As I facilitate conversations in The WISE Circle, I am more intrigued as to how I speak and write about age as a guide on this ever-changing journey called Life. Transition is the response to change from a deep, emotional place within. Age is a number and when one age is attained and then another, and then another – change is the inevitable result. In my counselling practice, few individuals and couples come to talk about how concerned they are about their age. More often they struggle with what they hear, see, feel and do in relationship to situations and people. Much is age-related, yet chosen to be perceived as anything but…

A familiar practice to “record” age begins when egg and sperm make their mutual introduction.  Parents-to-be want to know when their child will come out from the womb and into another world. Celebrations welcome the infant’s arrival and each year on this date, as the age number changes, the rituals of recognition continue. At that early stage, into emerging adulthood, and onto elderhood, the day of birth is honored, or avoided or even feared.

AGE is an EXPERIENCE

I am now more aware that my reason to focus on AGE as much more than a number is because of the meaning I attribute to it. AGE is an EXPERIENCE, a “felt presence”, an intuitive knowing, of the heart and soul. This experience holds space for both the intellect/cognitive reality AND the reality of WISDOM – a quality that enhances the essence of who we are as SPIRITUAL beings on a human journey. Much has been written that experience means knowledge, intelligence, and maturity. As people age, they strengthen this knowledge base, become experts, and show their confidence in repetitive ways of being. They then have the ability to produce more with their intellect, their behavior and their maturity.  For me, age IS an experience to be noticed with wonder and awe – to be intentionally explored, often in unusual ways, through the challenges and struggles for the opportunities to learn, heal and grow.

Oh, my – I have done it!: described AGE as an EXPERIENCE expressed with WISDOM and the SPIRITUAL. I trust that as you read this, you will each have your own, and possibly, different meanings for what I have written. How wonderful! How inspiring! How spirit energizes the conversation! I am thrilled to know we will now put “age into worthy action”. And then I have the courage to suggest that you would want to consider your age, especially when increasing in number, as an invitation for more. In all due respect – how can we avoid such conversations? How do we surrender to the inevitability of age AND find peace and joy in its awesomeness?

Embrace you heart and soul

Be curious as to how to embrace both the reality of physical, emotional, mental, relational signs of change and your youthfulness. Embrace your heart and soul (the Universal Spirit within); embrace the “ABCs” of becoming who you are meant to be: Authentic, Belonging, Creative. Practice to sharpen your awareness of how Hope replaces Discouragement, Connection replaces Isolation and Love replaces Fear.  The familiar idea of age as a number is now open to much more …  much more of how you can make your next years your best years!

If you feel inspired and wish to continue the conversation about AGE as an experience, then make sure to sign up to my newsletter by clicking here, where you will read more articles and I’ll keep you up-to-date on my upcoming WISE Circle events.