Last week, I sat down with a writer friend and we chose to write in response to one of Laura Davis’ writing prompts: What Age Has Brought Me.
Thanks for the inspiration, Laura!
I am at the younger end of the baby boomer generation. In my youth, I was an athlete – cross-country running, long jump and high jump. Oh, how I miss the agility, stamina, and strength of my young body! Especially now, as my knee joints ache, my hip flexors contract and a few toes turn numb for no reason any doctor or physical therapist has been able to identify. I don’t run anymore, but I am still grateful for long walks.
My 30s, 40s, and early 50s were intellectual power years building on my education and marinating it with the experience and realities of working in my field as a psychologist.
Age has introduced me to other ways of knowing – intuition and its many disguises starting with a knowing that enters through my feet grounding on earth, then works its way through my muscles, guts,and heart, and afterwards settles somewhere in the familiar territory of the brain.
Age has brought me to the door step of patience and trust that matters will somehow be resolved even without my meddling. This doorstep, this threshold – I haven’t quite stepped over it with full conviction but each year nudges me closer.
Age has muddled what I thought was a well defined line between right and wrong and has blurred and twirled that line depending on which side of the river I stand or whose eyes I am looking through. This has not made life any easier but perhaps a bit less judgmental.
“Truth is one, paths are many” is the motto engraved everywhere you turn in Yogaville (an ashram in Buckingham, Virginia) where I spent a bit of time recently. It’s a consolation of sorts while I still swipe the dangling vines out of my way and find my footing on this uneven path called my life.
Age has introduced me to the adventures of inner travels replacing the trips to other countries I used to take when I was younger. Inner travels avoid the need to pack, spend long hours in airports, exchange dollars into foreign currency and leaving just when you learned to say a few phrases in another language. Inner travels sometimes require a different language as well which unravels its layers of meaning with time and focus. Inner travels avoid the disappointment of throngs of other tourists at favorite sites, or the strain of travel companions not matched to my own interests or temperament.
Inner travels command their own seasons, create their own weather and itineraries. They may take me into the past, revisit people and places that may no longer exist in this reality, observe myself interacting in ways that can make me cringe now. Inner travels send me back to times of decision making and make me wonder how my life would have changed if only…..then knowing that I made the right decision no matter what because it brought me to now, this place, this time, this way of being me.
Inner travels can project me forward into the future, perhaps to prepare for an important meeting or conversation that can address misunderstandings, resentments, hurt feelings and either end a relationship or send it on a deeper path.
Inner travels take me to meetings with guides who drop me into a more profound level of understanding, sometimes with one leading question or succinct comment.
Inner travels help me plan my next steps or add sparks of creativity to a project.
Age has brought me closer to tolerating boredom when nothing seems to be happening. That period of waiting for the next train to arrive (so to speak) is the perfect time to practice mindfulness and listening to the wind.
So, yes, I am grateful to the years that have made me who I am. I don’t want to be any younger, I just want my knees to stop hurting.
Your words strike home with me…I can relate. There are some wonderful states of being that come with age…
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Glad this resonated with you, Nancy!
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I resonate with your post Annette. Your musings on age, trust, faith, and trust are very similar to my recent post on Grace and Hope, except yours are more poetic. May 2020 bring more inner travels to wisdom, trust, and grace.
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Hi Brad, I’ve been AWOL from the blogosphere for a while. Thanks for welcoming me back with your comment…as always, supportive and insightful.
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You’re most welcome Annette. blessings for the new year.
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Your words feel so familiar. Wonderful way of stating the changing seasons of life.
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Thank you, Claudia. I chose the image of the fall trees deliberately to reflect the autumn season of my life. Glad you could relate to my musings.
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Great topic and I agree so much.
Did you get a x-ray of your feet? I have had same kind of challenges and it helped me to find out, that I needed orthopedic insoles. Those helped my toes, feet, knees and hips too. Until then I had been fighting with pain for walking. Now I walk much better and without that pain.
Happy New Year.
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Thanks for the advice, Irene, I tried special insoles which did not help. But I have been wondering whether some little bone might be broken…
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You are welcome. My forefoot was falling down at both feet and the help from the orthopedic specialist did help me a lot. Not in one day, but short time after I noticed the difference and later on, I felt that the pain all over in the area more or less did disappear. All good luck.
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so glad your feet got better – we really do need them!
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You are right and thank you. When you mentioned your problem, I came to think about, how I was challenged and maybe this could help you too.
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O my dear, how your current blog has moved me. Just posted it on Facebook. Yes yes yes to every line in it! Both joy and aches and pains abound. Just celebrated 87 and am curious as to how old you are, if that is something you would share. Should you be a New Yorker, do come to my free tai chi/qigong class at the Lenox Hill Community Center and maybe I can help with those knees!
My last hurrah is my latest book which will be out in the spring and which you might well be interested in. Here is the info about it.
Warm regards,
Patty de Llosa patllosa@gmail.com http://www.practiceofpresence.com http://www.findingtimeforyourself.com
”Everything depends on listening. If you truly listen even the stones will speak.” Talking with Angels
>
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Dear Pat – I am so happy to hear that you are still TEACHING a class – that keeps you in good shape as well! I am in my early 60s, live in the highlands of Virginia (aka Appalachia) and I have a daily practice of yoga/qigong/Z-Health mixture. I looked at the descriptions of your two books and they sound like most of us could benefit from them…thanks for bringing them to my attention. I knew your blog but didn’t know that you are such a prolific author. Hats off to you!
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Annette, I hear every single word of you what age has brought you, I am there right with you, as my right knee isn’t in it’s best conditions any more. Yet the inner travels have become more important to me in appreciation what I have and still can do. May you inner travels become a friend to you, a companion who always shows you the right turn to take on your journey, with that being said, I wish you a blessed wonderful New Year of 2020.
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Your right knee and my left knee should write a story together! Thank you so much for your well wishes, Cornelia. Auch dir einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr!
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It seems that age has brought you much wisdom, peace, and joy. Happy New Year, Annette! 🙂
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Thank you, Cathy, Happy New Year to you and your family!
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“Inner travels command their own seasons, create their own weather and itineraries.” This whole piece is wonderful! It will help the New Year start off with a spring in my step.
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Thank you so much, Amanda, so glad this provided a bit of a “spark” for you. Happy New Year to you!
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Beautiful
Thank you
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Thank you, Tree Girl, hope you are safe…
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Lovely contemplation on aging, and inner travels. Now more important than ever. Peace to you Anne.
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Thank you for reading and commenting, Bruce. Annette (not Anne)
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This is such a beautiful post and it is spot on! I especially like the part about boredom. I used to love to go out on the town all the time and now, I’m perfectly content to stay at home and relax. Now, I do like to travel and see different places and I like going camping, swimming and hiking, but as far as going out dancing and carousing, I’m through with that! Thank you so much for posting.
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Thank you so much for your comment, Cherie – and your string of “likes” and your decision to follow my blog. Yes, we do have different needs and priorities when it comes to being out in the world vs. appreciating solitude, as we age.
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Wow. I wouldn’t hit the like button if I didn’t genuinely like the posts. But thanks for the reply. Wishing you all the best.
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