JOY OF AGEING ESOTERICALLY
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • THE BOOK
    • TESTIMONIALS
    • BOOK OUTLETS
  • ARTICLES
    • VIDEOS
    • BOOK REVIEWS
    • WISDOM OF ELDERS
    • Elders in the Community
    • Ageing Joyfully
    • Relationships
    • HEALTH & WELLBEING
    • Exercise
    • Meditation & Yoga
    • Self Care
    • Depression & Anxiety
    • DEATH AND DYING >
      • Reflections on Living and Dying
      • Personal Sharings
      • Legal documents - Australia
      • Legal Documents - UK
  • Join a Conversation
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • THE BOOK
    • TESTIMONIALS
    • BOOK OUTLETS
  • ARTICLES
    • VIDEOS
    • BOOK REVIEWS
    • WISDOM OF ELDERS
    • Elders in the Community
    • Ageing Joyfully
    • Relationships
    • HEALTH & WELLBEING
    • Exercise
    • Meditation & Yoga
    • Self Care
    • Depression & Anxiety
    • DEATH AND DYING >
      • Reflections on Living and Dying
      • Personal Sharings
      • Legal documents - Australia
      • Legal Documents - UK
  • Join a Conversation

SELF-ENTITLEMENT

1/9/2020

8 Comments

 
Picture
This month we are discussing self-entitlement and the ways this belief impacts our lives. So what is self-entitlement? In the Google dictionary the meaning of self-entitlement is depicted as someone who believes they are more deserving than another, privileged and more important, i.e. what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine.
In her article, Entitled To Be Human, Bernadette writes, “Entitlement likes us to believe that we are someone, a someone who puts the needs of ourself first, rather than in consideration that we are part of one humanity, and the one universe.”

Self-entitlement creates a sense of separation and individualism and is at the core of all wars, domestic violence, murder, paedophilia, greed, corruption and all our relationship issues. It’s why we have the global catastrophe of refugees who find themselves homeless in a world where others feel more entitled to live their way exclusively, resulting in enormous human tragedy.

Without this sense of entitlement, we’d be left with humility and the true understanding of equality and brotherhood. It begins with the most subtle thoughts such as “what do I need” and ends with “I’m entitled to do or say whatever suits me”.

In her article, Every Day Self-Entitlement, Gayle states, “There are nearly 8 billion people on the planet. If we all push through life led by self-interest, it will be a harsh, combative world.” 
​
To what degree have you noticed how self-entitlement imposes on others and impacts our communities? We’d love you to join us in this discussion and share your interpretation of what it means to be self-entitled and how you see it playing out in your own life and the world around you.
8 Comments

Connection and Loneliness

2/8/2020

7 Comments

 
Picture
Our July/August topic for conversation is Connection & Loneliness. Connection to ourselves or others has many different meanings or understandings for each of us and loneliness can be a really debilitating and heart-breaking phase of life, particularly in our elder years.   We are exploring what effect connection may have on loneliness, the possible link between them and the ways in which we might address this sense of ‘feeling alone’. 
​We would love to hear from you about what connection is for you – is it something you are aware of and actively practise, and if you’ve experienced loneliness, how did you overcome it?    

We know that loneliness has tended to be a significant factor of growing older for many elders and can be the result of situations such as one’s own ill health or that of a partner, or impaired mobility. It can also be a period where the network of family and friends has diminished due to having to manage their own ageing issues. All of which can result in a sense that our world or lifestyle sphere has become smaller, less safe and out of touch with the world outside our door.
 
In her article, Loneliness as We Age, Lynne talks about her mother’s loneliness during the early stages of dementia and how a sense of purpose gave her mother a reprieve, ‘Spending time with this gorgeous old woman, who was always pleased to see her, gave Mum a purpose for her day so she felt better and the depression and loneliness lifted a lot. Within roughly eight weeks, the old lady had died and Mum drifted back into her sadness again and her depression and loneliness came back and she’s not ventured into reaching out to others in that way again.
7 Comments

Finding Myself Within

1/6/2020

21 Comments

 
Picture
​
​
In past eras it was thought that to ‘find oneself’ we had to go on arduous journeys like climbing to the highest mountain peak or trekking through the Himalayas and sitting in a cave for years or becoming a monk and meditating for hours each day. However, that may not be everybody’s way!  ​
For some it may involve being in nature or making time to do something you’ve always loved but felt you couldn’t or shouldn’t prioritise. Rosemary has written an article ‘Looking Everywhere to Find Myself’  in which she shares that she chose to write a book about her search for the real meaning of Life.
 
Could it be that to ‘find oneself’ it may be as simple as listening to our own body and allowing the impulses within to guide us with everything we do in life, from the most difficult situations to the mundane everyday tasks such as how to breathe,  what food is most nourishing for our own body,  when and how to exercise and when to rest. Is it possible that by not allowing the mind to override our bodily wisdom we then have more clarity and a deeper sense of who we are?
 
There is, of course, a myriad of paths one can take to truly find the Inner Self.
 
In the May Conversation, Gayle commented,  “…..I've tried many, many, MANY ways of finding myself. Most of the time, it didn't work. And the times that I thought something worked, it didn't really last! I am finally on the right track because every day I feel like I am living more of my True Self. I'm quite dedicated to a journey of evolving and expanding my consciousness in order to find my true self.”
 
We look forward to you posting what finding yourself means to you – was it a life-time search or was it something you delved into in your elder years?
​
Let’s continue this very meaningful and relevant topic that will bring many new insights into our current topic of ‘Finding Myself Within’.

21 Comments

ADAPTING TO CHANGE

28/2/2020

26 Comments

 
Picture
Back in September last year our Topic of Conversation was focused on Accepting Impermanence is the Nature of Human Existence which certainly provoked a lot of comments from our readers.  This month we are extending this topic to focus on Adapting to Change in our Lives. If we accept change, then do we automatically adapt to the change?  
​Accepting or Adapting . . . do these two words conjure up a different meaning for many of us?  Do they necessarily follow on one after the other?

If we understood that everything in our existence is transitory, then we would be able to accept that changes to the way we live and our relationships with family and friends will not remain fixed. Accepting life’s changes is one thing, but is adapting to the change sometimes put in the ‘too-hard’ basket? 
 
What do we mean by being adaptable? Is it just allowing flexibility and a willingness to try a different way, responding with a different attitude, or to solve a problem without any angst or anxiousness? Perhaps you would like to share with us how you have adapted to the changes in your life.
 
In her article, Flexibility and Adaptability to Change, Bernadette expressed: 

Change ushers in the new, it feels like an expansion and a step into the unknown. To be in the flow of life with the changes enables more steadiness and appreciation for whatever each new day brings.
 
Our topic of conversation for this month is an opportunity for our readers to comment on how they have adapted to changes in their lives. We invite you to share your experiences of how adaptability has shaped the way you live, and how you have accepted and responded to changing circumstances in your life.
26 Comments

NEW CYCLES / NEW BEGINNINGS

30/1/2020

4 Comments

 
Picture
In February we are celebrating articles that have been written by men.  The common element to these articles is that their stories tell of how they felt the need to make changes in their lives and how they went about bringing a new cycle into their everyday living. Each of the articles are personal and reflect the individual writer’s processes they went through to make the changes and thus start a new cycle. ​
​There was no waiting for the first day of the first month of the new year to make the changes, they answered their own personal call to do so at the time of their realisations. Everyone knows what is good for them and what is not, simply because we feel when something is wrong, either it is our body displaying some discomfort, illness or disease or it is our moods and troubling thoughts. We cannot escape that knowing, but we can ignore, numb and deny it – but only for a while – because it will inevitably catch up with us.
 
Reading the male perspective of wanting to make changes in their lives is thought provoking, especially as men usually are reticent about acknowledging they feel their life is not as meaningful as they would like it to be.
 
Our Conversation for February is asking our readers to comment on their experiences with coming to the end of a cycle and beginning a new one. You don’t have to post a comment from the male perspective, however, if you do have a story to tell about the man in your life making changes and starting a new cycle, we feel our readers would enjoy reading it.
4 Comments

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS AND/OR NEW CYCLES

31/12/2019

4 Comments

 
Picture
January 2020 is here and, not only is it the first month of a new year, it is the beginning of a new decade. Being the beginning of a new cycle, the ‘NewYear’ often represents for people a time to have an honest look at their lives and many make New Year’s Resolutions in an attempt to make the changes they see are needed.
​In essence everyone knows what is good for them and what is not, simply because we feel when something is wrong, either it is our body displaying some discomfort, illness or disease or it is our moods and troubling thoughts. We cannot escape that knowing but we can ignore, numb and deny it – but only for a while – because it will inevitably catch up with us at some point. 

This first month of the new year is often a time when we are willing to examine ourselves more deeply.
 
We would like to hear from you whether you feel there is something about this first month of the new year that feels more significant? Why is it that many of us are prompted by the ‘New Year’ to take stock and get an overview of our life? Is it because we have  sense of it being the end of a cycle and the beginning of another? If so, why do we wait until the new year to start a cycle when every day, every moment is the opportunity for a new beginning?
​
Our Topic of Conversation for January is asking our readers to comment on their experiences with coming to the end of a cycle and beginning a new one.

​
If you are someone who makes New Year’s Resolutions have they worked for you or have you found it hard to carry them through? What has supported you to commit to the changes you felt to make in your life? 

We invite you to share your comments  by clicking on the comments button below.​  ​
4 Comments

TRUE CARE

30/11/2019

3 Comments

 
Picture
​True care begins with self care. When we truly care for ourselves with regard to our physical and psychological well-being, our body is able to respond with more vitality and harmony. We are then able to share these qualities with others in our care, whether they are children, someone experiencing an illness, or a loved one at the end of life. 
True Care is a deep level of nurturing. It is an inner quality of knowing and connection with ourselves or with others for whom we are caring.
​

“True care is felt through the love that is expressed . . . True care is love in activity and comes into every interaction we have with a person who is dying.” These words are written in our article by a death and dying writing team, and you can read it on the Death and Dying page Personal Sharings.

And from Ingrid, a member of our team: “True care is doing what is needed and not imposing - you can’t bring your own emotional baggage when caring for someone. 

True care is doing what is needed and not imposing on another. Hence, as a carer, it is not only important to know how to truly care for someone else but also how to truly care for yourself. We need to respect, regard and listen to our body, to be more loving and gentle with ourselves and more accepting and understanding, so that we can do the same for other people.”

We continue this month with our topic of True Care and would welcome more comments on how True Care is love in activity. This topic is one that should be very relevant and meaningful to us all as we age and either look after a loved one or need looking after ourself by another.

We invite you to share your comments with regard to your experience and understanding of True Care.  Simply click on the comments button below.​  
3 Comments

​Accepting Impermanence is the Nature of human Existence.

31/8/2019

18 Comments

 
Picture

​We might think that impermanence relates particularly to situations where we fear losing something or someone, eg. the death of a parent or partner, the end of a relationship or the loss of a job. It is, however, the nature of our whole human existence.
 
If we understood that everything in our existence is transitory then we would be able to accept that changes to the way we live and our relationships with family and friends will not remain fixed in any way. We would then be more open to accepting the changes that signal to us that impermanence is part of the natural flow of life.
 
But how often do we hear the saying, “I hate change . . . I wish things could always stay the same’!
 
When we are not willing to accept change, it may be that we are feeling anxious about the future, or that we are clinging to our need for stability and security.

Do we have an inbuilt trait to want to control life’s happenings?
 
Our topic of conversation for this month is an opportunity for our readers to comment on how we feel about the impermanence of life. We invite you to share your experiences of how impermanence has shaped the way you live, and how you have responded to changing circumstances in your life.
18 Comments

OUR FUTURE - LET'S CELEBRATE

1/7/2019

23 Comments

 
Picture
What does the energy of us being in celebration offer to the rest of the world? Our joyous way radiates out and makes a difference as it shows how it is possible to age joyfully and purposefully.
​Have you noticed how some people ignore the joyful ones, others observe and wonder how someone can be joyful in their elder years?  Some want it, some don’t!
​This month we continue with our topic of conversation  'Our Future, Let’s Celebrate,' and we are keen to hear from our readers what you see there is to celebrate in your Elder Years.

When we were younger celebrating might have been something exciting like a birthday party with all its ‘bells and whistles’, or it might have been any event that was exciting and stimulating – usually needing ‘others’ to join in the celebration. Now in our elder years ‘celebrate’ has taken on a deeper meaning: to honour, observe, recognise, acknowledge and appreciate the beauty of us being in ‘Full Bloom’.

Before posting a comment you may like to read our new  article on the Wisdom of Elders page, 'Beauty in Full Bloom'.

To add to the conversation, please click on the 'Comments link' below the 'Like' Button.
23 Comments

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? PART 3: HOW CAN WE PREPARE FOR OUR FUTURE?

31/5/2019

7 Comments

 
Picture
 So, what does the future hold for us? Will it mean that elders will need to be proactive in all decision-making processes whether it is personal, physical or political?

​Yes, definitely – empowerment for elders is in our hands – now and in the future but only if we are actively engaged in our commitment to life during these final decades.
 
It is really important, as we move into our elder years, to give our life meaning and to stay committed to living a fully engaged life.   

Learning and growing is not just the domain of the young, we are just as capable, if not more, of beginning a new phase in learning and growing in our elder years. This is the time when we can explore more deeply what interests us and all those things that we would have loved to have done that we had previously been too busy to include in our life.  

All of this contributes to us having a beautiful purpose as we age by developing a deeper understanding and realisation of what life has to offer us.
 

It is up to us to change the pictures and labels that we may be carrying around ageing, and to alter the reality of how many of the aged are treated, so that we are setting the model for generations coming after us. We invite you to share with us how you are remaining committed to living a fully engaged life.  Perhaps you would like to share how you are learning and growing through exploring more deeply what you had previously been too busy to include in our life. We look forward to reading your comments.

Before posting any comments if you have not already done so, you may also like to read the new article this month 'What Does Our Future Hold Part 3: How Can we Prepare for Our future?'
7 Comments

WHAT DOES OUR FUTURE HOLD?

31/3/2019

12 Comments

 
Picture
​The World Health Organization  is predicting an enormous rise in the numbers of older persons throughout the world. In fact, our world will contain more people over 60 than under 15. Do we need to change the commonly accepted picture that is currently held about ageing and how the aged are treated? There is a rising urgency for everyone, including governments, to start looking at what the future holds for this predicted two billion elders.
Whilst longer life spans are on the increase, and though we may celebrate this, is this really a good statistic, or is it that most older people are simply living longer in poor health and needing nursing home care for the later years of their life?
​

How do you feel about this topic, ‘What Does the Future Hold’ for our elder generation and what are your experiences and ponderings as to how you will contribute to changing the present paradigm held by society?

Before posting any comments if you have not already done so, you may also like to read last month's article 'Ageing in Society - What Does our Future Hold?' and the new article this month '​​What Does Our Future Hold?  Part 2: Empowerment for Elders'.
12 Comments

SELF CARE FOR THE CARER

30/1/2019

24 Comments

 
Picture
Often with an ageing couple, one person deteriorates faster than the other and then the healthier partner suddenly finds themselves as the primary care giver sometimes with no prior experience or training in looking after someone who is approaching end of life. As a carer, it is not only important to know how to truly care for someone else but also how to truly care for yourself.
​Some days are really bad and it is challenging for a carer to watch a loved one in distress not knowing if they are going to die today, tonight, in a few months, or in a year’s time. 
 
The carer needs to take great care to support their body because they have to be fit enough to handle these emotional ups and downs as well as being physically fit to do all the necessary tasks.
 
The more carers can support themselves, the more easily they can cope with the challenges each day presents.

​Please join our conversation topic for this month and share any experience where you have  been in the situation of caring for a sick or dying person and if so, how did you cope?

You may also like to read this month's articles 'Good Days and Bad Days' and 'No True Care without Self Care'.
24 Comments

Self-worth and DamNing Messages

29/11/2018

5 Comments

 
Picture
Negative and harmful comments, even given in jest, can, and do, have an effect on our self-worth and self-esteem, especially when body issues are the focus of the comments. 
​These harming comments can remain deep within and cause us much heartache for years until we learn to discard them and claim that our true beauty lies in claiming 
who we are – claiming the real beauty of our inner essence. ​
Image has become more and more important not only for women but for men as well. We are often judged by how we look, and we judge ourselves by comparing ourselves with others, and in doing so, many negative and harmful comments can be made, even in jest, that we can have deep reactions to. 
 
Our self-worth should not be influenced by any comment made from others, or even from ourselves, judging us from the outside.
 

Our new topic of conversation is 
Self-worth and Damning Messages. 

If you have had to live with negative comments from a period earlier in your life that have come back to play on your mind and within your body, this topic provides an opportunity to share your experience. Through expression we have the chance to let go of these hurts and claim that our true beauty lies within our essence.

Please join our conversation topic for this month and share any experience where you have  allowed yourself to be effected by negative comments from others.
5 Comments

VITALITY -  Is it possible to define what it means to live with vitality?

30/9/2018

6 Comments

 
Picture
We’ve been doing quite a bit of pondering on what do we mean by living with vitality. Many of us have a knowing of what ‘well’ feels like, as when we were children we lived with a level of health and vitality that was natural for us, so we still automatically know when we don’t feel right or when we do recognise that we don’t have the vitality to do the things we want to do.

​ Is vitality intrinsically linked to our well-being?

The statistics show that as a population, humanity is not doing so great when it comes to well-being, as up to 80% of the top five causes of death can be related to our lifestyle – that means they happen because of how we live. Or to put it another way: how we live and the choices we make every day affect our health and well-being which in turn affects our vitality levels. Does this mean that there is 80% of the population living without a sense of vitality in their daily lives?

These statistics are pointing to a very serious problem if many elders are living with a debilitating lack of vitaliy!

So, what does living with vitality mean to us in our elder years?  Is good vitality the result of us choosing to eat nutritious meals? Is it related to our lifestyle – that it is the result how we live? OR, could our vitality levels be the result of more than just eating and living healthily?  

Could there be a deeper explanation of why some people live with ongoing vitality and others struggle with life and have lesser vitality to enjoy their lives?


Please join our conversation topic for this month and share with us what you feel living with vitality means in your day to day life.
6 Comments

Is Friendship important in our Elder Years?

31/7/2018

14 Comments

 
Picture
Yes, friendship is very important for older people! We are seeing that because of physical changes, retirement and loss of loved ones, the ability to develop true friendships is becoming more difficult in our elder years. In many cases, friends are as important as families. We are observing that many people are turning to their friends first when they encounter crisis because of the distance of their family.
It is being proven that people who have one or more good friends are in better health than those who have only casual acquaintances or no friends. There are many studies showing the positive benefits of friendship on social, emotional and physical well-being. Having a strong circle of friends can be a good boost for ageing hearts and can help the body’s autoimmune system resist disease.

Casual friendships can help, but one very close friend can do so much to help relieve stress and depression as a close friendship provides emotional support as friends are relied on to give comfort, help and to share and inform each other of things that are happening in their lives.

In addition to emotional support, friendship can help enrich a person’s physical, mental and social health and help us adjust to changes through the rewarding and challenging times of life.
​
In our conversation comments this month we would love to hear from you about your experience with a friendship or friendships – are they important and do you have a story to tell?
14 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>
    JOIN OUR CONVERSATION

    'Join a Conversation' is where we invite you to comment on a topic that is meaningful to ageing joyfully.

    The more we are willing to talk about ageing, the easier it becomes to dispel the many myths and misconceptions that people of all ages feel about ageing and the elderly in their communities. It is up to us.

    ​Let's start the conversation!



HOME

ABOUT

THE BOOK

All written content copyright © 2022 Joy of Ageing Esoterically Pty Ltd  and all Authors as mentioned.
Photos copyright © by the photographers: Alan Johnston, Clayton Lloyd,  Dean Whitling,  Desiree Delaloye,  Iris Pohl, Steffi Henn, Steve Leca ,
Shannon Everest, Matt Paul, Gayle Cue