Challenges of Later Life

How may we make peace with the experience of ageing?

Thank you for listening. More talks and courses with Sananda and Christopher at www.heaven-on-earth.co.uk.

Transcript

Welcome. Let's explore ageing a little. You live in a group of societies that tend to have quite a negative view of ageing and quite a negative view of the end of ageing - death. One of the ways then in which you can help yourself as you meet whatever challenges may be there for you in the process of ageing is to allow yourself to detach from those more general societal views. They can act as quite a cloud over the mental body, have a tendency to lower human spirits. And this is unnecessary. Whatever the general view of ageing and death might be, it does not need to be yours. Buy it, if it feels helpful; discard it, if it doesn’t. And do recognise that even if you don't espouse the generality of views about ageing and dying, you're likely to find some influence of them upon your spirit, upon your mental, emotional, and deep physical body. It's not that you need to move into a posture of resistance. Simply allow these ideas to be like water off the proverbial duck's back. You do not need to pay attention to them or regard them as having any personal relationship to you. 

2:27

You recognise that as currently constituted, your human body is not designed to last forever. There is a paradox that you're dealing with. One of the reasons, one of the principle reasons, why your physical body currently is not designed to last forever is because of that fear of death. If for you death held no fear, then you would find in due course that the human body was able to develop a greater capacity for longevity. In a sense, you might say that the general experience of a kind of deterioration of the physical body is a way of your body, and consequently ultimately you, reminding yourself that leaving this physical body is part of what you always planned and that it doesn't need to be an instance of you feeling yourself evicted from your body or that the body deteriorates in such a way that it's no longer possible for you to hold onto it. So that one of the ways in which you can help yourself greatly as you experience the process of ageing, however it is for you, is to become comfortable with a notion of dying, to recognise that, whilst it may of course be a big deal for people who love you and whom you love, for you it does not need to be a big deal at all. 

4:26

The largely universal experience for humans of dying is that it feels great actually to leave the limitations of the physical world behind. That's not always true for everyone because sometimes the fear is so strong that it is held onto even when the spirit is free from the dimension in which those fears came into being. However, this is not a counsel of perfection. If you feel some trepidation at the prospect of leaving this physical life, that's okay. Be kind to yourself. But it is still valuable to examine those fears, those fearful parts of you, and to bring them reassurance. 

5:25

One of the ways, of course, in which you can do that is to help all that you are, all of your human experience, to understand experientially, not just as an idea, that you are a timeless being, that this world of time, this physical world that you find yourself within is a brief experience in an eternity. Time itself, the world of matter, the world of space, as you experience it is an invention that you as consciousness or you as a being have created. It's useful to you, but it is not who you are or what you are. It is simply on aspect of an immense process of growing and becoming more conscious - of consciousness becoming more conscious, of all that your Universe is becoming more alive. Sdo you're part of something that is continuous. It doesn't stop when you put down your human body. 

6:38

You might even like to play with imagining the experience of dying. And in imagining it, allow yourself to imagine that it does not need to be painful for you. Of course, you have perhaps directly experienced, and certainly know of, many who have, as far as you can tell, died painfully. The run up to death, so to speak, can indeed be painful, but it does not need to be. It may be that at some level that has been your choice for perfectly valid reasons. If that turns out to be the case, don't turn the experience of pain into another way of criticising yourself. The pain is occurring for reasons that you may not yet fully comprehend. Again, I remind you to give yourself permission that as you move into later life, not simply in the approaches to death, the whole process of ageing does not require pain. You may find it occurring or discomfort or a sense of limited ability or abilities that have become curtailed in some way. All of that may be part of your experience. But find that balance that allows you to recognise that it is not essential to the human condition, but at the same time trust that if it is your experience, there are good, if unknown, reasons for that experience. 

8:30

Allow in other words yourself to advance into age with a win-win attitude: that if you are healthy and well and vibrantly alive right through to the moment you leave this life, well done. But if it is otherwise for you, that already in the experience of ageing, perhaps you're finding aches and pains that weren't there five years ago, let us say - don't judge yourself. Understand that every experience has its own value. Don't seek out pain, but don't fight against it either. These words are easy to speak. I appreciate that living them is not necessarily quite so easy. So again, be generous to yourself. Allow yourself to feel a success in whatever the journey is that you are taking. 

9:38

As you consider your own experience of ageing, allow time to slow down for you. This can be part of the gift of old age that is experienced by many, that those long days that you experienced in early childhood can return in older age. You can find an expansiveness. Part of that expansiveness becomes because you are letting go of some attachments, not just practising letting go of attachment to the physical body, but attachment to much that's felt important to you in earlier years. You've got a wider perspective. You can look back along the road you've travelled and, I trust and encourage, appreciate the journey you've made. 

10:41

One of the greatest ways in which you can help yourself to enjoy a harmonious, joyful, vibrant old age is by looking at the sticking points in your life. By sticking points, I mean the regrets, the things for which you haven't forgiven yourself or for which you haven't forgiven someone else. Don't let them hold you up. You don't need to do that. So if there are sticking points where energy is not flowing, that you find yourself circling around and around particular themes or moments in your life, use all of the skills you've learned to flow an abundance of love. And when I speak of an abundance of love, I'm suggesting that you're not only drawing upon your own very considerable reservoirs of love through all of the learned experience of this human life, but you're allowing the universal love to flow through you. You don't have to do it all yourself. Allow yourself to be an open door through which infinite love can flow along that path that led you to this moment in time. Every meeting, every moment, every connection, every success, every failure, every win, every loss, all of it. Just letting love flow to it all. 

12:12

One of the areas in which this flow of love can be noticeably helpful is in your physical body. Your physical body thrives on a sense of flow. If you consider all the systems in your body - your bloodstream, for example, flow is of its essence. It is taking gifts from one part of your body to another. It's vital to your physical wellbeing. And so each time you allow yourself to discover a sense of flow where previously there wasn't as you move through your memories, then that's bringing a greater wellbeing to you in the present. Be kind to yourself. It may be that as you look at your life right now and consider in an actuarial kind of a way how many more years you're likely to have, that you find there are regrets, not so much for what was done, for what wasn't done. And you're not sure if you've still got time to do this, that, and the other - to fulfil your personal bucket list, as they say. Be easy with yourself on this. 

13:41

There is a saying that you can tell whether your mission here on Earth is complete, because if you are alive, it isn’t: there is more. But that more may not be the more that you have imagined, that list you have, things you ought to have done, but didn’t; things that you perhaps feel no longer able to do, that you haven't the energy for or the inclination. That's not the mission. Your life purpose is to be you. You can be nothing better than the being you are. And so another way of understanding that is to consider it, not in terms of the list of things done and not done, but in the sense of how present you're able to be with the being you are. And a huge part of that becoming more present to yourself is loving everything, all that you are. 

14:44

Another way in which you can facilitate your experience of the later years of life is by purifying your mind. But by purifying your mind, I do not mean that you exercise a kind of puritanical control or attempt to exercise such a control over the ebb and flow of your thoughts. Please don't do that. Allow your thoughts to be whatever they are, whether they please you or repel you. Just let them be. But recognise that you are not your thoughts, that you are the pure essence that is allowing yourself to witness those thoughts, to experience them, to explore them. So that is what purifying your mind is. It's not about the nature of the thoughts you have, but your relationship with them. 

15:51

Your emotions too are part of how you facilitate, how you bring joy, greater joy, to the later years of your life. Here too, it’s not about insisting that you feel joyful more and more often. You'll know from experience already that that doesn't work very well. Joy cannot be forced. It arises from within. But you could think of it perhaps as a little bit like a spring, a wellspring, and that what you can do is clear away anything that is blocking that wellspring. What does that mean in terms of your emotions? Allowing, yes, that's of vital importance, that emotional flow from emotion to emotion. But blocks can be where the emotions are got entangled with other aspects of your human presence, the physical body sometimes, your mental body - the entanglement of anger mixed in with a memory held in part of your body as a tension or a heat. Working with your emotional body can be very helpful. Here too, allow your heart to be like an open door and you're not putting upon yourself the requirement that all the love that you need or believe you need to give to your emotional body has to be personally yours. No. Your personal measure of love is immense. You have learned so much already in your life and if you're still here, you're going to keep on learning. That's brilliant, but you still don't have to do it all yourself. Open to universal love. Let that flow through you. 

18:05

One aspect of that flow of universal love is that it can help you to recognise that maybe, when all said and done, all of this wonderful life you're living is not so very important. From one point of view, it is. Every moment of your life is precious. Everything you have experienced is precious. It's vastly significant beyond anything you know at the moment and yet at the same time it can be a wonderful catalyst for joy: to allow yourself, not to shrug your shoulders in a kind of uncaring way, but in a lighthearted way to say, ‘Ah, well, it's just a life. I'm enjoying it. Some of it's been challenging. I'm doing my best to carry on enjoying it. One of these days I'm going to leave this physical world. All is well.’ Coming back too to that stance, that fundamental understanding that no matter what it looks like, all is well. That's useful. 

19:32

Bring your awareness to where your diaphragm is, the bottom of your ribcage. There's a centre there, a chakra, not one of the main seven, but it's there and it's a wonderful point to touch with your awareness, if you're wishing to feel, however momentarily, the joy of being alive. For humans, it can be a little challenging, but you can look out at animals you know, a dog, a bird you see. They're very good at enjoying the life they're living if they possibly can. And part of that is that they're not invested in the past or the future. There's awareness, perhaps more than you appreciate, of past and future, but not a huge investment in it. Now, the present moment,s is what matters. That's where the joy is. 

21:17

Understand this, that your presence on Earth is not in any sense accidental. Indeed much planning, your own planning and planning on your behalf with many others has brought you to be here on Earth. Before you came into this life, you were aware of at least one moment when it would be propitious to leave this life. But generally you'll have identified many possible doorways through which you could exit. Trust, then, your own planning, that you are on target in your own life. For the most part, you've chosen not to know the time and date and location of your leaving this life. That would, for most of you, feel a bit burdensome. You prefer not to know at the personality level. And that's perfectly sensible, but it is known by you, the being you are, at other levels. Let that reassure you that everything is in perfect order, that you are in perfect order.

22:48

Recognise too that where you can find that you're experiencing (and perhaps you experience this is inevitable) that, for example, you can't run as fast as you did twenty years ago, recognise that there are compensations, that it's certainly not all about loss. I would suggest that you are wiser, perhaps much wiser than you were twenty years ago. And of course, when I speak of wisdom, I'm not primarily speaking of knowledge, intellectual understanding, though indeed that may have increased too, but really of a breadth of understanding, a broad perspective, greater understanding, greater tolerance, through your own experience, that everyone does the best they can as they go along. 

23:57

Your presence in old age, if that is what is given to you is profoundly useful. Never mind what your society may say. The presence of the older, the elders, the wise ones, is so valuable. And give yourself credit. You are one of those if you are now in your older years. Do you have all the answers? No, of course not. It was never your intention or anyone else's intention that you would have all the answers. But do you contribute? Oh, yes. Your presence inspires. Your presence inspires many whom you do not personally know at all. You broadcast frequency patterns to bring greater calm to minds that seek calmness, understanding to those who feel lost. 

25:26

Even if you find yourself physically quite limited, your contribution is still hugely valuable. Trust this of yourself. For this, of course, can be one of the burdens of old age for many: the feeling of being a burden, burdened by being a burden. Don't buy that. It's not true. If it is that in old age you call upon the help of others, understand that their helping you is of value to them as well, that it is giving them an opportunity to grow. Be at peace with yourself present in the now, noticing everything that is working well: the wonder of your being. And be grateful to your physical body. Indeed, all that constitutes your human presence, your human energy field. It is, as you know, wonderfully complex. Even a single cell of your body. Very complex, very beautiful. When I spoke earlier of your body, helping you to leave when the time is due, this is not ingratitude. Your body, if we express it in this way, loves you. It is huge honour for everything that makes up your physical presence. Every cell, every atom, every subatomic particle, the whole dance of matter is honoured by your spirit being with it. It's a wonderful symbiosis. But you have other adventures, other places to go, other ways of growing. And so it is always intended that it should be a temporary association. Imagine yourself then when the time comes to leave this body, leaving it with huge gratitude on both sides. You grateful for all that your body has given you and your body grateful for you, that you were here and that was wonderful. 

Thank you for listening. Go well.