In my 70th Year: Tuesday's Reflection

Tuesday's Post --A Day Late. A sign of Aging???

I celebrated my 69th birthday this past week, and now I am in my 70th year.

How is that possible? 

Do I feel 69? Do I look 69? (Don't answer that, my ego, says.)

On Friday I attended a monthly writing session conducted by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew at Wisdom Ways. The focus was on questions, and she opened the session with a time for silence. "Notice what questions arise within you."

First, I was bombarded with questions about my work. Will I find an agent? Will I find a publisher? Will my book become a reality? What else do I want to write? 

But then I settled more into the quiet, the space of the moment, and the outer voices and concerns and prompts eased away. 

How do I fully live and love in my elder years? 

In a way this has been my question to myself all along, no matter my age. How do I live in the present moment? How do I live fully regardless of where I live? Oh how I feel? How do I bridge the current transition time without wishing for what was, what might have been? How do I face the unknowns with an open heart? 

One of my birthday presents was Anne Lamott's new book, Hallelujah Anyway, Rediscovering Mercy, and early in the book she quotes Rilke, "I want to unfold. I don't want to stay folded anywhere, because where I am folded, there I am a lie." Lamott uses the phrase "the great unfolding."

That's it, isn't it? To live and love fully, we need to unfold. Unfolded we are open. Unfolded we allow in new energy, new expanse, new vistas. New awareness of where we have been and perhaps, new acceptance of who and where we are on this path.

A dear friend who doesn't turn 69 till the fall emailed me on my birthday encouraging me to be a "fearless leader" in this aging process. I don't know exactly what that means, for like everyone else I am just doing my best to put one foot in front of the other, but what I do know is that this is the time I have--whether it is one more day or many more years. 

This is the time to unfold. 

An Invitation
How do you intend to live fully right now? I would love to know.