Hoping no one minds...

I've got a ways yet before I'll be close to qualfying for this Group, but I'd love (love!) to be an honorary member; I feel this circle is so crucial and that age is absurdly underappreciated in the world I'm used to, and the idea of sitting a bit with those who've got some temporal experience on this planet feels heavenly to me.

And I can be quiet when necessary. I mostly just want to listen. :)

Siona

Re: Hoping no one minds...

Siona,
I for one am honored; the 20-something  year olds within us, who are alive and well [they co-exist with our 16, 32, 41-year old selves!] smile and make place for you in this pod.

And do chime in whenever you want to!

Re: Hoping no one minds...

Oh, my inner crone is beaming. Thank you. :)

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Siona,

I told you I was more peer than mother.  Welcome to the crone club.  Ah, no, I can't say that because the guys will get jealous.  Welcome to the wisdom club !  You definitely belong.  Anyone who could make it through that transition from Zaadz to Gaia has what it takes to be here for the long haul ! ! !

Looking forward to years and years to come -

Deborah

Re: Hoping no one minds...

Hey welcome! we always need fresh blood(no we are not vampires;).
But I am happy that you want to hang with us !

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Hello Siona:  Do stop in to refresh us with your observations or to listen, anytime.    If you should find that you've been away for awhile.  Come back anyhow.  Someone is remembering you. 

I've been struggling with being 70-something.  My friend and I were talking about feeling invisible in groups.   But, you know what?  I'm thinking that the solution to that uncomfortable feeling is mine.  Within me.  It is a lifetime adventure to learn to accept who I am at the moment.    A lifetime?  Yes, because change is constant.  I need to keep changing because each moment changes. 

How do I think about the moment, situation, condition, circumstance?  How many ways can I see how it is?  

As you suspect there are treasures of wisdom waiting to be gleaned from the later years, I have often said there are treasures of wisdom within the newly arrived but never noticed because the “more experienced” do not expect it of the young. 

A Happy Exchange:  A mixture of volunteers preparing for a community rummage sale. 
Nearby was a teenager arranging some items and talking.   I asked her if she was talking to me. 
She said, “no”.  She was just talking to herself.  

I replied:  “Oh! Then you are in good company.”  
She never heard anything like that before.  She giggled.     

Re: Hoping no one minds...

Joyous!

I know older women of all sorts–from those who do seem to gently fade into their environments to those who sparkle and snap and fill a room to those with a power and peaceful center of gravity that casts a sense of stillness around them. I feel a bit brash speaking up, as I have no idea what it's like to live within an older frame, but I daresay that the most powerfully and passionately you accept and embrace your own fierce and wild wisdom, the more easily others will be able to do the same. Your history in this world, and your perspective, makes, I think, it hard sometimes for others to feel comfortable… but their discomfort or attempts to ignore need not be yours.

From where I sit here, it feels as though you have a deep and secure sense of self, and an amazing 'wholeness' that's a treasure to experience. I can't imagine that same feeling doesn't emanate from you in the real world.

Big hugs, as always, and gentle ones, and here's to constant change.
SIona

Re: Hoping no one minds...

Thank you, Siona: 

It feels good to be red well, as you reed me.

I love your words:  “…powerfully and passionately accept…”  and    ”… fierce and wild wisdom…”  

Powerful, passionate, fierce, wild are strong words and can be frightening. 

And I like being thought so.    But not frighten.

I would also hope to be that “. . powerful and peaceful center …” casting a sense of stillness. 

How young do you think you are anyhow?    

You prove my conviction:    There is a tremendous depth and wealth of wisdom and grace that the young have within them for us who have been here a little longer.  May you remain and continue to pour the healing, nurturing, creative balm. 

What a piece of work we are sent and called to do.

Joyous peace!    


   

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Dear Siona, I love that you took the time to come and visit this side of the experiential fence. When I was 25, I became friends with a wonderful woman who was 52. I am 61 now and she is 88 and we are still friends. 

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Susan!

Thank you for the warm welcome, and for that beautiful story. I feel as though I have some glimpse of knowing Cate, and you, through it, and I'm so grateful for those examples of transcendence. How lucky, the two of you, but perhaps luck has less to do with it than intention. How did you and Cate meet?

My youngest daughter thinks that Cate is the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. I tend to agree.

I used to do grief work and some of the most beautiful people I've seen have been the oldest; it's as though their physical selves are outshown by whatever luminous character they hold within.

Thank you, again, and it's a pleasure to meet you here as well. This whole group has such a warm energy to it.

Siona

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Joyous!

Oh, goodness. I didn't mean to imply that you were frightening, though there is, I think, something beautifully fearsome about experience. It's not an intimidating thing, but the sense that the experienced person has seen and known so much of themselves and the world, and that there's a certain deep capacity and courage that comes from that.

It's like being the cub to a mother bear, where the cub knows he's utterly, totally safe–safe not because the mother is unable to hurt anything, but because of the depth of her love for the little bear. Does that make sense?

I'm twenty-seven in people years. :)

Siona

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Hi Siona,

It is good to see noone objected to the little kids playing with the big kids.

If any of the little ones fall and hurt themselves you would find the big kids will pick the little ones up, bind their wounds and send them on their way feeling much better.

How do the big kids know to do this?

Because they were little kids once and had falls of their own.  And a lot of them didn't have big kids around to help them so they know how special it is to have a big kids there that they can turn to if they hurt themselves or if they are lonely or if the other kids won't play with them.

And it helps give and maintain a sense of responsibility and belonging for the big kids too.

So everybody wins!!!