Continue To Enjoy Life!

SAT., APR.21, 2001, 3:22 PM
FARM, KITCH. TABLE

Yes, o son, there is a continual challenge to human earth life… which is… to enjoy it… as constantly as possible. You realize this has been rather easy for you. As you think back and review your life (as fully as you can, at this age) you have had much to enjoy… and very little to lament. Oh, you have some aches and some more obvious pains at this time, but you are quite aware that for most of these nearly 75 years your life conditions – physical, mental, emotional, environmental and spiritual – have been most enjoyable. You have had, and are still having a GOOD earth life.

Oh, you can “catalogue” the weaknesses and losses that you now are experiencing, but when you turn to the positive and focus on what you still have and what “still works” you realize that you are still “healthy,” overall. ( 3:32 / 3:41 ) You realize, of course, that you are in a gradual deterioration of full functioning, but this is a natural consequence of reaching your mid-70’s. Hear My call to focus as much as possible on the successes and the joys, giving as little attention as you can to the downside of this “aging process.”

You can… and do… look back on quite an enjoyable life… your education, your marriage and family, your career, and your living places, with this one being the best for you now. (You chased some baby rabbits a bit ago, and you may need to diminish the “farm” aspect of life here, but you can make such decisions when “the time is right.” But these rabbits have been a “fun part” of your life for several years. Just don’t let them become an unnecessary “burden.”)

The duck and the drake are a good addition to the “animal” character of this place. They are fairly independent and don’t require much attention. But you know they are vulnerable to other “untamed” creatures. So just enjoy them while they continue to adapt… and be a lively addition to life here.

Your feet are still not fully well and pain-free. Continue to be patient with the healing process, and recognizing that at your age healing is slow and often not complete… as you would have expected, in younger years.

You do love and appreciate this place, and though you have positive feelings about nearly all of the places you have lived, before and after marriage, you see that this is almost ideal for this ending era of this life. Yet be aware of what you can no longer do, despite “successes” in earlier times. Don’t focus much on what you have to give up. Instead see what good comes to you without “this” and “that” in your life. You’re doing fairly well with this, but realize that you still want to do more than you now can. Be joyfully determined to make the best of life, as it changes with losses and handicaps.

I hear you giving yourself a bit more than a week to clean up this place, inside and out, and I approve of this “mission.” This will involve some decisions about what to keep and what to rid yourself of (and how), but I urge you to see this as “simplifying your life,” which should be more enjoyable than messiness and something like chaos. Yet one important aspect of this “mission” is to see it as enjoyable… in the processes and in the results. This shall be a current challenge, but it shall also be on-going. Be as conscious as you can be about changes that shall seem desirable… at least necessary.

The weather is warming now, with this the enjoyable Spring season ( 4:12 / 4:23 ) coming into “its own.” Then it will be the full warmth of summer, always an enjoyable time… and it still should be, for you.

You just enjoyed a fine phone conversation with old friend and colleague, Bob Synovitz, who has appreciated much that you have done over these last years of your career. He, too, is retired in a pleasant place (a bit warmer, even, than here) and does enjoy and profit from Our Ruminations. Conversations such as this will still “engage you,” but they won’t increase. Let this be some impetus to you to call or write some colleagues and friends who have been important to you. Make a list. This might help.