Fierce with Age Cohort: Let’s Talk about the July Digest

Hello again to all of us who are becoming fierce with age!

Our numbers are growing, and this week, I was able to put faces to 28 names who had all manner of adventure making their way to the Scarritt Bennett Retreat Center in Nashville.  As promised, I am providing a place for us to continue the conversation, not only with our intrepid 28, but any amongst our larger community who share our aspirations, hopes and, let’s admit it, a few well-chosen fantasies.

The July edition of Fierce with Age has gone out to subscribers and also been posted on the Fierce with Age website, the “mother ship.”

As I process both the content I selected for the July edition of the Digest, as well as the conversations I shared with so many of you over this past week, I find myself with one over-arching take-away.  Every one of us, as far as I can tell, has “something” they’re wrestling with.  Some have financial worries, others health concerns,  some have disappointment in personal relationships–with spouses, friends and adult children, some are wrestling for something meaningful to do, and if that isn’t enough, there are the losses associated with mortality we all struggle with.

Given this reality, as I see it (and as I’ve experienced in my own life), we have a choice.  We can allow any one or combination of these to dominate us, to engulf us, to consume us.   Or, we can take a radical leap of faith into the truth.  We are not going to be able to use will, drive and smarts to become masters of the universe.  Any impression that this was possible is an illusion of left-over youth.  We just hadn’t lived long enough.  Some of us make it through our 20s or 30s believing we’ve got the upper hand over fate;  but by the time you’re 60 or 70, forget about it!  Then what?

The spiritual teachers in this month’s Digest (and in the archives, also at Fierce with Age) remind us that not only are we not alone with our issues, we can transform the very things we most dread into a spiritual path.

This does not mean we don’t do what we can to ensure the best possible outcomes whenever and however possible.  But we don’t allow our “issues” to define us–to start calling the shots in our lives.  Being fully alive, which includes bittersweet sadness, righteous indignation, acceptance but also joy, bliss and peace,  is strictly an inside job, not necessarily having anything to do with external circumstances.  Of course, there’s also the matter of grace.  When we take the brave leap of faith out of illusion into truth, sooner or later we can come to discover that God is there waiting for us with open arms.

Over the coming month, please feel free to use the comment section that follows to respond to any of this, share what’s going on with you or anything else.  If you find this useful, I’ll post a special Cohort blog the first week of every month, so be on the lookout for it.

Here’s to becoming fierce with age together!

–Carol Orsborn


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About Carol Orsborn

Carol Orsborn, Ph.D. has written over 30 books including her critically-acclaimed Older, Wiser, Fiercer: The Wisdom Collection and The Spirituality of Age: A Seeker’s Guide to Growing Older with Dr. Robert L. Weber, which was awarded Gold in the Nautilus Book Awards in the category of Aging Consciously. She is founder and curator of Fierce with Age: The Archives of Boomer Wisdom, Inspiration and Spirituality housed at CarolOrsborn.com. She is host of the 2 leading book clubs in the field of conscious aging: Sage-ing International's live, virtual The Sage-ing Book Club and the in-person Conscious Aging Book Club, sponsored by Parnassus Books, Nashville. She received her doctorate in the History and Critical Theory of Religion from Vanderbilt University with specialization in the areas of adult spiritual development and ritual studies.