Gaia: 50+stars*~Half a century & more on earth - Bridges: under- and over-50s-60s-70s-80s-90s

Re: Especially for those 70-to-100* stars +

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:14:43 GMT

Joyous Mary, I feel waves of gentle warmth emanating from this post. Thank you so much for bringing this thread to such a beautiful close.

Re: Especially for those 70-to-100* stars +

http://NothingiseverAlways.gaia.com — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:18:12 GMT

Hello all dear ones who joined in this thread that was started December 30, 2008.

Sitting here today the last Monday living in this house (I move on Thursday) and reading this thread (I don't know why) is a review of the year up to this time.

I am nurished and appreciate again all of your warm and generous responses. You all took the time to read and respond, be with me as I was working at going from one period of life to another.

I am at last in peace with my "new age" which too often is called "old age".
I feel freer and more confident. I am no longer concerned that I may leave this lifetime and never be remembered for what I did with my time here.

I am moving to a larger city where I will be closer to my faith community, Unity of Madison, co-workers when I worked, my Al-Anon friends, many more social, cultural and educational opportunities, a park, a lake, library, secondhand stores, a community center and all my medical care providers.

I wrote somewhere today about fearing that I had no purpose at this age but have discovered that I always had a purpose, I just questioned its value.

I now recognize that only the way I serve has changed. The way is in keeping with today's abilities and maturity that I have now.  The way may change again but today I see it as a quiet presence among people and trusting my thoughts enough to express them in writing or speaking a comment here and there.

All of us here at "50 Stars Plus" in Gaia have lived long enough to know the Power of the right word or words spoken at the right time.
My "new way" is a quiet way because it requires good listening.

Judging from your responses to me, you all are already good listeners.
I have been blessed by your words.

Namaste!
Joyous Mary
1937

Re: Especially for those 70-to-100* stars +

http://NothingiseverAlways.gaia.com — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:48:04 GMT

Here I am again. 3 months later. I want to explain why Heidegger's thought resonates with me.

"The spiral" consider the Slinky, a toy. If held high at one end the rest of it falls like a coil, spring, Slinky. They all expand and then come together again.

So the "front end" of life reaches to the future but if it hesitates or stops, the past is right behind urging forward.  ". . . expand and then come together again."    I would guess that the present is that one micro-second of togetherness of the past and present before the next expansion toward the future.

Ok, this is how it was for me a few seemingly long weeks ago. I did not want to accept a future that I perceived.  Just thinking about that future, the past came springing into my present. The past with all it successes, triumphs, failures and mistakes. I could not redeem the mistakes and failures nor experience again the successes and triumphs. And, I knew the future would not have the time or opportunities to "do it again" and I did not like what I perceived the future to be.  My imagination was askew.
The future is a . . . mysterious new level of being.   I am old enough to know that "new" does not necessarily mean "better".   New shoes sometime hurt the feet.
A promise of ". . . new levels of being" holds no enticement for me.

Nonetheless, here I am in that new level of being and it is a mystery.

Looking around I see all kinds of ways that people experience this "new level of being."

I'm having fun.

Re: Especially for those 70-to-100* stars +

http://addresstofollow.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:21:02 GMT

Liz, if only more thought like you, yes it is an opportunity for the younger ones
I am 69 this year and looking after my 92 yr old Mum, it helps to keep me young, most people think I'm in my fifties

Re: Especially for those 70-to-100* stars +

http://NothingiseverAlways.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:24:59 GMT

I smile.

Oh yeah! It sure does it for me.

Thanks

Re: Especially for those 70-to-100* stars +

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:56:33 GMT

Very possible; it starts with physical discomfort at birth and moves into different varieties as we grow --just as our experience arises from different areas of our life. Maybe pain helps us to be in the moment, to focus, to be really fully in the situation, to remember?

Re: Especially for those 70-to-100* stars +

http://NothingiseverAlways.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:40:26 GMT

Hi Meenakshi and all who are reading this.

I was revisiting this board this evening and did some gleaning.

May Sarton via Meenakshi: May: ". . . the joys of my life have nothing to do with age."
Meenakshi: "perhaps that holds true of the trials as well?"

This fits in for me with what we've been discussing in "Transition: In the Now"

Until now, I didn't consider that some of the pain has to do with aging.

Re: George Bush Senior's parachute jump & concern over older moms

http://LizzyL.gaia.com — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:07:55 GMT

I kinda wish he had been more daring during his term in office.

George Bush Senior's parachute jump & concern over older moms

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:57:30 GMT

I can't help but smile at both these in the news:

One, Veteran, 93, makes sky dive(00.26) video
and
George Bush Senior's parachute jump Former President George HW Bush has marked his 85th birthday with a tandem parachute jump near his home in Maine.
He told reporters that he jumped for two reasons: to experience the exhilaration of free-falling and to show that the elderly can remain active and do fun things.
He also said he enjoyed it so much that he planned to do it again when he turned 90.
--------------------

And two:Luckily,it's a debate and not a denouncement!
Concerns over older mother trend
An urgent public debate on the trend for women to delay motherhood is needed, leading doctors say.The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists will publish evidence on Monday about the increased medical risks of pregnancy for older mothers.
[details on the link ]
---
Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent, who writes on parenting, believes society has not caught up with the changing reality.
"I myself don't think there is a huge problem here, if you actually look at the statistics, pregnancy has never been safer.
--------------------------------

Thoughts? Specially if you're an older mom or know one

It's Nicole's birthday today...

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 17:30:31 GMT

...and we're all celebrating at Birthday Joy!, her blog. Nicole is not yet 50, but she's a valued member of our group who warmly wishes all of us when we have our birthdays.

So - head over to her blog to wish her today! We're partying till Monday!

GREEDY FOR LIFE

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:00:02 GMT

Sent 3 days ago

by Jess K

Greedy For LIfe
Hi Meenakshi,

Siona had made the suggestion a while
back to inform your group (Fabulous Fifties+) of the wonderful film
Spiritual Cinema Circle featured in January. It is called GREEDY FOR
LIFE and is exactly that! Watch
the trailer to find inspirational, heart-warming films that nourish the
soul. I would love to inform your group about Spiritual Cinema Circle
and invite them to join our Gaia community. Visit the Spiritual Cinema homepage, too. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Re: Youth dominated aging societies

http://singerseeker.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:01:59 GMT

Meenakshi, that makes sense. I think it's healthy to honour the previous younger me's, as long as I can balance it by honouring the me I am now. Eating healthy food, exercising and so on are just good sense and self-care, but trying to reverse time can be very frustrating and ultimately lead to despair, as we will continue to age visibly, unless we die first.

Why not instead embrace the signs of aging as indicators of what we have learned and how we have grown (yes, sometimes grown around the middle etc but you know what I mean! :) )

Re: Youth dominated aging societies

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:36:12 GMT

I do have a theory about that, actually that came up for me yesterday.

I think that as we grow older, the younger 'me's are still within us. And as we were younger before we become older, we still think of ourselves as 'youth'. See how I catch myself telling my child "In our time" and then wonder- 'but isn't it still my time'?" On a tangent: Perhaps there's a time in the life of each of us when we really feel "this is me". For most people it is youth. That's why when we're lauding ourselves we say : 'I'm young at heart" and so on [unlike some of us who revel in being old, of course and don't mind youth dominated aging societies in any case].

Most people prefer being young, so I wonder if it's not just youngsters, but perhaps also older people who'd rather see youngsters there? Hmm....

Re: Youth dominated aging societies

http://singerseeker.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:07:39 GMT

Definitely, Meenakshi, for Canada. You're right, doesn't make sense. For example at a time when so much of the population is older, our national radio station, CBC, has deleted or "youthified" much of its classical music programming and put in programs trying to attract the younger market.

Mikey will tell us about France, right Mikey?

Re: Youth dominated aging societies

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:43:44 GMT

I'll try looking at that again, Mikey and Nicole, you young'uns you. But can you explain to us why you are dominating society when we aging ones [don't like that term, don't feel that way, but that's what the first message in this post is about so I thought I'd ask as if I have your attention] are increasing in number?

Caewyn said :"One thing foxes me abt the U.S.- if on one hand, the population is
skewed towards older people; then how is it that we feel it's
youth-dominated?"

Is this the same in Canada and France?

Re: Youth dominated aging societies

http://singerseeker.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:06:13 GMT

Yikes, scary :)

Re: Youth dominated aging societies

http://MikeyDineen.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:02:47 GMT

Hi y'all, just joined the group to reply " If we didn't grow older we might be eternally like this young lady : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WALIARHHLII&NR=1

Re: Youth dominated aging societies

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:28:15 GMT

Thank you Zephyr. Gladly. I thought I had. I'll also edit your post above so that the link to your beautiful group can take interested people there.

Re: Youth dominated aging societies

http://addresstofollow.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:52:47 GMT

Love your poem Meenakshi, thank you for posting it here, I would be grateful if you would consider sharing it in showcase - finnished poems, in Poets Workshop?

[mod note- link added - meenakshi]

Re: Youth dominated aging societies

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:00:16 GMT

Laughing so much at this: "Yes, and as humble as any Taurean can be. " I used to inwardly laugh at two women I'm close to - an aunt and a mother-in-law who would manage to turn everything everyone did - or did not- as something to do with their deeds or decisions. I find myself doing the same, specially - but not only -with my kids. If they do something wonderful or are happy, I'm sure it's because of something I thought/did or changed within myself. But when they're unhappy about anything also, I think it's because of me - or that I can make it better. Big lesson for this bull is - No. This has nothing to do wtih you! In a way it's because of those "long steady periods of meditating in solitude. "

OK you've convinced me: I do have Taurean traits. [;p]

Are you like me, Joyous, that you resist change on the outside, just to throw people off who don't venture to know us better [;p] but embrace it wholeHEARTedly?

This resonates so much with me "It is another example that no desire of the heart is too small to merit an affirmation." To be able to see this, is such a blessing.

[I like the way we're having this side conversation on this thread. How is this related to youth dominated aging societies? Sometimes, these little meanders from the main track can help]