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Sometimes we get “messages” that we just might want to listen to…and ponder.

And they may come from unlikely places.

Twenty years ago, I encountered strange symptoms and was ultimately given a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.  It was a real shock to this forever healthy, seemingly invulnerable, 57-year old business owner.  Years later, in retrospect, I saw how I had allowed myself to endure extraordinary personal and business stress for a number of years prior, pretending I could survive anything.

Since I hadn’t paid attention to an onerous schedule and a difficult partnership that, with attention, would have been otherwise “manageable,” I was given a 2 X 4 to the head in the form of a condition that forced me off my self-imposed treadmill. Chronic fatigue ensured that I do much, much, less on a daily basis.

Since then, I’ve done my best to learn to take my “to do” list much less seriously.  I’ve nearly mastered the amble, the linger, and the meander. Although I doubt that I’ll ever play tennis again, sufficient energy has returned for me to have a fairly normal life. But, I still have to make sure those hard worker habits of a lifetime don’t return and sabotage my state of recovery.

Warnings come in curious ways.

Last week, my printer died and caused a halt to my work plans.  My watch stopped and was sent off to the factory. The brake fluid drained out of my car leaving me with no way to go anywhere at all. In addition, in many areas of my life, I have been feeling the need to let go of what I don’t want, to be able to have what I do want. I admit to being slow in attending to those feelings.

Is this another wake up call for me? Or just a coincidence? Probably both, but inquiry into the former is what is likely to be more fruitful.

In the unique concurrency of all these events,  is there a message here?  If so, I’d like to be open to it sooner rather than later. Just in case, I’m scheduling more naps, agreeing to no “deadlines” and scheduling time for pleasure writing which I’ve been postponing.

How about you? What are the messages in your life that may be trying to get your attention?

Listen up! You might be getting a wake-up call.

I am the eldest daughter of Betty Johnson.  I live at Providence Place, a senior residence in Holyoke, MA.  I recently learned that one of our new arrivals had lived and raised her family in the neighboring town of South Hadley, my home town.

My mother, the physical educator, had taught her children to jump rope in elementary school. In fact, as the force of nature my mother was, she had the whole town jumping rope, something her students remember to this day.

It was a total “kick” listening to my new neighbor tell me about the reaction of her son when she shared that she was living in a community with Mrs. Johnson’s daughter.   After 50 years, my mother’s legacy lives on, just because of who she was.  Her lifelong passion to keep people healthy, moving,  and having fun, left an indelible mark on the individual lives she touched.  (And, this is not the first person from whom I’ve heard a similar story.)

Now, at 77, I’m aware that my remaining days are numbered.  What will be my legacy?   I still have things I want to do.  To the extent that they’ll ripple out, I have no idea.  What about you?

What’s your later-in-life passion and how do you want to share it?

Better yet, what’s your intention and how do you intend to live it?

I’m planning to age gracefully,  die well and help others do the same… meaning not leave a mess for my survivors.  I want to write and publish two books that reside in my soul. I want to fill my days with nourishing activities, such that as I age,  I remain a cheerful companion to friends and family.

Who knows what my “legacy” will be?  Whether I am remembered for them or not, I’m content with what I deem as worthy ways to be in the world for my remaining days.

How about you?

Sometimes an unexpected and spontaneous “initiation” to the next stage of life looks…well…pretty ugly. Particularly when that’s not the name you are able to give it in the moment. Nevertheless, take time to breathe, grieve, pause, allow, and be curious.  It’s possible that that another part of the you that seeks to be known and loved, is struggling to arrive. Make space for it.

For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone.  The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes.  To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.             CYNTHIA OCCELLI

 

A sacred illness is one that educates us and alters us from the inside out, provides experiences  and knowledge that  we could not possible achieve in any other way.         DEENA METZGER

 
Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.            HOWARD THURMAN

During your third chapter years, or at any time that these questions resonate with you:  What do you need to learn? What do you wish to let go of?   What makes you come most alive?  And,  will you dare to explore that?