31. Growing Old is Obligatory; Growing Up is Optional.*

31. Growing Old is Obligatory; Growing Up is Optional.*

Sunday 5^th April 2015

This morning I woke up old and I realized, my obligation had to be fulfilled like everyone else’s.

The image I saw in the mirror brought to mind the photo you see: my 30-year-old self, singing the role of Bertha, a mid-60s maid, from Rossini’s Opera, The Barber of Seville.

At the time, I was quite convinced I would never reach such a ripe age. I dreaded both, reaching it and not.

Today, as I scanned the prune-like face in the mirror, I felt, as I often do, so happy and triumphant that I have made it this far!

I dare say I have also kept growing up.

I have grown in wisdom, therefore, in self-acceptance and self-love.

Death doesn’t frighten me as it used to. Neither wrinkles do.

Berta’s aria finishes with the lines:

“E vecchietta disperata

mi convien così crepar.”

And old, desperate

It’s more convenient that I kick the bucket.

First I thought of writing that, Non mi convien cosi crepar,

But then, as I am learning Italian, I checked in the dictionary and crepare also means: to splitting one’s sides laughing. You only need to add “dalle rise”.

Therefore, I will crepar dalle rise, and continue to laugh into any age, genes, fate and my own efforts, take me.

Happy growing old and up!

* I wish the quote was mine. I translated it from Spanish, and I guess it comes from my cheerful 82-year-old brother-in-law, Luis Carlos, who spends a lot of his time sourcing interesting, wise and funny quotes and stories from the Internet.

** For the old or young, but curious, go to my Music Matters… to Me, for some links to Berta’s aria, none sung by me as in those days in Colombia (1983 and 1984), live performances weren’t recorded. You will also find a trip to memory lane from my days with the Colombian National Opera Company.

Since I didn’t make time to write a blog this week, here are a couple of links that might interest you

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-02-28/horizons-three-minute-exercise-plan

and http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2014/04/11/intermittent-movement.aspx?e_cid=20140411Z2_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium

Just going to do mine!

Saturday 4th of January 2014 1. The Posture of the Soul and the Tree of Life

How to Grow Old the Right Way Up

I was born with a heart murmur, double hernias, a weak liver and no prospects for a long or healthy life. My childhood and young years were plagued by chronic anaemia, fevers, sickness, pains, parasites, rickets and visits to doctors and hospitals, operations, injections and a pretty constant feeling of unwell-being.
However I will be celebrating my 61st birthday in less than a month and I feel, and I am sure I am, far healthier than throughout most of the last 60 years.
To celebrate, I want to share with whoever is interested my own brand of tips on “How to grow old the right way up“. i hope they help.
A page or extract will be published in my website http://www.patrissiacuberos.com hopefully once a week. If you would like to subscribe in order to receive it directly to your e-mail address, please fill the form at the bottom of the page or contact me directly with any comments and questions through my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/patrissia.cuberos  or via e-mail to patrissia.cuberos@yahoo.co.uk

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS

1. I am not a health practitioner of any description. The tips I will be giving are directly related to my personal experience and my experiences with family and friends who seem to have benefited from those tips. Please if in doubt, always consult a qualified practitioner.
2. With their permission I will be mentioning in these pages the names and expertise of many people who have contributed to my current state of health. See also the Links page. Whenever possible  and relevant, I will be leading you to their websites or giving you a direct contact if you ask me. Nobody is or will be paying me or rewarding me in any way for doing so. I will be doing it because they are wonderful practitioners, to whom I owe much and to whom I am very happy to direct people to, for the benefit of all. I don’t and won’t recommend anyone whose help and expertise I haven’t experienced and benefited from directly.

So here it goes:

Saturday 4th of January 2014

1.

The Posture of the Soul and the Tree of Life

Mind/Spirit/Emotions/Body

How to separate them? I think with my mind. I might feel  or recognize a feeling by its physical expression through some part of my body. A thought, a feeling, an emotion, might make my heart beat faster or slower, or my solar plexus contract or expand. However I can only recognize and label it, as thought, or feeling, purely intellectual, highly spiritual or basic, physical/ animal, through the description my mind cares to make of it, based on its experiences, culture and intellectual development.
So I will have to jumble them all up… we will see what happens.
Let’s start with posture:

The Posture of the Soul
The posture of the soul, I would suggest it to be erect; not looking too much up, or too much down. Just level, forwards, regarding the world and all fellow beings as equals. Equals as the leaves of a tree are equal in their contribution to the life of the tree, between themselves, and in comparison to the roots. Are the roots that take nourishment from the soil any less than the leaves that suck nourishment from the sun and the air?  or the trunk that protects and counts its years, any less than the seeds that will reproduce its life? We are all equal and all of us contribute in equal measure to the beauty, the health and the present and future of the tree of life. Let’s be erect, upright, sincere in intention, alert in attention. Let’s allow the “gravity of goodness ” the attraction of the bright and the beautiful, exert unhindered its influence, so we can keep “growing old, the right way up.”