Births of many sorts come in and out of our lives. We are birthing new cells daily as old ones die off. We are replacing and replenishing in minute fashion, and all of it is meant to help us grow and expand the life cycle we are. Our growth interweaves with those who intersect our lives...we touch one another in meaningful ways that sometimes are not even visible...a moment, a few months, a lifetime...we don't know the whys of it all...we just see it unfolding. Life is vital, fluid, changeable, and expanding. It expresses to fulfill itself and in so doing, we are part of the dance of creation.
We live in a sequence of seasons, both externally and internally. We see reminders in our outer world on a yearly basis of the trends and shifts in weather and temperature. We see the bright emergence of life in spring, followed by the maturation in summer and autumn when the flowering has turned to edibles, to winter when the life cycle returns to stillness and everything appears to be dead. Yet, always there is something in movement. Within our lives, we appreciate our youth and long to be older so that we can do what grownups do, and then when we reach the magical age of 21 we spend our time trying to defy the aging process because the apex has been reached. The apexes shift as we age, but there are all the ones that point to our own longevity and mortality.
We see the evidence of years on our bodies...changes that we never believed would happen to us, yet they did. However, the one arena where we can remain fluid is within our mind. We don't need to be any age. We can be ageless and timeless based on the perception of life we entertain. If we think that we are the physical body and we reflect what the body shows us to be "true", we lock ourselves into a rigid code of behavior through expectation. Yet, when we resist being categorized and allow ourselves to remain playful and young at heart, we reflect that in our outer world, regardless of what the body does or doesn't do anymore.
Age gives a certain vantage point that can either make sense of much that was unclear previously, or can depress a person whose focus and intention was to be eternally youthful. All the stages of life find common ground within us, and in our aging, we can retain the joy of being a child, the intention of succeeding at projects we enjoyed, and loving those with whom we make our commitments. We don't have to see one part of life as the best or worst, but as a moveable feast. Each stage has given us immeasurable gifts that bring us to the fullness of ourselves. Each has a life span, and each has the beginning and ending phase, but it all is housed within us regardless of the years that passed.
The true gift of being an elder is to sort through and find the gifts of each stage and age...to see what was learned and what was discarded as our knowledge of the world and ourselves brought greater maturity and a larger vantage point. So with age, it is as though we have climbed to the top of the mountain where the view is 360 degrees. At last we can see why the rivers overflow, and where the tree line gives way to meadows, and how the wind patterns move through the mountain passes, and on and on. We see the whole vista, and in this, we can provide a larger view to the younger ones who are hungry for direction and a focus that is larger than Jersey Shore or any of the other mediocre representations of life. We, the elders, are needed. But before we can assist the younger ones, we need to apprehend our own lives as they were intended. We need to become the fine wine of perfect aging so that we have value and make a difference. In so doing, we liberate ourselves from a mediocre view of life...a shallow rendering of this magnificent journey...and we become the beacons of light, hope, and wisdom that can help the ones coming up to steer a clear course with full consciousness and awareness of the requirements on the path.
We are engaged in the dance of life, and our perception will dictate what season we reflect to the world, regardless of our age. When we choose to reflect the best of them all, we enrich the soil of soul growth. The choice is ours. The prize is a life that is glorious from beginning to end!