Shape-Shifters & Magical Reinventors – Voices of Wisdom

SHAPE-SHIFTERS & MAGICAL REINVENTORS

Voices of Wisdom in a Chaotic World

 

Who would deduce the dragonfly from the larva, the iris from the bud, the lawyer from the infant? …We are all shape-shifters and magical reinventors. Life is really a plural noun, a caravan of selves.” – Diane Ackerman

 

How dull life would be if we always remained the same! Yet, day-to-day life in this crazy, mixed-up world has activated a visceral longing for peace and security. I’ve read numerous blogs in recent weeks written by friends who are trying to find a way to navigate the political and social morass that greets us each morning via the little black box that sits in the corner of our homes. I’m not talking about the TV. That is only one vehicle of transmission. No, it’s so much larger than that now. There are copious avenues of transmission, each vying for our mental and emotional attention with great bravado. An attempt to fight off the incoming feels about as successful as putting a finger in a hole of a sinking ship.

Joan Z. Rough, author of SCATTERING ASHES, A Memoir of Letting Go, (September 2016) and a self-proclaimed news junkie wrote in this in her blog last week:

Managing my stress is an important part of my self-care. I do not want to live with constant anxiety which turns my gut into a churning cement mixer filled with rocks. I get jumpy, depressed and feel hopeless. At the ripe old age of seventy-three, I want a life of ease. I can’t afford the damage that stress causes to my mind, spirit and body.”

Joan goes on to explain just how she reacts to too much news and what she is doing about it. Like many women over fifty, Joan is a shape shifter, a magical reinventor. She finds her way through life’s endless treacheries, by building her wisdom bank account. She is not trouble-free. No one is, despite the impression many give on social media. Joan is simply bold, brave and courageous more often than she is not.  She is open to growing, changing and learning the deeper, richer truths of life. Follow her blog and see for yourself.

Daisy Hickman, whose memoir The Silence of Morning I recently reviewed here, also flies through life-like a dragonfly. She shares her wisdom for navigating this “brave new world” in her post Disconnect From Uncertainty and Chaos. I learn something new about shape-shifting and courage every time I enter the Sunny Rooms Studio, where Daisy shares her wisdom. Her cyber studio reflects her philosophy of life and her how she has come to avoid too much chaos:  “A sunny room isn’t about always being upbeat, energized, or falsely positive. Rather, it’s about exploring topics that take us beyond the contentious nature of the world — the noticeable penchant for conflict, negativity, acrimony, controversy, and drama. There is more to life than surface distractions.”  Ah…that is wisdom. 

When I began Aging Abundantly, what seems now like a lifetime ago, I was consumed with what I often refer to as my “midlife transformation”. The quote, “Just when a caterpillar thought the world was over, she became a butterfly” became my personal mantra and the focus of my understanding of the aging process.  I entered midlife thinking it was the end, only to discover that it was the beginning. I was being melted down into viscous matter, as was my life, in order to be re-born into a more meaningful way of living and being.  I’ve come to believe that while our deepest transformation, or “dark night of the soul”, may occur in one fell swoop, the process of transformation, never ends as we are in the game. We don’t ever “arrive” unless we turn our backs on the process, and even then it has away of coming after us.

A decade later as I approach sixty-five, I am no less enchanted by the women of wisdom I continue to meet through Aging Abundantly and beyond. I feel blessed and privileged to have a little black box in my house that allows me to reach out and touch so many of them, to learn from them and with them, to walk beside them as together we grow, change, evolve, transform, and search for the gifts not only of the aging process, but of life itself.

As I move on in my journey, I find myself longing to focus in on the completion of several books I have started, in-between trauma and transformation, and keeping up with this and other endeavors. I long to put everything aside and sink into the writing of a memoir. I’ve always had more ideas than I could ever complete, now I have to accept that condition and work within its limitations.

I am not abandoning Aging Abundantly, I will just be shifting its focus from only my words to the voice of many. There is such beauty and wisdom in the collective vision of our generation. Together we are creating a tapestry of wisdom, unique to this time and place and I hope to be able to pick up a strand or two here to share with you as I launch The Voices of Wisdom Series™. Each Wednesday, I will introduce you to a woman whose wisdom I have come to value, and together we can listen to her voice. Sometimes the post will be written by others, sometimes I will post interviews and book reviews. always with an eye toward gleaning wisdom from voices of wisdom.

Wisdom, as defined in the Free Dictionary is, “the ability to discern or judge what is true, right and lasting; insight.” Each guest post  ill offer a slice of wisdom as it pertains to aging abundantly in a chaotic world. Be sure to tune in as they sprinkle a little of their magic on these pages and inspire and assist us in becoming more ardent shape-shifters and magical-reinvetors.

If you are interested in participating as a guest in The Voices of Wisdom Series™, please send a query and brief bio to me at DSander@AgingAbundantly.com. For more information visit Guest Post Guidelines.