Adapted from The Woman’s Book of Spirit, by Susan Patton Thoele (Conari Press, 2006).

We live in a youth-worshipping society, but we are beginning to glean wisdom from indigenous and Eastern cultures who revere their elders. Age can bring a beautiful patina to the soul.

Here is a quotable quote about older women to send to all your friends, and a story about seeing a Grandmother Rock that was a huge inspiration to this author.

Those who choose to look at what they have gained from advancing years, rather than what they lose, generally have a lustrous heart and a gleam in their eye. Ideally, the experiences accrued throughout the years bring increased wisdom and instill an inner security that allows us to speak our truth fearlessly and act from an unshakeable sense of integrity. Here is great quote:

“Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.”
–Dorothy Sayers

For the good of the whole we need to be uncontrollable and untamed in our efforts to invite the spirit of love to quench the thirst of our souls and re-green our world.

This author saw the beauty of aging exemplified by nature while on a trip to Arches National Park. In silent meditation, she sat in the protective shade of the eons-old rock that she came to think of as “Grandmother Rock.” Gazing through the unbelievably huge arch in her facing sister, she was awed by the beauty created as this stone adapted to the elements and, over the millennia, grew a window through which the pristine sky gleams.

In the face of the rock’s patient transformation from one kind of beauty to another, the author found herself asking how she was bring called to mature as she ages. What sandy sediment within her needs to erode away? What window into her very soul is yearning to be revealed in her walled-in personal world? What must be transformed in order for her transparency to reveal a vast and changing sky? She has no answers, only the knowledge that they will come if she remains open to the questions.

Her affirmation:

I am thankful for the wisdom, experience, and acceptance gleaned through aging.

I am an outrageous and untamed champion of love and learning.

Article from www.care2.com by Annie B. Bond