sandraplace

We greet Autumn with warm remembrances of cider, apples and bonfires. Landscapes show leaves of hardwood forests changing from summer green to magnificent color as the natural world settles in for the winter. As the month of October nears its end, we pause to think of this dying of the natural world as it reflects on our own eventual demise.

We greet Autumn with warm remembrances of cider, apples and bonfires. Landscapes show leaves of hardwood forests changing from summer green to magnificent color as the natural world settles in for the winter. As the month of October nears its end, we pause to think of this dying of the natural world as it reflects on our own eventual demise.

Earlier this month I was privileged to have been asked to present on the first day of a healthcare leadership conference in two different Michigan locations. The first was in the Upper Peninsula (UP to Michiganders!) in the small town of Ishpeming at their beautiful county medical care facility.

I love antiques and the stories they hold. I am incredibly fortunate to have some silver from my Great Grandmother on my mother’s side and some English bone china tea cups. When I touch one of the cups or read on a piece of silver where Great Grandpa engraved her name, I feel taken back in time, remembering their home and garden.

As night approaches in summer, the frog and cricket symphony swells, the owls hoot and the trees whisper their songs on the summer’s breeze. There is a certain magic to the voices of summer and its chorale of life.

Meaning and joy are two of the domains of well-being that were researched by a group of professionals in the nineties who developed the seven domains of well-being that human beings need at all ages to experience life to its full potential. The seven domains are: identity, growth, security, autonomy, connectedness, meaning and joy.

The labyrinth is a form of flat maze with an obvious pathway through it. This ancient meditative method has been used for healing, for problem solving, the revitalization of spirituality and for quiet, reflective moments for millennia.

I was just coming down from co-teaching a powerful training on organizational change and leadership in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  I was very tired, drained to the core and headed to Baltimore to see my daughter and her wonderful family. I had not slept enough nor had I eaten as mindfully as I should have and my body was telling me. 

One of the greatest fears of those who are growing older is the fear of dependency.  Our culture is one that honors independence, self-sufficiency and all those things that arise from “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps.”  The older we get, the more worn out these bootstraps can become and the harder it is to pull up the boots.