Aging, Change Of Form & A New Outlook
March 2023
Yasemin IsleR
When I look back at my photos from a few years ago, I see me as I feel inside. See the photo here? I was thin, fit, strong. Nowadays, when I look in the mirror, I see a face and a body which I am not yet accustomed to. Not only age, but health conditions have shaped my precious body which I dearly love and am grateful for, to change form. Form is by nature to shift and change. Accepting it gives ease and invites in the purity of love and presence. Resisting it creates tensions in the self and the society.
The mirror shows the form, including the person, without commentary, without judgment. It shows me and you, and anyone, places, objects, how we exactly are.
Where does the self-judging or the judging of others, most often, of women, come from?
Societies, regardless of where in the world, define how a person, often a woman should look. Consider how each of you are taking care of your looks, and judging your friends, family, strangers on the street, along with TV personnel on their looks. What would happen when this judging mind with its resistance to nature, is allowed to soften and relax instead? What would happen if we shift our outlook towards accepting the nature and uniqueness of each human, as equally precious and worthy of showing up, as they are? What would happen when our outlook opens to the idea that we are all different and not meant to be factory produced robots all looking more or less similarly to be deemed acceptable to be visible by society?
What if we focus on the real issues instead, during at least some of the time that is spent on being made up and judging? What happens if we can permit ourselves to pause on trying to reverse the aging process or the impact an illness can make on our bodies? What if we offer ourselves acceptance, love and compassion just as we are? What if we then recognize how powerful and healing that acceptance, love and compassion are and so offer it to others?
What if we invite ourselves and each other to be more accepting, loving and less resisting to the way things are? What if as a result, all the voices, including those that are waiting in the side lines to contribute to society with their wisdom can show up, for the benefit of all?
These are not easy steps to take. We are being invited to take up courage to do things against the grain of societal conditioning. But, our hearts know that there is work to be done, by each one of us, and there is benefit in doing it. Let's start in small steps. What is possible for you to do today to move the needle in the hay stack?
Yasemin Isler
#presence #acceptance #mindfulliving #beingwithwhatis #love #compassion #ageism #authenticity #dailymindfulness #aging #illness #weekendchat #weekendinsights