"Welcome each day ...."

"Welcome each day like a good meal."

"… a full life needs to be about self-cultivation."

Joan Erikson

"...The consistent care necessary ...."

 … The consistent care necessary to keep the body machinery functioning in spite of age and deterioration is mandatory.  A lifetime of training is required.  It’s so easy to blame the terrain, so to speak, or the light and wind for our failures and backsliding. But where the body is concerned there is not time for self-pity…. living as we do in society that wants to put old people to bed.  You can hardly get wisdom out of someone who is lying around during his last years.  Actuality is needed right up to the end….It’s a matter of testing your capacities and preparing for the next level.  Old age demands that we garner and lean on all previous experience.

from “A Walk on the Beach”, Joan Anderson

"The essence of a life well digested ...."

“The essence of a life well digested comes from knowing your strengths, overdosing on the senses, and remaining active and playful.”

“Get out of your body, absorbing all that you come in contact with.”

"There are losses ...."

There are losses.  Our bodies wear out, our thoughts come more slowly.  But our life cycles are our most creative effort.  We can’t ever not be in them … the struggle is to try and obtain a sense of participation in your life the whole way through.  We must treasure old age but not wallow in nostalgia.  Appreciate the joy of attachment without the possessiveness.

Joan Erikson