Heart Conversation on Sunday! Topic: Aging
Heart Conversations
Held on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of Each Month
2:00 — 3:30 PM
Please join us for a Heart Conversation this Sunday, March 20, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM indoors at Lotus Center. Here is this Sunday’s conversation topic . . .
Topic: Aging
Madeleine L’Engle, whose classic book, A Wrinkle in Time, captivated the imaginations of children of all ages, published 60 books in her lifetime, a lifetime that spanned the better part of the 20th century. She had much to say about time and its passing; she had much to say about aging. It was in A Circle of Quiet that she wrote:
“I am still every age that I have been. Because I was once a child, I am always a child. Because I was once a searching adolescent, given to moods and ecstasies, these are still part of me, and always will be…This does not mean that I ought to be trapped or enclosed in any of these ages…but that they are in me to be drawn on… Far too many people…think that forgetting what it is like to think and feel and touch and smell and taste and see and hear like a three-year-old or a thirteen-year-old or a twenty-three-year-old means being grownup. When I’m with these people I…feel that if this is what it means to be a grown-up, then I don’t ever want to be one. Instead of which, if I can retain a child’s awareness and joy, and be fifty-one, then I will really learn what it means to be grown up.”
When we were children, time passed ever so slowly. How we longed to be “grown-up” and do grown-up things. It happened quickly. We’re grown-ups, more or less. Aging is inevitable if we are among the fortunate. How we age is a shifting venture of choice and circumstance.
Possible questions to contemplate . . .
1. How old is your ‘person’ in the mirror? If there’s a difference from your actual age, what’s the reason for the disparity?
2. What’s your view of aging? Can you sum it up or is it too complicated? What do you think influenced you toward this view?
3. Do an “aging” inventory for yourself. Make two painfully honest lists: What’s BAD about aging for you? What’s GOOD about aging for you? If you feel comfortable, bring the list to the group discussion.
4. How can you approach aging in a life-affirming way?
For complete information on Heart Conversations, please visit: www.LotusCenterSC.org/Events
The sharing circles follow a format similar to that of 12-step recovery meetings. Personal sharing, rather than academic or philosophical views, will be encouraged; “cross-talking” is not allowed, and; all that is shared will be retained in confidence. No registration is required.
Thank you for supporting your non-profit, community-owned Lotus Center!
_____________________
The Daily Dharma is a Lotus Center blog site that offers inspiring, insightful wisdom vignettes every day. Typical contributors include Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joan Halifax, Richard Rohr, and Michael Singer. To get your dose of the Daily Dharma – and subscribe for free – please visit . . .