I look into the eyes

of vagueness

but still life and warmth of body

focusing on what we can not see

seeing beyond the blue vase with flowers

the open bible on the shelf

the bent head

cheeks wet with tears

we wait for the moment

this time is now

no more than a sigh

a step over into calm

where does it begin and where does it end

that moment when night becomes dawn

when the tide turns

and finds you

a heart open to love

cradling the passage

Old folks are worth a fortune: With silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet and gas in their stomachs. I have become a lot more social with the passing of the years; some might even call me a frivolous old gal. I’m seeing five gentlemen every day.

       As soon as I wake, Wil Power helps me get out of bed. Then I go to see John. Then Charley Horse comes along, and when he is here he takes a lot of my time and attention. When he leaves, Arthur Ritis shows up and stays the rest of the day. (He doesn’t like to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to joint.) After such a busy day, I’m really tired and glad to go to bed – with Ben Gay. What a life!

       P.S. The preacher came to call the other day. He said that at my age I should be thinking about the hereafter. I told him I do – all the time. No matter where I am – in the parlor, upstairs, in the kitchen or down in the basement – I ask myself, “Now, what am I here after?”

1. Have low blood sugar (less than 100 mg/dl fasting)
2. Have low blood pressure (target is 115/75 mg HG in midlife)
3. Have low blood total and LDL cholesterol (less than 200 mg/dL and 100 mg/DL)
4. Keep weight low and steady (BMI 18.5- 25)
5. Eat fewer calories
6. Eat mostly vegetarian “Mediterranean diet” with coffee and tea
7. Avoid nutritional deficiencies
8. Exercise regularly, be active, and stay busy after retirement
9. Don’t smoke or stop smoking if you do
10. Drink less alcohol
11. Get regular and restful sleep
12. Have healthy gums
13. Challenge your mind
14. Stay positive in attitude and avoid anxiety and depression
15. Shed those stressors, have daily structure, and be resilient
16. Stay socially connected with serenity and a purpose of life

Believe in healing, wholeness, and wellness or you will

become a victim of disease, brokenness, and illness.

Karen Wolfrom

Anxiety is often our first reaction to conflict, problems, or even our own fears. In those moments, detaching and getting peaceful may seem disloyal or apathetic. We think: if I really care, I’ll worry; if this is really important to me, I must stay upset. We convince ourselves that outcomes will be positively affected by the amount of time we spend worrying.

Our best problem-solving resource is peace. Solutions arise easily and naturally out of a peaceful state. Often fear and anxiety block solutions. Anxiety gives power to the problems around us, not the solution. It does not help to harbor turmoil. It does not help.

Peace is available if we choose it. In spite of chaos and unsolved problems, all is well. Things will work out. We can surround ourselves with resources of the Universe: water, earth, a sunset, a walk, a prayer, a friend. We can relax and feel peace.

Today I will let go of my need to stay in turmoil. I will cultivate peace and trust that timely solutions and goodness will arise naturally and harmoniously out of the wellspring of peace. I will consciously let go and let God.

The Language of Letting Go
Daily Meditations For Codependents.
Harper Collins Publishers, 1990

Also suitable for:

LOVED ONES SUFFERING FROM DEMENTIA • ILLNESS IN PARENTS • LOSS OF RESPECT FOR PARENTS

When we are children, our parents are gods. They seem unimaginably strong and unfathomably knowledgeable. We find it almost impossible to believe that we will one day be just like them. In some senses, the process of growing up is all about undermining that initial awe. Eventually, we learn that our parents are just people, and that it’s not actually that hard for us to become people, too.

     The sad thing, though, is that our growing up is not the end of the process. There is a symmetry to human life. Just as we learn how easy, how natural, it is for us to be strong and competent and proud, our parents are discovering quite how difficult it can be to remain that way, until the day finally comes when the roles are reversed and the people we idolized more than anyone else become a burden. Suddenly, we are the adults, and our parents are stumbling behind us like children.

      It can be very upsetting to watch someone we admire become diminished; and yet this is a trial we all face, unless we are unlucky enough to lose our parents young. Our mothers and fathers dealt with the same terrible distress before us and we should remember that in time our children will, too. There is no remedy for this pain, except the knowledge that it is better than the alternative, which is never to have had our parents at all or to have lost them young. They were there for us when we were helpless; we should take pleasure now in being able to return the favor.

Our lives are cyclical, and are meant to be: just as we grow, so we must shrink. There is no such thing in life, or in human beings themselves, as permanence. Frankly, we might get rather bored if there were.

The Poetry Remedy Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind & Soul – William Sieghart

Today, I will love today.

Yesterday has passed.

Tomorrow. is not yet.

I’m left with today.

So, today, I will live today.

Relive yesterday? No.

I will learn from it.

I will seek mercy for it.

I will take joy in it.

But I won’t live in it.

The sun has set on yesterday.

The sun has yet to rise on tomorrow.

Worry about the future? To what gain?

It deserves a glance, nothing more.

I can’t change tomorrow until tomorrow.

Today, I will live today.

I will face today’s challenges with today’s strength.

I will dance today’s waltz with today’s music.

I will celebrate today’s opportunities with today’s hope.

Today.

      May I laugh, listen, learn and love. And tomorrow, if it comes, may I do so again.

      A new day awaits you, my friend. A new season in which you will worry less and trust more. A season with reduced fear and enhanced faith. Can you imagine a life in which you are anxious for nothing? God can. And, with his help, you will experience it.