I’ve come to realise that I get heaps of inspiration for writing while walking my dog. As I squelched through the mud, pup tearing across the fields with her ears flapping in the wind, a pile of leaves took flight. Looking around, I could see some trees seem to have eagerly embraced the changing season and are showing off their Autumn colours, with a few trees clinging desperately to Summer Green, all be it, quite faded and lack-lustre.
Kicking through the leaves got me thinking about life, as you do. The health and beauty industry would have us be the green leaves, determined to stay forever young, with their anti-aging skin products, multivitamins for the over fifties, hair dye for those pesky greys, not to mention those awful adverts for life insurance. So here’s a few thoughts from the field –
- I can try to hold back the tide, but I’d end up soaking wet
- Time waits for no man, or woman for that matter
- Why do we try to defy time with so-called anti-aging products? Be the autumn leaf and embrace the change
- Should I look to my mother’s example for how to live my live?
- Or should I be a pioneer and create my own path?
On returning home and completing mud removal, I settled in to start my lovely yoga journal. There is a whole section called “My conscious life blueprint”, the first part of which concerns health and the body. It asks questions such as
“What is my specific goal/outcome?”
“Why do I want it?”
“What must I do/be to achieve it?”
“How will I make it happen, and by when?”
“What might get in the way?”
Goodness me. It’s like writing an essay and being in a therapy session all at the same time!
Once I got over the size of the planner, it was quite a fun job – got me thinking about my view on health and age, and the thoughts that popped up on my walk. Last month, I wrote about my experiences with Dr Northrup’s 14 day ageless goddess plan… the ups and downs and things that got in the way. This planner seems to be an extension of the goddess plan.
I have decided I am not following my mother’s path for menopause and beyond. From my point of view, it didn’t work for her, and I’m sure as hell not doing that to me or my family. It’s taken me countless hours in therapy to undo the damage.
Instead, I like the look of my own path. I’m trying to let loose my inner crone, chosing a more holistic approach to this stage in life. I am escaping the age cage by not conforming to anyone’s expectations of how I should be “at my age”. I’m banning that expression for a start. Age is only important for cheeses and fine wines!
Instead, I am following the guidance of my Daily Greatness journal which advises daily affirmations, daily yoga (obviously, it being a yoga journal!) meditation, getting in touch with your intuition, doing something that gives you pleasure, and getting your body moving in new ways.
So here are my goals for the health and body section – to weigh about the same as I do now in one year’s time (I’m within my BMI range), to increase my flexibility and stamina, to learn to ballroom dance, and run a 5km fun run with my daughter.
I’d better getting planning. After all, failure to plan, is planning to fail… or something along those lines. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Wishing you all a wonderful, fun weekend.
cathdean.com 