One Senior's Mirepoix of Spiritual Growth

          One of the most significant comforts all throughout the last five years of my life has been my spiritual connection. As I have coped with aging and all that entails, spirit has been there with me, never preaching, just listening, reminding me I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.  I’ve honed what I consider to be the three main aspects of my spiritual practice.  This is my mirepoix of spiritual growth.
     

     Mirepoix is a French word meaning the combination of sautéed carrots, onions and celery which become the basis for thousands of tasty meals. It's a trifecta of melding flavors which supports and enhances the rest of the dish. So too are meditating, exercise and connections with others a trifecta of emotional and spiritual stability on which to grow and change. In addition, this spiritual mirepoix keeps me focused, confident and strong enough to withstand anything thrown at me.

          In the early 1970’s I received instruction in transcendental meditation through the Maharishi  Mahesh Yogi Program in Berkeley. Since that time I’ve maintained a semi-regular meditating practice. I found it to be a powerful tool in aligning where I am at any given time with where I want to be. It helps me focus, it helps me let go (not all the time, but a lot more than I used to!) and it helps me see what is important in my life.

A Hole in My Heart

Heart sayings:
                           ~take a comment to heart
                              ~feeling a heart connection
                            ~a bleeding heart
                              ~a heart-to-heart
                              ~after my own heart
                               ~absence makes the heart grow
                                       fonder
                            ~have a change of heart
                               ~eat your heart out
                               ~a heart of stone; a heart of gold
                               ~coming from the heart
 

          These words don’t refer to the heart physiologically, they refer to it in an emotional state which can  illustrate our strong relationship between mind and body.  While many in the medical community may not put a lot of stock in the strong connection between the physical and emotional, there are lots of metaphysical followers, including me, who do. It is a growing trend to accept just how much our thoughts and emotions significantly affect our physical beings.

          Whenever I have a problem, a situation that is causing me grief, I take it to heart. What I do literally is sit in silence, as in meditation, and think of something positive, something that brings me joy. Usually I think about my cat, Kali. When I am feeling love and joy for her, I visualize the heart in my chest begin to open and expand. This hole that begins to widen in my heart contains that love and joy I am feeling. When I’m all comfy with this joy, I take that problem situation or  person and plunk it right down in the middle of that hole in my heart. My problem becomes all enveloped in that joy and love. But how does that help me? 

Five Questions - Childless Seniors Reflect

          There were a couple of reasons why I never had children. The main reason was that I wasn’t able to conceive easily and couldn’t stay pregnant longer than a few days. In hindsight, not being able to have kids during my child-bearing years didn't overly upset me. While I wanted to have children and went so far as to have a couple of medical procedures to help the process along, there are many couples who consciously chose a life without children.

The Impact of Childlessness on an Aging Population
 
          As I've gotten older, the fact that I am childless has moved laterally into another separate issue – the issue of who’s going to take care of me as I age. Sounds selfish? I don’t think so. I think it’s just good planning to consider possible options. And don’t you know the government will be impacted if more programs are needed to care for elders such as myself, with no or fewer immediate or extended family members in the picture. And, before you set me straight, I am well aware that having children in NO way guarantees an old age filled with doting young people.

          As reported in the YaleGlobal Online, “In the US, based on the experiences of several states, childless older adults were likely to have higher medical costs and more complex health-care needs than older couples with children." All we have to do is look around to feel the anticipated substantial cutbacks and rejection of proposed entitlements that might provide funding and human resources to care for older adults who don’t have children to help them as they age.

Five Questions I Asked