{"id":583,"date":"2003-06-07T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-06-07T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/conscious-choices-for-aging-with-grace\/"},"modified":"2021-06-29T20:26:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T20:26:22","slug":"conscious-choices-for-aging-with-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/conscious-choices-for-aging-with-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Conscious Choices For Aging With Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-content\"><p><i>Grace is \u201dbeauty of form, movement, or manner\u201d (Webster).<br \/>\n<\/i><br \/>\nIf we had a choice the majority of people in this world would choose not to grow old. This is a fact of life that many of us try to avoid. Yet, from the moment we are born, we are already beginning the process of aging and dying. This process is cellular.<\/p>\n<p>How we age may be decided by uncontrollable hereditary factors or by the way we live our lives. If we are truly body, mind and spirit, then aging is apart of all three aspects.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere between the Boomer generation and that of my parents, our culture stopped the sacred tradition of respecting and revering the wisdom of the elders. Extended life spans are bringing new potentials into the aspect for aging with grace, dignity, meaning, empowerment and wisdom.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s elderly save for retirement and move to Florida to die. As Eric Butterworth said, \u201cWe have a choice to live in the \u201centire-ment\u201d of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By living more consciously now, by creating with new meaning, purpose and passion, we elders-to-be can experience our lives more fully. We can choose to become more mindful &#8211; to listen with our hearts, and to do things that bring us inner freedom and Self Love.<\/p>\n<p>It takes deep dedication to reach a state of peaceful being and to discover the gifts of the soul. Many Boomers, including me, are now working to transcend our pre-conditioned and self-limiting beliefs. This process enables us to become more connected with one another and facilitates us to encourage our parents to do so, as well.<\/p>\n<p>What other reason is there to live so long? In this connection we are aligning with a \u201cHigher Power\u201d or \u201cUniversal Consciousness\u201d. In becoming, we can choose to manifest to create a dance of harmony, cooperation, fluidness, and balance and love between others and ourselves. In doing so we are choosing to consciously grow older with grace. The ultimate fountain of youth, after all, is opening up to Love, which is the most powerful healing force in the Universe.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ways to nurture and consciously choose to age with grace:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fight or resist it?<\/li>\n<li>Embrace it &#8211; with shame or dignity?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Nurturing the body, mind, and spirit<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good Exercise<\/li>\n<li>Relax and rest \u2013 Rejuvenates the body, refreshes the mind and spirit.<\/li>\n<li>Maintain and\/or improve spirituality Meditate, pray, dream<\/li>\n<li>Focus on and be grateful for what you have<\/li>\n<li>Slow down and enjoy the moments<\/li>\n<li>Spend quality time with your loved ones<\/li>\n<li>Say a prayer every morning for the gift of a new day<\/li>\n<li>Say a prayer every evening for the gift of the day<\/li>\n<li>Attend worship services<\/li>\n<li>Caring with Compassion<\/li>\n<li>Acknowledge our feelings<\/li>\n<li>Love ourselves and like ourselves with all our flaws.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We must see our loved ones for who they are, what they have meant to us, and for what we may become, treat them as we would like to be treated.<\/p>\n<p><b>Educate yourself:<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol>\n<li>Forgive yourself for negative feelings: Anger, Resentment, Guilt, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Forgive your loved one for growing old<\/li>\n<li>Forgive your loved one for depending on you<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Treat your loved one as you would want to be treated from the &#8220;heart&#8221;<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol>\n<li>Love<\/li>\n<li>Honor<\/li>\n<li>Respect<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Avoid compassion fatigue<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Maintain a routine<br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Know your limits,<br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Plan ahead<br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Don\u2019t fall prey to the Martyr Syndrome Nor The Victim Mode<br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Don\u2019t Forget: Ask For Help Before And During Times of Crisis.<br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Will you choose to provide an example for others, so that all around you may grow into a state of loving wisdom? \u201cI am growing and am choosing to evolve as a human being- won\u2019t you join me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Richest blessings<br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Copyrighted by Gail R. Mitchell<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are ideas on experiencing life more fully and aging with grace, dignity, meaning, &#038; wisdom as life expectancy expands.  Among these are how to nurture yourself to better care for your loved one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,10,5,6,28,9,12,11],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[38],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aging","category-care-for-the-caregiver-nurturing","category-caregiver-issues","category-eldercare","category-long-term-care","category-mental-health-emotional-issues","category-spirituality-religion-beliefs","category-wellness"],"authors":[{"term_id":38,"user_id":6,"is_guest":0,"slug":"gail-mitchell","display_name":"Gail Mitchell","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5191,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions\/5191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/care-givers.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}