Saving the Best for Last |
Thursday Jan 10 2008
In his wonderful book From Age-ing to Sage-ing, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi notes that the Bible is lavish in its praise of elders. ”It considers gray hair a crown of glory and wrinkles a mark of distinction.” This really got me thinking. What if we regarded the last part of our life—let’s just say the years after our hair goes gray—to be the “crowning glory of our years”? Wow! What would be possible from that perspective?
On my 50th birthday, I received cards, intended to be funny, about how I was now a member of the “over the hill gang”. At 50! This year I will be 60. What if I picture myself at the top of the hill—with the full intention of staying up there for a good long time? What would be possible?
If our gray-haired years were truly our “crowning glory”, we would:
- Be thrilled at finally being old
- Continue to be curious (but with great calm)
- Be free from striving and trying to prove ourselves
- Take the time for deep reflection and contemplation
- Be busy distilling wisdom from a lifetime of experience
- Generously offer our legacy to younger generations
- Be grateful for this stage of life
- Make our peace with our mortality
- Be quick to forgive and slow to blame
- Often take the perspective of the “greater good”
- Value a good dialogue without concern for who’s right
- Leave the world a better place than we found it
What, my dear reader, do you see as possible if you envision your last years as your best years—the “crowning glory” to your life? Please join in the conversation. We’re in this together, you know.
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
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Posted by dear on January 10, 2008 at 02:41 AM EST #