WISDOM OF ELDERS

The WisdOm of Elders – AN INTRODUCTION

2/11/2022

‘Wisdom’ per se is not by any means a function of age. Whilst elder wisdom can be accessed at any age, it is usually expressed when one has moved out of emotional reactions to people and situations and instead one is able to approach everything before them with the wisdom of understanding and allowing. It comes with full acceptance of oneself, which provides a deeper appreciation and acceptance of others.

ALLOWING MY TRUE SELF TO BE SEEN

1/11/2022

Artist: Bernadette Curtin

As a child I wanted to be the centre of attention, yet the truth was I actually had difficulty allowing myself to be seen. It felt unsafe and I kept part of me hidden in case I was seen to be not matching up to expectations – my expectations on myself or the expected code of behaviour depending on the situation or the people you were relating to.

ENERGIES, EMOTIONS AND THE BODY

1/9/2022

I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted because I’ve allowed a force to throw me around and hurt me. I don’t mean physically, although ultimately the impact is physical. I mean energetically and emotionally. It was only words in an email exchange, but I felt a force behind the words that knocked me sideways. Was I imagining this? Did others feel it?

expectations ABOUT AGEING AND THE BODY

1/9/2022

We expect our bodies to take us through life. To move us from A to B. To walk us in all the arrangements and donations we have with humanity and living life on this planet. We expect our bodies to stand tall, be strong, healthy and feel beautiful and yet be pummelled, pushed, abused and burgeoned with ideals and beliefs around what it is to age, to live one life, and to be only human.

THE DISEMPOWERMENT IN GOOD

1/8/2022

Artist: Bernadette Curtin

I thought it was who I was. The very polite, good girl that bent herself inside out to be liked and approved of, particularly by anyone I perceived had authority over me. It was so much a part of me that I was totally lost in the belief of being good and wasn’t honest about how I was disempowering myself.

GOOD GIRL ~ BAD GIRL

1/7/2022

With the realisation that good is an energy that has been insidiously infiltrated into every corner of society, with religious beliefs, family and education consciousnesses, social norms and our legal system, I have been reviewing how good played out in my life. Or rather how I have been affected by this entrenched ideal.

A QUIET CELEBRATION

1/6/2022

I recently attended a birthday celebration with over a hundred people and the most notable thing about it was that, though there were way more than could fit in the house and people were spilling out onto the verandah and grounds, there was not a feeling of crowding. Instead, I felt a spaciousness.

OUR ELDER YEARS – IN APPRECIATION

1/6/2022

As a young woman what did I expect my elder years would be like? If I don’t remember then it was because I was so involved in my life at the time. I didn’t consider that how I was living then would have a huge influence on how my elder years would be experienced.

CELEBRATING THE EXTRAORDINARILY ORDINARY

1/6/2022

When we were younger, we often felt obliged to celebrate our birthdays because _______. Fill in the blank – because it was a tradition in our family, because my friends wanted me to, because I thought I should (even though I didn’t feel like going to all that work!) because my children called me a ‘party pooper’ if I didn’t. There was so much pressure, so many expectations, so much disappointment!

WHAT OUR GRANDCHILDREN TEACH US

1/6/2022

I was recently talking to my granddaughter who has turned nineteen. We were talking about the reflections that I have received from my grandchildren. I think I could write a book on all that I have learnt from them in the nineteen years that they have been here.

RETIRED? HMMM, I'M NOT SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT THAT!

1/4/2022

I recently had to sign a statutory declaration. The document asked for my name, address, etc. and my occupation or qualifications. As I’m no longer working, I wrote down my qualifications. I was later advised that the other party to the stat dec had put down my occupation as ‘retired’. This stopped me in my tracks, asking is retired an ‘occupation’?

CRUSHED BY CATHOLICISM

1/3/2022

Turning the pages of my old photo album one day I was astonished to see the change in me from a toddler to a young school child. I was open to life as a toddler, my body was open, my face was open and joyful; there was a sense of anticipation, forward movement and readiness to embrace life. I was very present. It was a different story when I turned the page to the next set of photographs.

LABELS IN LANGUAGE

1/3/2022

Our use of labels in language can divide and separate us from each other on the basis of age, sex, occupation, social standing, customs and behaviour. There are terms of speech that can be used to discriminate against others who belong to a different religion, class or nationality. It seems that these divisions run deep in our society for these terms to be part of such common everyday language.

TRYING = EFFORT

1/2/2022

Trying takes much effort and underneath this is the age-old behaviour to get it right, to fit in, to be a part of, to be met as an equal. I have been resistant to writing most of my life, it never came easily and it never flowed, and if I wrote anything it was done in the format of dot points. This was not an acceptable way of writing within the education system therefore I avoided writing and never practised or learnt the craft.

THE TIDE WITHIN

1/2/2022

Videographer: Jeanette Macdonald

This morning I watched the sun rise over the highest of tides courtesy of the full moon. As I was watching the waves flow in and flow out at the edge of this massive body of water it suddenly stopped being something I was seeing, something I’ve always seen, maybe ordinary and normal, and I found myself in awe of the amazingness of it all.

WHAT MAKES US WANT TO TRY?

1/2/2022

A baby doesn’t try, a bird doesn’t try, so why, oh why do I? Trying is often applauded in our society. We give someone accolades who tries hard and finally succeeds and we often feel entitled to a result if we put in a lot of effort. We feel sympathy for someone who tries hard, especially if they do not get the desired result. We push ourselves or urge others to try harder.

TRYING 'MASKS' OUR INNATE DELICATENESS

31/12/2021

Trying or going into drive makes me hard, brittle and less resilient. It’s like my body contracts causing tightness in my chest which makes it harder to breathe freely. The jaw tightens and the face becomes set. I lose the natural flow in my step or am less aware of what my body is doing. I lose the sense of delicateness in my fingertips. I might bump into things. I might put something down and forget where it is.

NO MORE TRYING!

30/12/2021

Artist: Bernadette Curtin

No more trying! … to get things right, to fit into the world, to do what is expected, to be what is expected. I can feel I’ve just let go of a lifetime pattern that has held me back from being open to life and true enjoyment, living in a constant state of tension and anxiety. I can feel the Heavens in pure merriment, laughing and rejoicing in this moment of revelation! Hallelujah! She’s got it!

LIFE AS IT WAS KNOWN

1/11/2021

Here I am today with my body worn out. It is old and worn out before its time as it was ignored and not listened to. The ingrained conditioning and family ideals and beliefs, such as having to work hard to become someone or make something of myself ruled the roost. Taking care of my body was never spoken of, never considered.

CYCLES OF LIFE

1/11/2021

Ageing is a process of honouring the body in cycles. As I ponder on my cycle of 67 years, it is not about getting old but a preparation for this cycle as an elder and what that means. As an elder I am preparing my body in every cycle of every year for the completion of this life and passing over to be reborn into the next life. I live my life with the understanding that each life is part of a continuous cycle of rebirth to completion.

Celebrating THE FESTIVE SEASON – Then and Now

1/11/2021

After my father and grandparents had died, my mother and us three sisters and the husbands and kids of my sisters kept this tradition going mainly for my mum. We dreaded it beforehand and actually hated it on the day. It was always around food, a lot of food, and not around connecting, and we always overate and held our tummies after, feeling so full and really uncomfortable. I hear similar stories from other people.

ageing with grace and the enrichment of life

30/9/2021

We have been told that getting old is not something to look forward to. As we see ageing parents, grandparents, great grandparents and look at elderly people, we get a sense that it is not a stage of life to look forward to. We have heard the younger generation saying, “That is what we are going to be like when we get old.”

LOCKED DOWN, LOCKED UP AND LOCKED OUT

30/9/2021

Artist: Bernadette Curtin

In this world climate of locked down, locked up and locked out, how do we maintain our equanimity?

Many people I have spoken to, including some of my own family members, are in disarray, divided against each other, anxious and fearful of a new enemy that they perceive is a threat to their life.

YOU LOOK PRETTY THIS MORNING!

31/7/2021

Artist: Leigh Matson

When I woke this morning and looked in the mirror, a little voice inside me said, ‘You look pretty this morning’. I had a quiet chuckle to myself. Is that even possible as an older woman? Was it the new pink pyjama top or the tousled hair over my forehead or was it an emanation that was coming from within? I doubt that I would have said that to myself when I was younger. How could I be feeling that now at the age of 75?

ageism

30/6/2021

Artist: Joseph Barker

The term Ageism was first coined in 1969 by Robert Neill Butler to describe ageism against older persons.

Old age is not a concept – it is a reality. However, ageism may be an attitude that is quite modern, especially in a global setting that is increasingly youth oriented, a view that is reinforced by media. (1,2)

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