Celebrating life!
Source: atchuup.com for sharing
I was delighted recently to be asked to judge a writing competition for people over fifty about the experiences of getting older. It was a great privilege. There were 14 poems and 14 prose pieces. Among the prose, this one from a female author stood out for me. There was a wonderful poem from a 91-year-old too.
“I was born in February 1929. When I was seventy, I had a panic attack. I thought, I don't know how to be old. What if I get dementia, have a stroke or a heart attack? Will I be able to live with declining energy of body and spirit? Will I still be loved? Will there still be people I can love? How will I manage?
I needed to think things through, and remembered Jenny Joseph's Poem about living in freedom and with exuberance: “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple, And a red hat which doesn't go…” That was what I wanted too. I could embrace being old or not… My choice! I needed a ‘Statement of intent’, so I made one. This is it:
- I will always love and honour the old woman in the mirror. She will never be ugly to me, however many wrinkles or grey hairs. Purple nor black will I wear: It’s red lipstick for me, big silver earrings and silver shoes; Chanel perfume and a daily tweeze of the chin, for as long as I am able.
- l will not live in the past. It’s gone! It wasn't better than now, just different. Nor will I live in fear of the future again, because who knows what it holds? So, I will live only in the present, live and love now, this present moment. It’s the only time when I can, and I will do so for as long as I am able.
- I will always celebrate. I will celebrate life, being alive. I will celebrate the sun coming up, the moon through the kitchen window, all that brings me joy. I shall smell the roses. I will be happy to be alive, whatever the circumstances, for as long as I am able.
- I will protect my health and well-being, nourish my soul, remain self-determining in every way; and I shall thank God and the Social Services for those who come to care for me when I am no longer able.
- I will be adventurous. I will remain curious, explore and marvel at the world and what it holds. I will never believe there is more evil than good, or that we are all going to hell in that handcart. We’re not… Well, I'm not anyway! The world may become lost to me, or me to it, but I shall rejoice in it until I am no longer able.
- Above all, I shall be grateful. Grateful for what I have, and for what l don't have. For love, for friends and friendship; for sunny days, for rainy days; for life, for being alive, for being me. For being able to be me… until I am no longer able.
Because I will die… Of course I will… One day Death will come and take my breath away. But until it does, as, when and if circumstances become difficult, I shall take up the rose-coloured spectacles and make another list. Maybe several, remembering always the important thing about a list is never to leave it around on the kitchen table with all the other bits and pieces, because then it won't work. When you make a list like this, you must stick to it.”
I don’t think we need to be old to benefit from such wisdom – learn to love and honour oneself; live in the present; celebrate life; protect one’s health; be adventurous, questing and marvelling at the world; and be grateful, even in the face of death. Who could argue with that?
Copyright Larry Culliford
Larry’s latest book is ‘Much Ado about Something’. Earlier books include ‘The Psychology of Spirituality’, and ‘Love, Healing & Happiness’.
For more about these and more, go to Larry’s website.
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