No matter where you are on the path, growing older is a journey we all share. These eighty-seven elegant essays reflect on aging, using wise and inspiring quotations from many cultures and religious traditions. They help you tap into your own resources, lightening your spirit and the spirits of those around you. Throughout, they provide guidance and encouragement, covering life changes, dealing with fear, retaining dignity and passion, and living a life of meaning. Whether you are early in your journey or well along the way, The Seasoned Soul will help you face the joys and challenges of aging with insight and grace, lift your heart, and grow your spirit.
You can hear an interview with the author on the Skinner House Sound Bites page.
With a Beginner’s Mind
Becoming Miz Kate
A Guide for the Journey
Tend Your Vineyard
Forever True
The Tribe
Gracious Living
Unmoored
Crossing the River
Giving Up the Stick
Stop the World?
Bring Your Waders
Sweeter Than Wine
We Would Be One
Unwinding
Let’s Shake on It
Either/Or Wave
Travelers
No Supermen Need Apply
Simplify
Finding Ourselves in Low Places
If Two Are Good
The Myth of the Bad Day
Idle Worship
Troubled Waters
It Doesn’t Take Much
All Lives Flow On
Gather the Spirit
Opening into Silence
Wizard School
Stuff
Lessons from Love
What Songs We Sing
Who Knows You
We’re Rich!
Initiate of Time
Inside Outside
The Life in What Is
Sculpting a Life
The Open Ear
Letting Be
A Second Life
We Are All Pioneers Here
Life Is But a Dream
Flashes of Fire
Cornucopia
On This Dust Mote
Falling in Love
Slave No More
What’s New?
Out of Eden
The Confidence Game
Besotted with Love
Forest Bathing
An Unwrinkled Heart
The Quilt of Day
A Home for Grief
Being in Awe
Living Streams
Taking Stock
We Rest
Gotta Stand Up Before You Lie Down
Reclaiming Rest
Iron Wheels
Recognition
Alone
Civilization and Generation
Crazy in Love
Betting on Futures
An Altered State
Talk to the Wall
So High, So Wide, So Deep
More
Leaving Home
Success
Universal Laws
Sweet Slumber
Even After, Ever After
Taking a Plunge
Milk and Honey
Belly Laughs
Love Is All We Need
Seeker
You Don’t Need to Know
Breath
Pause, Traveler
What Waits for You
Dear Reader,
The comedian George Carlin joked that only children get excited about growing older. Once we're adults, we seem to forget our wonder at the changes and new skills that aging can bring. This loss of our sense of awe and expectation-as well as the daily challenges of growing older-can weigh heavily on our spirits.
I wrote this book because I felt an increasing need for a manual to help rekindle my own sense of wonder and the possibility of some kind of achievement. I began by gathering wisdom, much of it from elders. And I looked for inspiration from many cultures and religious traditions, since growing older is a journey we all share. The reflections that came out of this process will, I hope, help to lift your heart and grow your spirit. They include universal themes, such as how to love, bear pain, grieve, deepen relationships and create new ones, retain dignity and passion, serve others, change, and deal with fear. These are some of the challenges we all face as we grow older; the good news is that we have more experience, compassion, and understanding to bring to them. The reflections in this book are designed to help you tap into your resources, lightening your spirits as well as the spirits of those around you. They may be read in any order, for reflection, journaling, a lectio divina spiritual practice, or sharing with a loved one. They can also be used in group settings. For example, they can serve as a basis for small group discussions, or enhance a workshop on ageing and sageing.
Sound and healthy spirits help us live with greater joy, intention, and appreciation. I hope this book kindles a flame that lights your spirit's journey.
Blessings,
Eliza Blanchard
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