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Perhaps it’s time to live life rather than sleepwalking through it. You may be far younger than I am. Don’t let that keep you from at least thinking about your own mortality. Doing so doesn’t have to be morbid. It offers opportunities for us to make choices to live our best lives. It can open us up to the preciousness of this life. As author Kathleen Dowling Sing writes in The Grace in Aging: Awaken as You Grow Older:
“We rarely pause to question, to look. Where have I not forgiven? Where have I not apologized? Who have I not loved well? Who have I not thanked? Where do I still cling? What fears do I still harbor?”
Such deeply and thoroughly honest contemplation allows us to change what can be changed and die with less regret. Aging, facing our mortality and simply turning a calendar page can offer possibilities for a new start. Each of these are opportunities for reflection and for making choices that can lead to more abundant living.
This message is excerpted from “Changing your focus” by Sonia Solomonson in the March/April 2022 Gather magazine.