The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been.
Madeline L'Engle
Life is a process. We are a process. Everything that has happened in our lives has happened for a reason and is an integral part of our becoming.
One of the challenges of our lives is to integrate the pieces of our lives as we live them. It is sometimes tempting to try to deny huge periods of our lives or forget significant events, especially if they have been painful. To try to erase our past is to rob ourselves of our own hard-earned wisdom.
There is not a child or an adolescent within us.
There is the child or adolescent who has grown into us.
When we realize that among the most important strengths that we possess at this time are our life experiences and the ages we have been, maybe we will not resent getting older.
My wisdom emerges as I accept and integrate all that I have been and all that has happened to me.
Taken from the book "Meditations For Women Who Do Too Much"
By Anne Wilson Schaef
A favorite little book of mine that I have been picking up, at random, for 10 years.
3 comments:
Dear E., this is such a good thought and one we should remember everyday. We carry lots of memory weight and we need to shoulder it carefully.
I love that...and plan to copy it and read it often... as I round the bend to turning 60 in a couple of weeks.
Great post!
Ernestine, I love the L'Engle quote you posted here. She is a favorite of mine, and she makes a very great point in this remark.
I'm catching up on blog reading, because my internet (yes, dial up!) was down over the weekend, and my classes started yesterday. I'll have to scroll down and see what you've been up to!
Post a Comment