Another month has gone by and now six months have passed since I started this year-long conscious living project. The shell that comes out of my bowl of 12, signifying a month lived, is dangerous looking and prickly. The little sea animal that used to live inside did its best to stave off predators. Any one bold enough to try to snack on this creature risked injury in the process. I guess it’s sort of like life in that you never know what each day will bring. It could bring joy, sorrow or danger. It’s filled with risk of varying degrees. One day you’re healthy — and the next, maybe you’re not. Of that I’m acutely aware. A little farther down you’ll read why.
This month though, more than the others, has come and gone with little hindsight awareness of how I spent my time. I know I enjoyed each day and meditated at the start of most. There was time spent at the horse rescue, with my hospice patient and her husband, celebrating my husband’s birthday, exercising, reading and other assorted mundane activities of daily living. And I spent quite a bit of time with my dear friend who’s living each one of her days with a keen awareness of the cancer in her body and wondering what that will ultimately mean. Talk about awareness of life!
Mostly what I feel these days is appreciation for my health, my life and everything in it. Turns out that my age has something to do with that. Research shows that wisdom and a sense of well-being grows as we age, with the middle-aged brain reaching its peak potential in those areas. In fact that research shows us 50 somethings to be happier in this decade than others. You can find out details in Barbara Strauch’s breezy read called “The Secret Life Of the Grown-Up Brain” She covers health and medicine for the New York Times and has written other books on health related subjects. You can hear a lecture from her here.
It’s soothing to know that as we age our brains respond less to negative stimuli and, according to Strauch’s book, lean towards accentuating the positive as an almost automatic reflex. I like that.
Barbara Allen
I saw it in action in early February while attending a lecture by Barbara Allen who, at age 71, recently completed more than 2100 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Alone with a 30 pound back pack. She told us that her friends tried to dissuade her from the solo hike by pointing out all the potential dangers for an, ahem, older lady hiking alone. She told them, and us, that she’d rather die doing something she loved than be paralyzed by fear and alone in her house. That’s quite a case of accentuating the positive, wouldn’t you say?
You can read a story about her here.
And see some photos from her six month adventure here.
She was a captivating woman who inspires me to continue hiking, though I doubt I’ll ever do a solo expedition like that. I’ll continue to succumb to my paranoia about being eaten by wild animals and attacked by scary people.
But I do live my life my way albeit on a less grand scale. Even before I started this awareness project I’ve known that after a finite amount of time my experience as a human being will be over. And the older I get the faster the time seems to fly. Instead of my whole life looming ahead of me like in my 20s, now I hope to get 25 or 30 healthy, vibrant years under my belt before whatever’s next comes next.
What I know today, different from a few years ago, is that making a connection with life, many forms of life, is what draws meaning for me now.
So long February. May March continue to bring health, happiness and a peaceful brain.
And you? How did you spend February?
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