Pay Attention

As I age, each moment becomes more precious. Here’s the easier part… I lose the color of my hair, and lines deepen down the edges of my mouth. Here’s the harder part… people I love sicken and die. Maybe because of this, I am often gathered more fully into the experience of the present moment.  “This is it”, an inner voice whispers, “pay attention.”

Poets commit their lives to paying attention. In her seventies now, Mary Oliver calls paying attention “our true and proper work.” In her poem “Sometimes”, she offers this directive:

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.

When elders pay attention to our own experience, one thing we notice is an increased vulnerability.  We may try to hide this vulnerability but ultimately there is nowhere to hide. Maybe we have nothing to lose in showing our vulnerability, and maybe that is what can make us stronger, clearer, and less afraid to speak and act with integrity and courage. Maybe when vulnerability is a shared experience, it connects and strengthens us. Maybe our entire culture could use a huge dose of the humility and strength that arises when we lead with our vulnerability.

I see the groundswell of energy accumulate as my cohorts and I age. Can we harness this awesome energy, and could it tilt our trajectory towards a more viable and sustainable future? Help create a path for elders, and we will blaze the trail ahead.

Bonnie Morrissey practices as a licensed Psychologist-Master in Burlington, VT., and teaches the embodied meditative discipline of Authentic Movement.  www.bonniemorrissey.org