Reverie and Wisdom of the Aging Brain – Sheets of Rain

PART 2 ARTICLE 7 AUDIO FILE IN FOOTER

It’s a late September morning, pouring rain, and cold. Stepping into my car after a 20-second walk that drenched me completely, I turned on the heat, settling into the warmth, and was greeted by music — my most constant and beloved companion. In that moment, I just sat, allowing the reverie of my aging brain to unfold.

Without needing to question why, I felt my heart swell with a sweet, calming peace. Sheets of rain fell thickly, creating a wave-like effect on the windshield that turned the siding of my house hauntingly beautiful, almost alive. The autumn scene outside held a timelessness, with deflowered dogwoods standing boldly against the gusts of wind and the late-season flowers swaying gracefully, embodying a beauty that comes with acceptance and release. My white picket fence, surrounding the tiny, wildly colored jungle of my yard, felt like a gentle embrace.

Barely at the edge of tears, I found myself overwhelmed with gratitude — a deep emotional well-being in later life. For this quiet refuge, for my two crazy dogs who love me unconditionally, for my children and grandson ever-present in my heart, and for friends who have remained throughout the many chapters of this aging journey. I am profoundly grateful for my rich, multifaceted career, which, even in retirement, continues to offer purpose and fulfillment.

There’s gratitude even for my aging brain. While age brings changes and moments of feeling adrift, it also reveals insights once overshadowed by life’s earlier demands. Aging has allowed for a new kind of wisdom, one born from perspective, from having “been there, done that.” With the freedom of aging, I can reflect on the heights and depths of human experience, discovering new fascinations with life’s meaning and our place within this universe.

While I acknowledge the inevitable challenges aging brings, there is a rare freedom here: the freedom from needing to compete, impress, succeed, or possess. This freedom may be the richest gift of this late autumn season in life — a chance to rediscover who we were before life’s demands and societal expectations pulled us in so many directions. Having experienced joy and sorrow, love and disappointment, and both the heights and depths of human existence, I find a new kind of wisdom emerging.

As the aging brain moves beyond the ego-driven desires of younger days, there is space for inner peace and self-discovery in older age. Letting go of the ego’s demands, I glimpse the gentle, loving being I always was underneath — the one we, as a society in peril, so desperately need for our collective survival.

Speaking of which — oh no! I need to get to the YMCA ASAP if I plan to get in my two hours of swimming, which I was on my way to do before being swept away, dreamily, by the wondrous sheets of rain!

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