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Showing posts with label aging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aging. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

A Grandmother Story

This event, which is now a story, really happened. You can decide for yourself if it is true. There are only two characters in this story. One of them happens to be a Wise Woman, although no one ever thought of her in this way when she was alive. 

There was this very old grandmother who was on her deathbed. Before she died, she called one of her granddaughters to her. She had thirteen grandchildren but she only called this one. The grandmother had been an ordinary grandmother, or so the granddaughter thought. The grandmother looked into her granddaughter’s cool green eyes with her own eyes which burned like fire in her shriveled face and whispered to her, “Little girl, I want to tell you three things.” 


The granddaughter, who was around twenty at the time, nodded respectfully, and leaned forward to listen. This is what the grandmother told her, “All there is IS. The will of God is all there is. You do not exist.”


The angels will leave you these words to ponder, the way the wise grandmother left them for her granddaughter to ponder through the years when the grandmother would no longer be walking upon the face of the earth.

Monday, February 21, 2022

Rising above Despair


Stately Evergreens in my front yard












Dearest & Nearest,

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day in your country, or is it only a USA holiday? Normally, I post a special lesson here on February 14th. This year, time got away from me. So I will publish that lesson today, in another post. 

Some of you may know that I am caring for my 91 year old mother. And I help out my brother who has a disabling illness.

My mother, Arloween Mae, lives alone and takes care of her daily needs. She can still drive, though only under certain conditions and does so rarely. Here in NYS the winter has been harsh and she cannot go out alone in the snow and ice.

I do her shopping and paperwork, pick up her medications at the pharmacy, drive her to doctor's appointments, take out her trash, do her laundry, and whatever else she cannot do on her own. This all requires a great deal of time and energy, often in the freezing cold. 

I recently had to drive her to Pennsylvania, where we had to spend the night because she needed a procedure which took two days. I do not enjoy motels, but there we were. And the next morning, when we had to rise before dawn to go to the hospital, its was frigid and icy.

The point is, my 'time' is more limited these days. 

Life changes, doesn't it? This is what we can count on. And no matter how 'enlightened' we may become, there are still the daily tasks of living. The human body is still subject to cold and heat, accidents and illnesses. We still get worrisome mail we must deal with. There are still spam calls and spam emails. Wars and taxes. Rent or house payments to make. Loneliness and discouragement. Fear and hope.

Right now, as I write, all is peaceful. The golden sun is rising over the hills. The huge evergreens in my front yard are stately and beautiful. The snow is melting and the grass re-appearing. The laundry is in the washer. My cat is sleeping. And I am here in the peace with you. Well, actually I am here in peace with myself, since I am writing this here alone.

Remember I have written that angels are meant to do most of their work unseen by human eyes? Which is also true of the work I do...most of my angel work is done alone, in silence, then sent into the silence. Perhaps you read it; perhaps not. And if you read it, perhaps you receive and imbibe its message; perhaps not.

Anyway, since I began writing this, the sun has risen completely and the morning is in full swingI stopped to let the cat out, hang laundry, complete other tasks. And soon I must add up numbers and fill out forms for my mother. 

The point of this message is that we must not despair because the ordinary events life continue. Despair not because the body grows older. Because a love affair ends. Because a friend deserts or betrays you. Because the tax office demands more money. Because your body becomes ill. Because your body is hurt in an accident. Because life seems overwhelming at times. Despair not.

And if you do despair, do your best to observe the despair. There is no need to try to stop it. Despair arises so long as it is within you to arise. The good news, the angelic news, is that you are not the despair, nor is the despair you. 

You can use the only real power a human being has—the power to SEE. To Observe. Even a blind person person has this power, because we are referring to a power beyond physical sight.

SEE despair when it arises. Learn from it. The false power that despair assumes is the power to take you over, overwhelm you, paralyze you with hopelessness and depression. Fatigue you. Turn all into blackness. As if you are drowning in it.

I have never almost drowned, but those who have say that at some point there is total peace—an acceptance that one is drowning. But these are stories from those who have survived drowning. 

My mother nearly drowned as a child. She says she saw her life go by in little glass boxes. Of course, she was only a child, so she didn't have much life to go by. Then, her brother, who was in the boat, grabbed her by her hair and pulled her out. So she never reached the point of seeing the Light or coming into peace. 

She never saw the Light, and so she was only left with the wonder of the little boxes—and a terrible fear of water. She never went into the water again. Still, what she most remembers is the wonder of little boxes.

When despair arises, even when you feel are you drowning in it—in the cold water of darkness—you have the power to SEE. Just as my mother, even while drowning, still, somehow, had the power to SEE—to see the little boxes which contained her life—going by.

She was seeing memories, actually, contained within her brain. Who was SEEING — even in the midst of drowning? 

YOU have the power to SEE. No matter how deep your despair may seem.

Please keep in mind: 

"I have the power to SEE no matter how deep my despair may seem."

"I am not the little boxes of memories."

"I am not the despair; nor is the despair me."

"The power of SEEING is stronger than any negative emotion."

"The power of SEEING is stronger than any negative thought."

When you truly See—you Understand. With understanding comes peace. We fear only that which we do not understand. Only that which we do not understand has the false power to control us.

Saturday, December 18, 2021

THE BRAIN OF AN ELDERLY PERSON.



Enlightening information about the ‘aging’ of the brain.
Although your true self is never born, never ages, and never dies.

The director of the George Washington University College of Medicine argues that the brain of an elderly person is much more plastic than is commonly believed. At this age, the interaction of the right and left hemispheres of the brain becomes harmonious, which expands our creative possibilities. That is why among people over 60 you can find many personalities who have just started their creative activities.

Of course, the brain is no longer as fast as it was in youth. However, it wins in flexibility. That is why, with age, we are more likely to make the right decisions and are less exposed to negative emotions. The peak of human intellectual activity occurs at about 70 years old, when the brain begins to work at full strength.

Over time, the amount of myelin in the brain increases, a substance that facilitates the rapid passage of signals between neurons. Due to this, intellectual abilities are increased by 300% compared to the average.

And the peak of active production of this substance falls on 60-80 years of age. Also interesting is the fact that after 60 years, a person can use 2 hemispheres at the same time. This allows you to solve much more complex problems.

Professor Monchi Uri from the University of Montreal believes that the brain of an elderly person chooses the least energy-intensive path, cutting unnecessary and leaving only the right options for solving the problem. A study was conducted in which different age groups took part. Young people were confused a lot when passing the tests, while those over 60 made the right decisions.

Now let's look at the features of the brain at the age of 60-80. They are really rosy.
FEATURES OF THE BRAIN OF AN ELDERLY PERSON.
  1. The neurons of the brain do not die off, as everyone around them says. Connections between them simply disappear if a person does not engage in mental work.
2. Absent-mindedness and forgetfulness appear due to an overabundance of information. Therefore, you do not need to focus your whole life on unnecessary trifles.

3. Beginning at the age of 60, a person, when making decisions, uses not one hemisphere at the same time, like young people, but both.

4. Conclusion: if a person leads a healthy lifestyle, moves, has a feasible physical activity and has full mental activity, intellectual abilities DO NOT decrease with age, but only GROW, reaching a peak by the age of 80-90 years.

So don't be afraid of old age. Strive to develop intellectually. Learn new crafts, make music, learn to play musical instruments, paint pictures! Dance! Take an interest in life, meet and communicate with friends, make plans for the future, travel as best you can. Don't forget to go to shops, cafes, concerts. Do not lock yourself alone—it is destructive for any person. Live with the thought: all the good things are still ahead of me!

A large study in the United States found that:

The most productive age of a person is from 60 to 70 years;
The 2nd most productive human stage is the age from 70 to 80 years old; 3rd most productive stage - 50 and 60 years old. Before that, the person has not yet reached his peak.

The average age of the Nobel Prize laureates is 62;
The average age of the presidents of the 100 largest companies in the world is 63 years;
The average age of pastors in the 100 largest churches in the United States is 71; 
The average age of dads is 76 years.

This confirms that a person's best and most productive years are between 60 and 80 years of age.

This study was published by a team of doctors and psychologists in the NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE. They found that at 60 you reach the peak of your emotional and mental potential, and this continues until you are 80. Therefore, if you are 60, 70 or 80 years old, you are at the best level of your life

* SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine *.