“I must confess, I was dumb.”

© Imelda Maurer, cdp

Do you recognize those as the words spoken by Senator Bernie Sanders following his recent heart attack?

Here is Sanders’ statement in a fuller context:  "Thank God, I have a lot of energy, and during this campaign I've been doing, in some cases, three or four rallies a day all over the state, Iowa, New Hampshire, wherever. And yet I, in the last month or two, just was more fatigued than I usually have been. And I should have listened to those symptoms."

Sanders said this is what he has learned from this cardiac episode and he wants to see that other people learn it too.  “I should have listened to those symptoms.”  Very wise words of advice.

Because we – all of us – have internalized the negative and false ageist message that old age is synonymous with illness, aches and pains and decline, we can fall into the trap of accepting any “symptom” as just old age creeping up on us, as something we just have to live with. This mindset fits in with the model of the body as a machine with many parts. Our body, this false theory says, is going to fall apart just like an old car.  In reality, some parts do wear out.  We can replace hip and knee joints; we can replace the teeth that are typically good for sixty years or so. Beyond that, our bodies are awesome in the ability to heal, to regenerate, to form new neural paths in adapting to some loss in order to continue function.  Listen to your body and respect what it is telling you.

Senator Sanders’ has given us a powerful public lesson.  Listen to your body. If there is something different going on and it persists, seek advice. Do NOT assume it is just part of growing older.

Let Senator Sanders’ experience be a valuable lesson for all of us.

   

Fall and the Seasons of Our Lives

© Imelda Maurer, cdp

This morning I turned the heat on in the house for the first time this season to take the chill off, as we say. Fall has finally come. The trees have lost a few of their leaves. The lawn is sparse with them, fallen before they revealed the fullness of their fall colors.

How many times have you and I read a person of high regard in religious circles, or heard a retreat director speak and compare our lives with the four seasons of the year.  Here we are in the fall of the year, and for me and some of my readers, the fall of our lives.  The typical rendition of this life/season analogy is that just as the leaves fall from the trees and die, the challenge we face in the Fall of our lives is to let go.

Now there is nothing inappropriate with the concept that in our lives we must let go in multiple dimensions of life.  Actually, we live through letting go throughout our life, not just in our later years. Initially, in experiencing birth, we “let go” of the unique and deeply intimate relationship with our mother in her womb.  I resist the typical understanding of “letting go” that is associated with Fall and the falling of leaves because it sends the message that the Fall of our life is defined, is circumscribed by loss and the subsequent challenge (as in ageist Aging and Spirituality lectures) to let go. Nothing is further from the truth. We experience the potential for growth and development throughout our life cycle – not just Spring and Summer but Fall and Winter also! The field of gerontology has confirmed this via a growing field of research. Fall is a time of fullness and richness!

Actually, nature gives us a similar positive message.  Those Fall leaves --- they do more than just fall from the tree and die. They spread awe and wonder, delight and joy as millions of people around the world view their majestic colors.  Those pigments have been a part of each leaf all its life. It is only in the Fall with the declining hours of daily sunlight and lower temperatures that the chlorophyll breaks down and disappears revealing the colors that have always been there!!  It is only within the later stage of its life cycle that the glorious colors become visible.  Think about that! Beauty, continued growth and development becomes possible and visible precisely because of our aging.

Another image of Fall as a time of richness and fullness was made obvious to me during a prayer  at a gathering focusing on aging. The prayer was a kind of litany about Fall. This one line has stayed with me and I smile every time I think of it:

"It is fall. Our barns are full."