A fork in the road is emerging, and with it a choicepoint appears once more. Do I stay where I find myself, comfortable but uneasy? Or do I venture down an unknown path where soul stirring potential lays in wait? This is not an unfamiliar place for me…it is the mystery. It both excites and frightens me. To enter into the unknown is to risk the comfort and security of all that I know for the possibility of all that might be. Like a butterfly drawn to the light, I too feel drawn to the light of something deeply soul-stirring that is of yet, imperceptible to my eyes. It tugs at the strings of a deep yearning that I have yet to define and it leaves me in the throws of a dilemma.
This happens, it seems, in cyclical patterns. When younger, a four year cycle defined my restless stirrings. I felt moved to explore a new path and with it the growth that I required. As I age, this time span lengthens and with it, a more profound level of soul excavation is possible. Regardless of the timeframe, the pattern is clear, and I stand poignantly positioned, once again, at the start of yet another new cycle and the familiar sense of dis-ease that marks its arrival.
As I contemplate this, and consider where this path may lead me, I am keenly aware of the joy that emerges through service and through kind attention to the suffering of others – to creatures great and small. To provide another with comfort, with compassion, with understanding, is deeply rewarding and a mark of the generativity that defines the middle-aged + years of adulthood. This is a piece of the answer that I seek (I know) and yet, more understanding is still required to complete the image taking form on life’s canvas. In a world so lacking in compassion and kindness, this seems an important piece to cultivate.
To this end, I share with you today, the next phase of my work on the journey of conscious aging. This June, I will be delivering a three-part seminar series on “Exploring the Way of the Crone Through Ceremony” for the Celebrant Foundation and Institute of New Jersey. The attached Press Release entitled “Transforming the rest of life into the best of life” speaks to this emerging need as so many of the world’s population enters a growing demographic of older persons. Perhaps this will be a part of the path that is making itself known to me now…perhaps.