handle.

Perhaps it’s a bit like getting ready to go on a trip. I sense that Martin and his wife, married for 65 years, have done what they need to do to prepare for the journey and can face the future with equanimity because there are no unresolved issues hanging over their heads.

Let us be thankful for our bodies. What a gift they give to us. Yes, my friend’s body is coming to the end of its natural life – just as my own body will in due course. But although our bodies are finite, the serenity and grace that I experience when I am in Martin’s presence is not finite. It is Love and it is eternal. It is Love and it is unafraid. It is Love and it is at peace. It is Love and it is who we truly are.

If you have any thoughts on this post you’d like to share please do write. I send you love and thank you for reading my post.

Pictured credit:   Some rights reserved by a n i. Y.

Be thankful for your body is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Aging with Wisdom and Joy

It’s never too late to live your dream and create a new future for yourself.

As long as you are here, as long as you are still breathing, it doesn’t really matter what your age is – the dream that you brought with you when you came into the world is calling to you still, wanting to be born in new and imaginative ways.

The dream that has animated me for as long as I can remember is to do whatever I can to give courage, comfort and peace to others through writing. But oh dear. Oh my gosh. The calendar says I’ll be 81 in May. Maybe it’s time to call it quits and let go of my dream and live my remaining days in peace and quiet, perhaps with a little touch of apathy thrown in?

I don’t think so. “Not on your life,” I hear my spirit say.

“You’re just getting started. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble helping you through difficult times and inspiring you to keep growing. You’re just beginning to get the hang of how life works and what you have learned can be helpful to others, so listen up.

“This is no time to think about ‘retirement.’ This is a time to stretch your wings like never before and fulfill your mission. You have an opportunity to create a new future for yourself that will be a blessing to others, so hop to it.”

The general consensus in our culture seems to be that the older we become the less useful and relevant we become. And if you haven’t manifested your dream by age 40 or 50 or 60 or whatever, well, that’s just too bad, you probably never will manifest it now.

I say that is false. Aging is a privilege. The older we are, the more opportunity we’ve had to learn life’s ways and the more wisdom and compassion we have available to share with our world.

It’s never too late to give your gift. It’s never too late to create your preferred future. It’s never too late to fulfill your dream. You know so much. You have proved so much. You have suffered so much and overcome so much. You have shed so many illusions and pretenses.

You are more authentic now than at any time in your life.

The world yearns for the light that is yours to share. It is the light of your own eternal spirit and it will never dim.

I send love and blessings and hope you are keeping well. Your thoughts on the above will be much appreciated, as always.

Picture credit: All rights reserved by Matthew Borras

It’s Never Too Late to Live Your Dream is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Aging with Wisdom and Joy

“Most of all, we can decide to walk gently through this last great stage of life when everything begins to come together for us, to make sense, to have new meaning. We can simply sit and watch a sunset, since we are not rushing home through traffic as the sun goes down.” – Joan Chittister, The Gift of Years

I don’t think it’s possible to define the word “joy” in any sort of really useful way. Joy is free. It is not something that you can catch in a butterfly net, so to speak, and add to your collection. You can’t order up a serving of joy like you can order up a fancy meal in a restaurant.

But we can experience joy. That’s the good news here. And when we do experience joy and express joy then our lives have meaning and they bless the world of which we are part.

I stepped outside our front door a few moments ago and stood on the porch of our little town house to listen to a bird that was singing close by. The singing was amazing. It went on and on. Talk about joy in expression. I realized the bird was perched at the very top of the large blue spruce tree that sits a little distance away from our front door.

I realized, too, that the bird was not alone. After it had sung for a little while it would stop for a moment, and I would hear another bird begin to sing, as if in response. They kept this up for quite a while, singing to each other – and of course, to me.

Surely joy has something to do with giving the gift that is ours to give, and honoring the unique quality of character that is ours to express. We know joy, as Joan Chittister suggests, when we appreciate the beauty and wholeness of which we are part.

I sometimes think that when we come to the end of our lives, what may be most important to us is not our great accomplishments so much as the simple moments — like the moment which follows — when we touch the magic of creation and our oneness with all creation.

 A moment of magic

I have always loved the sea, and soon after emigrating to British Columbia from England in 1955, I bought a 22-foot sailboat. It had a small cabin and a 4hp inboard engine. Life was a continual challenge for the little motor, perhaps because it was getting on in years, or perhaps because it had not been installed properly, and sat at a rather odd angle in the bottom of the boat. I was never quite sure if it would be able to rise to the occasion and do its job or not.

I named my boat “Vision,” because it was the promise of a new land filled with giant forests and mountains that had drawn me to British Columbia. Despite the objections of my parents, I longed for freedom and open spaces. I read Robert Service and Walt Whitman every day, and rebelled at life in the busy streets of London.

While working as a junior reporter in Fleet Street I had sailed a 16-foot sailboat on a river in Essex, but I had never done any coastal sailing. So it was an excited, but inexperienced young sailor who set out one spring day from Victoria on a cruise through the Gulf Islands.

The weather was sunny and warm, and for awhile everything was great. The water was blue, the sky was blue, and I sang happily to myself as I sailed along. And then suddenly – because of poor planning on my part, no doubt – I found myself in a difficult and intense situation as I tried to navigate through a narrow passage against a strong rip-tide that treated my little boat with utmost derision.

A strong wind began to blow

Sometimes I thought I was making headway, but then I would look at the nearby shore and think I was fooling myself and my boat wasn’t moving at all.  As my motor sputtered away and the water swirled viciously around me, I saw small whirlpools here and there, and adding to my worry, a strong, gusty wind started to blow. I kept looking nervously at the engine, wondering if it would be able to bring me through the rough, chaotic currents. But it did. It was magnificent. It hesitated a tad now and again, but it kept on going.

After what seemed like hours I finally exited the pass and emerged into open water. A little later, with evening falling, I came to the entrance of a beautiful cove. Talk about a change of pace. Now I was surrounded by soft evening air and a stillness that was palpable. There was not another boat in sight as, with just a whisper of a breeze, I ghosted across the velvet surface of the cove.

It was a wide, spacious cove and as I floated across it in a pool of silence, the shore a friendly, protective presence all around me, I felt at one with everything. I was one with the water, the land, the sky, and the stars that peeped out to say hello. Some words of Robert Browning came to mind: “God’s in his heaven – All’s right with the world.”

As I think of that memorable day I realize that joy is not limited by time, for the joy that I experienced as I sailed in perfect peace into the safety of an unknown cove in British Columbia many years ago has gone nowhere. It is with me now as I peck away on my keyboard, doing my best to give the gift I am here to give.

My love and best wishes are with you. As always, I’d love to share any thoughts you may have on the above.

Picture credit: Matt Li

Invitation to Joy is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Aging with Wisdom and Joy

In his cool book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Eker makes an interesting distinction between an affirmation and a declaration. An affirmation, he points out, states that a goal we wish to achieve is already happening – a notion that our mind may resist. “This is BS,” a voice in our head may mutter.

A declaration, however, is not saying something is true. It is simply saying that we intend to do something or be something, Eker points out. “This is a position the little voice in our head can buy,” he says, “because we’re not stating it’s true right now, but again, it’s an intention for us in the future.”

JoAnn and I have each had a heavy cold the past two weeks. She succumbed first, and I succumbed a bit later. Perhaps it was some kind of flu, who knows. In any case, it’s been a bit like wading through a field of molasses.

From time to time, during this process, I found myself saying to myself – “Everything is going to be all right.”

I noticed that every time I made this declaration, I would feel just a little bit better. It was as if my body heard my words and was encouraged by them. I didn’t feel well all of a sudden, but I did feel comforted and strengthened.

Here’s another declaration that I’ve enjoyed making once in a while during the past week or two. “Something wonderful is coming.”

I haven’t tried too hard to put a form on these words, although I could if I wanted to. I just enjoy the feeling that the words evoke in me, a feeling of upliftment and blessing, a feeling of expectation.

I like this declaration because I think the words are true. The ancient promise, “As you sow, so shall you reap,” is true. We are children of a loving God, and as we keep expressing the love that is in us, and giving the gift we came to give, then no matter what circumstances arise we find increased fulfillment and joy in each moment.

We find that our experience of ourselves changes and grows. We become more whole. We realize that we already have meaning and worth. Something wonderful is coming all right – an ever deepening experience of the freedom and joy of our true nature.

Thank you for reading. I send you blessings and love, and I want you to know that I’m with you as you face the triumphs and adversities of your own life. I’d love to hear from you if you have any thoughts about this article. Bye for now.

Picture credit:  All rights reserved by Curlgirl1

The power of a declaration is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Aging with Wisdom and Joy

Only one thing stands between you and the beautiful fulfillment that is your true destiny. It’s the toxic belief, inhaled from the very atmosphere around you when you were a child, that you are somehow flawed and imperfect.

The world got its hooks into you at an early age, a very early age, and there was nothing you could do about it. You were just a child, for heaven’s sake. There was nothing you could do to protect yourself from this monstrous lie. There was no way you could sort out for yourself what was true and what wasn’t true.

The sense of greatness that was with you when you first arrived on planet earth began to fade. You succumbed to the insidious notion that you are “merely human,” and nothing you do is quite good enough.

An entire culture — an entire way of living, or perhaps I should say dying — has been constructed out of this perverted notion that we are somehow irretrievably flawed.

But here’s the good news.

Who you truly are, and who I truly am, is not flawed in any way. You are pristine. The masterpiece that you are is untouched by any of the misadventures or craziness of your life and waits now to be revealed.

Sure, we all have our foibles, our human nature characteristics. For example, I’m a “quick reactor,” as my wife describes it. Sometimes strong feelings – strong opinions — brew up in me quite quickly.

But I’ve learned a wonderful lesson. Life really isn’t too troubled by these strong feelings that arise in me or in you from time to time, sometimes “pleasant,” sometimes “not pleasant.”

Of course, it is necessary sometimes to change my mind about something, but that’s okay. It adds to the fun. As I move along in my 80s, I know of no more encouraging truth than this. The sense of greatness and boundless destiny we may have glimpsed for a moment when we were young is with us still.

It is who we truly are. It is the unconquerable love of our own being and it cries out to be expressed through us in each moment.

You are a being of light, with a unique dream to fulfill and a unique gift to give.

I’d love to hear any thoughts you may have on this post. I send you love and greetings and I hope all goes very well for you. Take care.

Picture credit:   Bahman Farzad

Only one thing stands between you and your dream is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Aging with Wisdom and Joy