Older adults have a need to focus on inner growth, even if
they have not done so in the past. As
death approaches there is an inner cry to answer some of life’s questions.
“Who am I?” and “What is my purpose in
life?” are the two main themes. Older
adulthood can be a special time for inner exploration and much growth and I
encourage all seniors to investigate their own destinies. We can change from being elderly to being
elders of our society. We can also
learn how to face death, unbowed and unbeaten; in fact, we can learn to look
forward to the next great adventure ahead of us. There is a wealth of information of inner and spiritual growth
subjects in bookstores and on video stores across the country. If you would like, you can catch some of my
thoughts in my column, “The Lion’s Roar” found here in
the index.
We are all engaged in a process of evolution, consciously or
not. We are growing beings and if you
are reading this page, you are not done yet.
There are still issues for you to resolve, questions to seek answers for
and lots of living still left to do. I
encourage you to look inside and see what it is you maybe should tackle. Do you have a bad relationship that needs to
be healed? Are you holding on to old
griefs? Are you still mad about
something said to you many years ago that hurt your feelings? Let me ask you a question. How much time do you spend ruminating about
something from the past?
Could you
better use the energy you are expending on something positive that would
enhance your life? You are the only one
that can answer these questions. You
are the only one who can decide about the quality of your life. So many times, a person waits for someone
else to change or resolve an issue. You
are the only one who can resolve your own issues because you are the only
person you
are in charge of. Don’t worry about the
other person; they will have to handle their own issues.
I just want to remind you that you have choices. You can practice forgiveness and let the
past hurts go. You can replace the
negative experience you had by reframing it and looking for the good that came
out of it. You can bless the people you
have lost and move on with you life, knowing that someday you will be together
again. You can decide that getting
angry is not the only response option.
In other words, you have the choice about how you will respond to any
situation. You always have control over
your attitude even when you have seemingly lost control over many aspects of
your life. So think about it and make a
choice to be positive, joyful, kind and see how that can enhance your
days. It is never too late to look
inward and to grow spiritually.
Some web sites that will give you something to think about:
Vedanta/Chicago
Mother’s Trust/MI
Theosophical Society
Gary Zukav
His Holiness the
Dali Lama
Joan Borysenko
Sarada Devi/Sri
Ramakrishna/Vivekananda
Spiritual/New Age
