Age and Usefulness

This seems to be an appropriate topic for the end of the old year and the beginning of the next.

I am sharing my dad’s attitude toward age and usefulness.

When he was offered disability insurance, he always turned it down.  As a freelance newswriter, he typed his news stories, but said he could dictate them if his hands were injured.  If he couldn’t think, then he couldn’t work, and he didn’t feel as though he needed to prolong his life in that case.

I am thinking about the idea of always being able to draw on my thoughts.

They are pouring in and we can separate out the ones we want to keep.

In her book, The Art of Original Thinking, Jan Phillips challenges us to embrace the new direction which even some corporations are taking.  The difference is between what I can get and what I can give.

We can always listen for useful ideas to share.

Once an idea gets hold of us, it wants to take form.

As we act on it or bear witness to it in some way, its form can bless and uplift and support other people.

With thoughts in mind, our large experience becomes more and more useful and powerful.

So, aging and usefulness become a partnership.

This is a valuable legacy to live.

© 2013 Kathryn Hardage

www.InspiredPractices.com