It’s my 60th birthday in a few days.
And I’m owning it by walking a special segment of El Camino with a group of lifelong friends. As you read this, we’ve begun our journey crossing the Pyrenees from France into Spain.
As you may have also experienced, the pandemic and the following years brought many challenges. Some of them directly related to the aftermath, and some of the challenges just normal parts of the midlife experience.
As I follow the signs on El Camino, this birthday milestone is a ritual in letting go and walking into a new age. I’m releasing:
🌟 the bittersweet experience of supporting my elderly parents as they struggle with health issues. I choose instead to be grateful for each day that I have with them.
🌟 the felt sense of my own body aging, and my journey through injury, surgeries and rehabilitation. I choose instead gratitude for all that I have learned about myself and give thanks for the body’s innate ability to heal itself.
🌟 the questioning about who I am and how I can be of service. I choose instead the sense of certainty I feel in facilitating Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), yoga and journeys on El Camino.
🌟 the sense that I am somehow not enough. I choose instead the wisdom of experience and my innate completeness as a unique and perfect human being.
Age does not define me. I climb mountains, I guide journeys, and I am eternally young at heart.
Yoga has enabled my body to recover twice from serious injury and to stay strong and powerful. Mindfulness has given me peace of mind, resilience and wisdom.
As I walk into this new era of my life, I wish you all the very best:
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be safe.
May you have courage.
May you be happy.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
And may you feel your own strength, regardless of what life presents you.
Let your wisdom lead,
Robin
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