HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEO!
August is my birthday month, and I know a lot of other people who are “Leo’s too… What makes us so special? (I bet everyone says that about their own birth sign.) Well, here’s something that says a lot about us:
I like these traits! Never mind the negative ones (I didn’t post them). After all, I am a Possibilities Agent as well as a Life Transitions Coach. So, I like to emphasize the positive…
One of the things that I think most about when another birthday comes around is that it is really about the end of one year and the beginning of the next. We are actually celebrating this transition of growing and developing. I have written about this process of transition quite a bit in the past, highlighting that bond between endings and beginnings. Remember the “Beatles song “When I turn 64”? (Will you still love me; will you still need me…)? Oh, how Baby Boomers are turning that whole age concept and transition process around!
I am proud to be a Baby Boomer. Did you know that there are 78 million of us? We are turning around the whole idea of aging to one of “aging gracefully”. It used to be that when we thought about the number of years we were celebrating, particularly if that was a high number, it could be quite distressing.
It’s not like when we were children, and we couldn’t wait to grow up. We would even cheat a little and say that we were __and a half, or we were “almost___”. What in the world were we thinking? THEN we were in a hurry; NOW we are hoping to slow things down. THEN time went by slowly; NOW time slips by so quickly, we can hardly believe another week, month or year has gone by. THEN we were looking forward; NOW we are looking back, but being present too, and enjoying “the moment” much more.
Sometimes I look down and see that I am getting “old lady skin”. And yet, I don’t feel old, or should I say “older”… I know the number of years that I have lived in this world, and yet, that doesn’t mean a whole lot either. I am still friends with my college roommate; I have a dear friend who is 80 and still working and flourishing! My husband and I have just moved to Austin and started a new business.
Now that I am working with the elderly and senior citizens in this capacity of helping them to stay at home by providing personal assistant services, I have a whole new appreciation for the importance of the whole person. It is not just the physical needs that need to be addressed; there is so much more to us than that. We are truly spiritual beings having a physical experience, and that makes all the difference in how we view and experience aging.
That expression “you’re only as old as you feel” is so true – not just in the sense of being aware of our aging bodies, but keeping our sense of aliveness, curiosity, wonder, appreciation, gratitude, purpose, spirituality and well-being active as well. I recently heard a saying “don’t be a know- it -all; be a learn-it-all” and I love that! That’s how we must live our lives – always be learning and experiencing something new and different.
What I am seeing is that Baby Boomers are turning around this whole idea of aging and setting a new standard of that process for our young people. The US society has long been youth oriented; not paying much attention to its elderly population. That, my friend, is going to change…
So, Happy Birthday not only to my fellow Leo’s, but to everyone who has a life to live. Live it well; love one another with zest and depth, and laugh often and freely…Here ‘s a bit of humor for you – reminder to laugh every day:
Prayer for Senility:
God grant me the senility
to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do,
and the eyesight to tell the difference
SOOOO, “Embrace aging.”
― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie
Take care, Ingrid