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Blogs by Niki Collins-Queen
A book about the joys and sorrows of aging
6/8/2010 2:56:19 PM
Susan Moon compares her 60s “Consciousness-raising group” to her current Crones Group. The first was to resist and expose sexism the second to accept and realize “This is how it is” and ask, “How can I work with it. The women even found themselves celebrating old age.
Moon says it annoys her when people say, “Even if you're old you can still be young at heart!” for it implies old is bad and young is good. Her heart-warming stories in “This is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging with Humor and Dignity” artfully demonstrate the beauty and wonder of practicing loving for a long time and being “old at heart.”
She says the Japanese call impermanence and imperfection “Wabi-Sabi” where things are worn and frayed and chipped through use. Like the beauty of an earthenware tea bowl they are simple and rustic and show their age. Moon says, “I'm turning wabi-sabi. I study the back of my hand with interest: the blossoming brown spots...I'm my own research project.”
To avoid self-depreciation she calls “senior moments” little coffee breaks of the brain; a stop sign on the road of life. She stays calm, lets the engine idle and enjoys the scenery. She says it could even be a leg up toward enlightenment.
Sharing stories from her life she talks about caring for an aging parent, health challenges, depression, fear, loneliness and spending a month alone in the woods.
With insight, humor and wisdom Moon helps us navigate the joys and sorrows of aging with more peace, gratitude, and grace.
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