Wisdom is one of the few things in human life that does not diminish with age.
Ram Das

            In today’s world, we often neglect our heart’s wisdom, so vital to life, creativity, aging, elderhood, and healing. Healing can be considered a lifelong process of growth and development, from birth through elderhood. Unlocking our heart’s wisdom and uniting our heart and mind has been at the core of virtually all healing I have witnessed or experienced personally and professionally. In The Heart’s Code, psychologist Paul Pearsall describes the results of experiments that measured electromagnetic fields around the human body. These showed that the heart generates the largest electromagnetic field of any body organ, several thousand times more powerful than even that of the brain.

Learning how to access and engage our heart’s wisdom through our heart and higher mind, referred to as HeartMind in oriental medicine, can be helpful throughout life, and especially when facing stress, anxiety, and overwhelm. We can learn to bring forth and use self-compassion and self-trust through HeartMind self-care practices. Engaging the wisdom from both our minds and our hearts helps to strengthen and support whole-being balance and health. It will also keep our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bank accounts full, strong, and available to use when needed, rather than depleted.

The journey of aging and elderhood is supported when we bring heart-centered wisdom into the process, teaching us how to move with versus resist transitions. Elderhood asks us to use all of life's experiences to deepen our understanding and self-awareness, develop gratitude, and build physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual resilience. This often involves shifting our need to control to accepting life on its own terms, letting go, having patience and humility to be with the unknown and our vulnerability, developing self-compassion, treasuring loving relationships, and finding joy in everyday moments. Elderhood asks us to meet physical, mental, and emotional changes with compassion and self-care, rather than frustration and self-judgment. It involves finding security in accepting what cannot be changed, and remaining open versus attached to outcomes. Elderhood asks us to appreciate lessons learned from all experiences, both the happy and the challenging ones.

If you haven’t already seen or heard about the “Blue Zones,” it may be worthwhile to watch, explore, and learn about research that has been done in communities throughout the world, where individuals are living longer and healthier lives. One of the key aspects noted in these communities is the focus on life purpose and connection. Life in these communities is seen as a time of ripening versus declining, thriving versus merely surviving, and sharing very profound and beneficial life experiences. Consider learning more about why individuals living in the Blue Zones live and thrive longer than in other communities throughout the world. Their focus on life path and purpose, and connections, has shown that each enhances and extends our years and greatly enhances our quality of life.

Namaste,

Regina