Latest / Vox Novus with Victor Fuhrman / Ron Pevny – Conscious Living, Conscious Aging

Transcript

Ron Pevny – Conscious Living, Conscious Aging · Vox Novus with Victor Fuhrman

0:05
Speaker 1: Vox Novus, The New Voice, Vox Novus, the New Dimension,
0:14
Speaker 1: Vox Novus thought and movement leaders who will share from
0:18
Speaker 1: their experience and offer tools to help us navigate our
0:22
Speaker 1: rapidly changing world. My name is Victor Furman. Welcome to
0:28
Speaker 1: Vox Novus, the New Voice. What will we aim for
0:40
Speaker 1: after retirement or do we even retire at all? Do
0:45
Speaker 1: we choose to grow and change as the world grows
0:47
Speaker 1: and changes, or do we sit in our recliners and complain.
0:52
Speaker 1: If you're part of the baby Boomer generation, then you
0:55
Speaker 1: belong to the largest generation thus far of the US
0:59
Speaker 1: population that is retiring healthier than any generation before, and
1:04
Speaker 1: that means retirement is starting to look a whole lot different.
1:09
Speaker 1: My guest this week on Vox Novis Ron Pevney has
1:13
Speaker 1: for forty five years been dedicated to assisting people in
1:17
Speaker 1: negotiating life transitions as they create lives of purpose and passion.
1:23
Speaker 1: He's a published author and the founding director of the
1:26
Speaker 1: Center for Conscious Eldering based in Colorado, which for twenty
1:30
Speaker 1: years has presented workshops and retreats across North America to
1:35
Speaker 1: support people in bringing purpose, growth, and commitment to service
1:40
Speaker 1: to their elder years. His website is Center for Conscious
1:44
Speaker 1: Eldering dot com, and he joins me this week to
1:47
Speaker 1: share the tenth anniversary edition of his best selling book,
1:51
Speaker 1: Conscious Living, Conscious Aging. Please join me in welcoming to
1:56
Speaker 1: Vox Novis Ron Pevney. Welcome, Ron, Thank you Victor.
2:01
Speaker 2: It's an honor to be with you today.
2:03
Speaker 3: Ron.
2:04
Speaker 1: What is conscious eldering and how is this different from
2:08
Speaker 1: positive aging, successful aging, healthy aging, and other approaches to
2:13
Speaker 1: aging that are getting a lot of attention in media
2:16
Speaker 1: these days.
2:18
Speaker 2: Well, I think modern society's, modern culture's view of aging
2:24
Speaker 2: is indeed changing, and I am so grateful for that.
2:28
Speaker 2: It's long overdue, because we have had at least two
2:32
Speaker 2: or three or four generations when there was definitely not
2:38
Speaker 2: any kind of an empowering vision for aging for people
2:42
Speaker 2: to aspire to. And that's beginning to change, and I
2:45
Speaker 2: think that's really great. I'll say a bit first about
2:50
Speaker 2: some of these visions, if you will, for aging, and
2:53
Speaker 2: then I'll contrast it with conscious eldering. I think that's
2:56
Speaker 2: the most effective way to do it. You know, a
2:59
Speaker 2: lot of people, people who pay any attention to the
3:03
Speaker 2: media and who are interested in how we age, will
3:09
Speaker 2: be familiar with terms like positive aging or healthy aging,
3:14
Speaker 2: or active aging or successful aging. There's so many different names,
3:18
Speaker 2: but I think they're all referring to an understanding that
3:24
Speaker 2: as we age, there's tremendous potential for continuing to be active,
3:31
Speaker 2: to have lives of meaning, to be engaged with the world,
3:36
Speaker 2: rather than just drifting off into isolation and irrelevance. And
3:41
Speaker 2: I think that is incredibly positive, and I applaud all
3:44
Speaker 2: of that. Conscious eldering, which is what I teach and
3:51
Speaker 2: have been committed to for a long time, goes a
3:54
Speaker 2: step further than that, and it doesn't look just at
3:58
Speaker 2: what we have the potential to do in those post
4:02
Speaker 2: retirement years, but it takes a look at who is
4:08
Speaker 2: the person who is going to be doing whatever we
4:12
Speaker 2: choose to do. It really focuses on our own growth
4:17
Speaker 2: and development in the latter chapters of our lives, so
4:21
Speaker 2: that whatever we may choose to do, we can bring strong,
4:25
Speaker 2: clear energy to it, not dragging a lot of old
4:29
Speaker 2: baggage from the past. We can bring a kind of
4:33
Speaker 2: resilience to our aging that enables us to continue to
4:39
Speaker 2: find purpose and meaning even when or if, and for
4:45
Speaker 2: most of us, I think it's going to be if
4:48
Speaker 2: we end up losing a lot of our physical abilities,
4:53
Speaker 2: because the fact of the matter is that, in spite
4:56
Speaker 2: of what some of the anti aging advocates tell us,
5:00
Speaker 2: most of us are going to suffer physical diminishments, physical
5:04
Speaker 2: losses and breakdowns, perhaps mental losses and breakdowns. And conscious
5:12
Speaker 2: eldering posits that if we can grow into the elder
5:20
Speaker 2: that is possible for each of us, and we'll be
5:22
Speaker 2: talking about that. If we can bring that elder forth
5:25
Speaker 2: in the latter chapters of our lives, then even when
5:29
Speaker 2: we suffer losses and diminishments, there is going to be
5:32
Speaker 2: a strong sense of purpose and a strong sense of
5:35
Speaker 2: meaning because we know that we are not just our
5:38
Speaker 2: ability to be active, but there is something deeper inside
5:42
Speaker 2: of us that is our real essence. And conscious eldering
5:46
Speaker 2: helps us to get in touch with that truest essence
5:49
Speaker 2: of who we are.
5:51
Speaker 1: How did you recognize your call to be a guide
5:54
Speaker 1: to conscious eldering.
5:56
Speaker 2: Well, I've had a call, Victor. I was about thirty
6:01
Speaker 2: years old. I first recognized a call to support people
6:05
Speaker 2: in moving through life transitions and in using life transitions
6:10
Speaker 2: as an opportunity for you for real growth. As we
6:13
Speaker 2: move from one life stage to another, and I guess
6:18
Speaker 2: I first recognized this particular call in a dark night
6:22
Speaker 2: of the soul, and I think for most of us,
6:24
Speaker 2: probably in some of those dark nights of the soul
6:27
Speaker 2: we have when all of a sudden we first become
6:31
Speaker 2: aware of what is most important, what is truly calling us.
6:36
Speaker 2: And I became aware that I came most alive and
6:41
Speaker 2: that I helped other people come most alive when we're
6:44
Speaker 2: in the natural world, and so back in I guess
6:49
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy nine, when I was finishing my graduate work
6:52
Speaker 2: at the California Institute of Integral Studies, I ended up
6:57
Speaker 2: going on a kind of a self design vision quest
7:01
Speaker 2: with a few friends. I had heard a few things
7:03
Speaker 2: about vision questing. I didn't know much about it, but
7:07
Speaker 2: we went up to the mountains Mount Shasta and northern California,
7:11
Speaker 2: and we spent several days, much of that time alone, fasting,
7:16
Speaker 2: really seeking clarity and vision for what's next in our lives,
7:20
Speaker 2: because all of us felt we were in a major transition.
7:24
Speaker 2: And I had one of those experiences there that it's
7:27
Speaker 2: impossible to put into words, but I absolutely knew that
7:31
Speaker 2: the gift I had to give to the world is
7:33
Speaker 2: helping other people in times of transition to get in
7:37
Speaker 2: touch with with their most authentic, deepest vision for who
7:43
Speaker 2: they can be, for who they can grow into in
7:46
Speaker 2: the next chapters of their lives. And you know, once
7:49
Speaker 2: you become aware of your calling, then life seems to
7:53
Speaker 2: tends to support it. So not long thereafter, I met
7:56
Speaker 2: Stephen Foster and Meredith Little, who are generally recognized as
8:00
Speaker 2: I guess you say, the grandmother and grandfather of the
8:03
Speaker 2: modern right of passage movement for non native peoples, and
8:07
Speaker 2: I had an opportunity to apprentice with them, and I
8:11
Speaker 2: began to offer my own right of past wilderness right
8:15
Speaker 2: of passage experiences for people, and then I knew that
8:20
Speaker 2: that was it. That's where I made a real difference
8:24
Speaker 2: in where I was most alive. And so fast forward
8:27
Speaker 2: about thirty some years and I got in my early fifties,
8:31
Speaker 2: and I began to realize that there were various rights
8:34
Speaker 2: of passage experiences around for people, young people moving into adulthood.
8:40
Speaker 2: There were some for people you know, in midlife crisis
8:44
Speaker 2: and things like that, but there was nothing to really
8:47
Speaker 2: mark that passage which is so big from work life
8:52
Speaker 2: midlife adulthood into the next stage, which I recognize and
8:58
Speaker 2: know is called elder who And so right about that time,
9:02
Speaker 2: I got invited by two wise elders about fifteen years
9:06
Speaker 2: older than me to join them because they also had
9:09
Speaker 2: a vision for creating some kind of a rite of
9:11
Speaker 2: passage into elderhood. We joined together and we began to
9:15
Speaker 2: create retreats that were some of the first of their
9:19
Speaker 2: kind in helping people use the power of nature with
9:24
Speaker 2: some good, strong guidance and strong the support of community
9:28
Speaker 2: to actually envision what it can be like to move
9:32
Speaker 2: from retirement into an elderhood of purpose and growth and
9:37
Speaker 2: passion and service.
9:39
Speaker 1: The path that you're describing includes what we call synchronicity,
9:44
Speaker 1: something that I found that when I've made a conscious
9:46
Speaker 1: choice to pursue something, a number of opportunities would come
9:50
Speaker 1: my way. Is that what we're talking about.
9:52
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely, definitely, synchronicity played a big role. And when
9:57
Speaker 2: I take a look at it, the people around me
10:00
Speaker 2: who are making a real difference in the world. And
10:04
Speaker 2: I've had the opportunity to interview a bunch of these
10:07
Speaker 2: people for a program called Purning Points that a colleague
10:10
Speaker 2: and I did in the past year. And in every case,
10:14
Speaker 2: it seems that when people have a strong sense of
10:19
Speaker 2: where they are headed, what's important to them, all of
10:23
Speaker 2: a sudden, the most unexpected occurrences happen to support them.
10:29
Speaker 2: It seems to be purpose and intentionality and synchronicity are
10:33
Speaker 2: really linked together in a beautiful, mysterious way. And yeah,
10:37
Speaker 2: so there have been some wonderful synchronicities that have supported
10:40
Speaker 2: me in moments when, especially in some of those darker
10:43
Speaker 2: times Victor, when I just couldn't see a way forward,
10:46
Speaker 2: or I was just really you know, feeling stuck or
10:50
Speaker 2: feeling like I was getting nowhere, And at those particular moments,
10:55
Speaker 2: something unexpected happens that it's almost like Grace touches you
11:00
Speaker 2: and saying, hey, I'm here to support you. Just hang
11:03
Speaker 2: in there, keep doing what you know you're called to do,
11:07
Speaker 2: and you'll be supported.
11:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely. As we discussed before we started the interview, in
11:13
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, my mother in law passed and my wife
11:16
Speaker 1: at the time looked at me and said, now we're
11:19
Speaker 1: the elders. And in twenty twenty, my mother passed, and
11:22
Speaker 1: again my wife looked at me and said, now we're
11:25
Speaker 1: the elders. What's the difference between being old and being
11:29
Speaker 1: an elder?
11:30
Speaker 2: But the work that we do, I think one of
11:33
Speaker 2: the ways that we bill it and we speak about
11:38
Speaker 2: it is that this is work that is for people
11:41
Speaker 2: who are committed to growing into elderhood and not just
11:45
Speaker 2: growing old. I think the difference is that, as has
11:50
Speaker 2: been the case throughout most of known history, in societies
11:54
Speaker 2: around the world up until you know, maybe the Industrial Revolution,
12:00
Speaker 2: the more modern age, it was understood that there is
12:05
Speaker 2: a distinct stage in human growth called elderhood. And it
12:15
Speaker 2: wasn't just that, you know, as people got older somehow
12:22
Speaker 2: got more gray hair and wrinkles, that all of a
12:24
Speaker 2: sudden they somehow become elders. But rather it was that
12:30
Speaker 2: it was a life stage that required some intentionality and
12:35
Speaker 2: some effort and some work to fully move into. It
12:39
Speaker 2: was a life stage in the growth of the human psyche,
12:43
Speaker 2: in the growth of the human person. And I believe,
12:48
Speaker 2: I strongly believe in the core of our work is
12:52
Speaker 2: that there is an elder in each of us, an
12:56
Speaker 2: archetypal elder, if you will, that seeks to immerse urge
13:00
Speaker 2: when we get somewhere into the you know, around roughly
13:04
Speaker 2: around retirement age, and its emergence doesn't happen all at once.
13:09
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a gradual emergence. And as this elder
13:13
Speaker 2: emerges with our intentionality and our own work, gradually more
13:21
Speaker 2: and more were more and more fully move into this
13:26
Speaker 2: new life stage. And it's a life stage that I
13:30
Speaker 2: believe is it can be the pinnacle of our personal
13:34
Speaker 2: and our emotional and our spiritual growth. It's a life stage,
13:40
Speaker 2: as has been the case you know throughout history, where
13:44
Speaker 2: we feel called and the community around us expects us
13:50
Speaker 2: to live not just for ourselves, but rather to be
13:54
Speaker 2: thinking of the well being of the generations to come
13:58
Speaker 2: to be thinking of the well being of the community.
14:02
Speaker 2: Now some people call it generativity, but it's a whole
14:07
Speaker 2: new commitment to how we live our days that moves
14:12
Speaker 2: beyond just our own well being, our security or comfort,
14:16
Speaker 2: but that really does look at at themes like legacy,
14:21
Speaker 2: themes like how we can be making a difference for
14:25
Speaker 2: our world now and for our descendants generations down down
14:29
Speaker 2: the road. It's a beautiful life stage that requires some
14:34
Speaker 2: work to fully embody in ourselves. And that's the difference
14:38
Speaker 2: between to me, between elderhood and just old age.
14:43
Speaker 1: The elder has always been respected in indigenous and tribal cultures.
14:48
Speaker 1: Why has there been such a tendency to downplay the
14:51
Speaker 1: elder in Western society.
14:54
Speaker 2: Well, that answer, that answer, Victor, I think is so,
14:58
Speaker 2: I think, is so multifaceted. I can speak to a
15:01
Speaker 2: couple a couple of the reasons. I think one reason
15:07
Speaker 2: is that in traditional or indigenous societies throughout the world,
15:14
Speaker 2: throughout history, there has been a deep, deep connection with
15:21
Speaker 2: the earth and with the rhythms and cycles of the
15:25
Speaker 2: natural world. That's where people lived, and so they learned
15:28
Speaker 2: about beginnings, and they learned about endings and how endings
15:32
Speaker 2: were necessary in order to lay the groundwork for new beginnings.
15:37
Speaker 2: They saw that in all of life around us in nature,
15:41
Speaker 2: and when you see that, then you and when you're
15:44
Speaker 2: embedded in that, then you see that it's the same
15:47
Speaker 2: in human beings. That we have life stages in our growth,
15:53
Speaker 2: and that this growth always requires the end of one stage,
15:57
Speaker 2: some kind of a significant letting go of aspects of
16:01
Speaker 2: who we have been to create the space for the
16:05
Speaker 2: new chapter for who we can become to begin to emerge.
16:08
Speaker 2: They saw that, but in the world we live in,
16:11
Speaker 2: that is so removed from the natural world, we have
16:16
Speaker 2: lost touch with many of these natural rhythms and cycles
16:20
Speaker 2: in ourselves that are integral to who we are. And
16:25
Speaker 2: so when you lose touch with that, then you just
16:29
Speaker 2: kind of see life as one big continuum and changes
16:32
Speaker 2: happen and you just kind of do your best to
16:34
Speaker 2: make your way from one experience to another. But it's
16:38
Speaker 2: almost like the same person is just kind of moving
16:42
Speaker 2: on year after year after year after year. And that
16:46
Speaker 2: is such a different vision of human nature than a
16:51
Speaker 2: vision that really sees and understands that life has cycles
16:56
Speaker 2: and has rhythms. And so when we've lost touch with
17:00
Speaker 2: and understanding of these rhythms in the human life cycle,
17:05
Speaker 2: it's real easy to see that, for instance, as we
17:09
Speaker 2: go through midlife and then maybe we get into retirement,
17:13
Speaker 2: that then the next thing is just to continue to
17:17
Speaker 2: do the best we can to live, you know, actively
17:22
Speaker 2: and with as much joy as we can, basically, to
17:25
Speaker 2: keep living as if we were in midlife as long
17:29
Speaker 2: as we can until we can just no longer pull
17:31
Speaker 2: it off. And then someday will come when we either
17:33
Speaker 2: just you know, are too old or frail, or you know,
17:37
Speaker 2: or or we die and and and then it's over.
17:42
Speaker 2: And so there's no room in there for an understanding
17:45
Speaker 2: that there is a whole whole stage in human development
17:48
Speaker 2: after midlife adulthood that can be incredibly rich and growthful.
17:54
Speaker 2: But we've lost we've lost touch with that, and so
17:58
Speaker 2: therefore the role of elder is not something that is recognized.
18:03
Speaker 2: It's not honored as it's always been in so many societies.
18:07
Speaker 2: It's hardly spoken of, except maybe as being the first
18:11
Speaker 2: part of the word elderly. And we all know all
18:14
Speaker 2: the connotations of the word elderly, which are certainly certainly
18:18
Speaker 2: not something that people can aspire to or look forward to.
18:23
Speaker 1: Why do you consider it so crucial that the role
18:27
Speaker 1: of elder be supported and also honored in modern society.
18:32
Speaker 2: I believe it's so crucial because we have tens of
18:39
Speaker 2: millions of people just in the United States, you know,
18:43
Speaker 2: who are past retirement age, and the statistics show I've
18:47
Speaker 2: seen between ten and twelve thousand people a day reach
18:51
Speaker 2: the age of sixty six. They are a huge number
18:56
Speaker 2: of people who are reaching this particular in life. And
19:01
Speaker 2: these people have a lifetime of skills, a lifetime of experience.
19:08
Speaker 2: In many cases, I don't think all but in many
19:11
Speaker 2: cases a lot of wisdom. And to me it I mean,
19:17
Speaker 2: I think it's a travesty to think of tens of
19:20
Speaker 2: millions of people with gifts to give, who can make
19:24
Speaker 2: a real difference in our world when we need. We
19:27
Speaker 2: need everyone's gifts, and perhaps especially the gifts of people
19:31
Speaker 2: who've been around long enough to have seen some things
19:34
Speaker 2: and have some perspective. We need those gifts as a society.
19:40
Speaker 2: We can't just relegate these people to the bingo rum
19:44
Speaker 2: or to whatever and think it's only the young people
19:47
Speaker 2: who are going to be able to help us move
19:50
Speaker 2: forward into a viable future. When we see all the many,
19:54
Speaker 2: many challenges around us, we need the gifts of older people. Y.
20:00
Speaker 1: My guest is Ron Pevney. We're going to be talking
20:03
Speaker 1: about his book, the tenth anniversary edition of Conscious Living,
20:08
Speaker 1: Conscious Aging. Ron, please share with our listeners where they
20:11
Speaker 1: can get your book and find out more about you
20:13
Speaker 1: and your work.
20:15
Speaker 2: Well, Victor, my book is available most anywhere that books
20:18
Speaker 2: can be can be purchased. Again, it's conscious Living, Conscious Aging,
20:24
Speaker 2: claiming the gifts of elderhood. I encourage people because this
20:29
Speaker 2: is the way that can best help to support my work.
20:32
Speaker 2: I encourage people to purchase my book if they're interested,
20:35
Speaker 2: through my publisher, Beyond Words Publishing, and you can just
20:41
Speaker 2: google that and then you could you could find information
20:45
Speaker 2: on how to purchase the book. But it's available most everywhere.
20:50
Speaker 1: And your website, sir.
20:52
Speaker 2: My website is Center for Conscious Eldering dot com. Well,
21:00
Speaker 2: that's a lot Center for Conscious Eldering dot Com. A
21:05
Speaker 2: lot of articles on there, a lot of interviews, a
21:09
Speaker 2: lot of what people consider really meaningful information about aging
21:14
Speaker 2: with purpose and passion.
21:16
Speaker 1: And we'll be back with more of wrong after these words.
21:19
Speaker 1: On the own Times Radio network.
21:21
Speaker 4: The best of the holistic, spiritual and conscious world ome
21:26
Speaker 4: Times Radio IOMFM. Ome Times Magazine is one of the
21:30
Speaker 4: leading online content providers of positivity, wellness and personal empowerment.
21:36
Speaker 4: A philanthropic organization, their net proceeds are finaled to support
21:40
Speaker 4: worldwide charity initiatives via Humanity Healing International. Through their commitment
21:44
Speaker 4: to creating community and providing conscious content, they aspire to
21:48
Speaker 4: uplift humanity on a global scale. Home Times co creating
21:53
Speaker 4: a more conscious lifestyle.
21:55
Speaker 5: More than twenty four million Americans have an autoimmune disorder,
21:58
Speaker 5: and that number continues to grow well I'm Sharon Sailor,
22:01
Speaker 5: and I'm one of those twenty four million. To put
22:03
Speaker 5: that number in perspective, cancer effects about nine million, and
22:07
Speaker 5: heart disease up to twenty two million. That's why I've
22:09
Speaker 5: brought together top experts and those thriving regardless of their diagnosis,
22:14
Speaker 5: to bring you the latest, most up to date information.
22:16
Speaker 5: Join me Sharon Sailor Friday night, seven pm Eastern for
22:20
Speaker 5: the Autoimmune Hour on Life Interrupted Radio to find out
22:23
Speaker 5: how to live your life uninterrupted.
22:26
Speaker 3: Hello, I'm Sandy Sedgeby, a host of Home Times Magazine's
22:29
Speaker 3: flagship radio show, What is going on? My passion is
22:33
Speaker 3: sifting through information, research and innovations from new thought teachers,
22:38
Speaker 3: speakers and researchers, pushing back the boundaries of what we
22:41
Speaker 3: know about life, energy, metaphysics, and the universe. I love
22:46
Speaker 3: shifting perceptions about who we are, why we're here, and
22:49
Speaker 3: how quickly impossible becomes normal when we open our minds,
22:53
Speaker 3: expand our awareness, and accept that the only limits that
22:56
Speaker 3: exist are those we place upon ourselves. So kind of
23:00
Speaker 3: forward thinking, eager investigator of what lies beyond the current
23:04
Speaker 3: reality that most perceive. Why not make a date to
23:07
Speaker 3: come play with me? In the field of Possibilities at
23:10
Speaker 3: four pm Pacific time seven pm Eastern time every Thursday,
23:14
Speaker 3: and together we can discover what's really going on.
23:20
Speaker 2: If I could be you and you could be me
23:22
Speaker 2: for just one hour.
23:23
Speaker 1: If you could find a way to get.
23:25
Speaker 6: Inside each other's mind.
23:27
Speaker 2: Walk a mile in my shoes.
23:29
Speaker 1: Walk a mile in my shoes.
23:31
Speaker 2: Walk a mile in my shoes.
23:33
Speaker 7: We've all felt left out, and for some that feeling
23:36
Speaker 7: lasts more than a moment.
23:38
Speaker 1: We can change that.
23:40
Speaker 8: Learn how it belonging begins with us dot org.
23:42
Speaker 3: Brought to you by.
23:43
Speaker 1: The AD Council. Walk a mile in the shoes.
23:50
Speaker 9: Hi, this is Bill Mark. I can find humor in
23:52
Speaker 9: almost anything, but one thing I never laugh about. It
23:54
Speaker 9: is cruelty to animals. If you don't get the joke either, Right,
23:58
Speaker 9: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Five on one
24:01
Speaker 9: Front Street in Norfolk, Virginia, two three five one oh.
24:05
Speaker 1: Imagine yourself being transported to India, to the banks of
24:10
Speaker 1: the Ganga and an ashram in Rishikesh. Visualize that you
24:14
Speaker 1: are welcome to Satsan with an American Sanyasi who shares
24:18
Speaker 1: the wisdom of her Guru. Your visualization has manifested join
24:24
Speaker 1: Satfi Bagawati Saraswati for inspiration and transformation. Every Thursday at
24:29
Speaker 1: eleven a m Eastern on Old Times Radio.
24:35
Speaker 8: Grab a cup of tea or a glass of wine
24:38
Speaker 8: and tune in for inspired conversations with publisher Linda Joy
24:42
Speaker 8: on Tuesdays at two pm Eastern. Linda creates sacred Space
24:47
Speaker 8: for leading female luminaries, empowering authors, art centered female entrepreneurs,
24:53
Speaker 8: coaches and healers. A soulful venue where guests openly share
24:58
Speaker 8: the fears and obstacles they've overcome, wisdom and lessons learned,
25:03
Speaker 8: and the personal journey that led them to the transformational
25:06
Speaker 8: work they do in the world. Inspired conversations to empower
25:11
Speaker 8: you on your path to authentic, soulful living.
25:17
Speaker 1: Back on Vox Novus, my guest this week is Ron Pevny.
25:21
Speaker 1: We're talking about the tenth anniversary edition of his book
25:24
Speaker 1: Conscious Living, Conscious Aging. Ron, what does it mean to
25:29
Speaker 1: age consciously? Does it mean to bring clearer intentions to
25:33
Speaker 1: our lives as we age? Or is there more to this?
25:37
Speaker 2: Well? It does, indeed, Victor, mean to bring clearer intentions,
25:41
Speaker 2: But I think there is a whole lot more to it.
25:45
Speaker 2: So to me, growing in consciousness means growing in awareness,
25:56
Speaker 2: and let me talk about some of the awareness is
26:00
Speaker 2: that I think are so important in our human growth
26:05
Speaker 2: and especially when we enter the later chapters of our life.
26:10
Speaker 2: Being conscious means having increased awareness of what is our
26:17
Speaker 2: own true inner voice, what is our own truth, as
26:23
Speaker 2: opposed to all the many other voices and messages that
26:28
Speaker 2: we have internalized that have come from our parents and
26:32
Speaker 2: have come from the society around us, that have told
26:35
Speaker 2: us about who we should be, what we should aspire to,
26:37
Speaker 2: what should be important. So it's becoming aware of what
26:41
Speaker 2: is most authentically us. To me, becoming increasingly conscious means
26:47
Speaker 2: to become increasingly aware of those shadow elements in us
26:54
Speaker 2: that we all have that disempower us, that sap our
27:02
Speaker 2: energy and our strength off because they are in the shadow,
27:05
Speaker 2: we're not aware of them. Those are those elements in
27:09
Speaker 2: us that can really derail us as we make choices
27:14
Speaker 2: and we set intentions for how we're going to be
27:17
Speaker 2: living our life. To me, becoming increasingly conscious means becoming
27:24
Speaker 2: increasingly aware of our interdependence with all other human beings
27:31
Speaker 2: and with the whole community of living creatures on this earth,
27:35
Speaker 2: and the more we're aware that our well being and
27:39
Speaker 2: the well being of all those around us are deeply intertwined.
27:44
Speaker 2: The more we are going to at the deepest gut level,
27:50
Speaker 2: have a deep, deep commitment to giving our gifts as
27:54
Speaker 2: best we can to help support the well being of
27:58
Speaker 2: everything around us. And so I think the purpose the
28:03
Speaker 2: intentions that we live for are very much guided by
28:09
Speaker 2: what we become aware of as we become conscious of
28:13
Speaker 2: all of the needs around us and our role in
28:16
Speaker 2: all of this. And one more, I think becoming increasingly
28:20
Speaker 2: conscious is becoming increasingly aware that we are more than
28:27
Speaker 2: just our personality and our ego selves doing what we do,
28:32
Speaker 2: but that there is a deep spiritual essence in each
28:35
Speaker 2: of us. It doesn't matter to me what we call it,
28:40
Speaker 2: but a deep spiritual essence that is living in this body,
28:47
Speaker 2: in this personality, in this ego that we have. And
28:50
Speaker 2: I think that awareness is especially important as we age,
28:55
Speaker 2: because as we lose our physical abilities, we lose the
29:00
Speaker 2: abilities to do those things that you know that our
29:03
Speaker 2: personality selves and our ego selves have found really important
29:08
Speaker 2: and have gotten joy from. As we lose them, then
29:13
Speaker 2: we have the opportunity for this inner essence is spiritual
29:17
Speaker 2: self to come to the forefront, to grow to be
29:23
Speaker 2: more prominent in our lives, to guide us. And I
29:26
Speaker 2: think that's the source of the kind of resilience and
29:30
Speaker 2: the kind of healing, and the source of the vision
29:35
Speaker 2: for how we can best give our gifts that really
29:37
Speaker 2: characterize people who have grown into true elderhood. So all
29:42
Speaker 2: of those to me are aspects of what it means
29:46
Speaker 2: to become more conscious. And as we increase in consciousness,
29:52
Speaker 2: then the choices we make in this precious time we
29:55
Speaker 2: have left are going to be more in alignment with
29:58
Speaker 2: what is most true to us, and not in alignment
30:03
Speaker 2: with what we are told by the world around us
30:05
Speaker 2: should be important or should be valuable to us.
30:09
Speaker 1: I find personally many of these answers when I do
30:13
Speaker 1: a life review. Why is life review important in aging consciously?
30:19
Speaker 1: And what are the productive ways to do such a review?
30:22
Speaker 2: Well, life review, I think is incredibly important because if
30:28
Speaker 2: we aspire to whatever we aspire to, you know, in
30:31
Speaker 2: the years ahead of us, you know the old saying victor, well,
30:35
Speaker 2: wherever you go, there you are. Yes, if we, like
30:40
Speaker 2: most of us you know, who have been wounded by
30:43
Speaker 2: the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Most of us
30:47
Speaker 2: have internalized a lot of disempowering stories you know about
30:52
Speaker 2: ourselves from our experiences in the world around us. Most
30:56
Speaker 2: of us have a lot of baggage, and this baggage,
31:00
Speaker 2: it takes energy. It takes energy. A lot of us
31:05
Speaker 2: have a lot of resentments, a lot of things that
31:08
Speaker 2: need forgiven in ourselves or in others, and it takes
31:12
Speaker 2: energy to kind of hold on to resentments, for instance.
31:16
Speaker 2: A lot of this baggage takes energy. And if that
31:19
Speaker 2: energy is being used to deal with stuff from the
31:25
Speaker 2: past that we have not recognized and somehow healed or
31:29
Speaker 2: let go of, then that energy is not going to
31:32
Speaker 2: be available to us as we age, And inevitably aging
31:36
Speaker 2: is the time in life when our energy does wane,
31:40
Speaker 2: and so we want to make sure that our energy
31:42
Speaker 2: is as clear as possible to put into wherever we
31:46
Speaker 2: really feel most called to place our energy, but not
31:50
Speaker 2: have it be stuck in the past. And so I
31:54
Speaker 2: think life review is very much, certainly about seeing what
31:59
Speaker 2: we're carrying with us it needs to be let go.
32:02
Speaker 2: But it's also very much about getting in touch with
32:06
Speaker 2: what we have learned through a long life so far,
32:10
Speaker 2: about what is truly our most important gifts. I call
32:15
Speaker 2: them signature gifts. You know, what makes us come most alive,
32:20
Speaker 2: Where can we make the biggest difference, Where do we
32:22
Speaker 2: get the most satisfaction, what are our strengths? And having
32:27
Speaker 2: that awareness really really then helps us to have clarity
32:32
Speaker 2: about what's calling, how can we shine, how can we
32:36
Speaker 2: make a difference, how can we really thrive in the
32:39
Speaker 2: years ahead of us. First we need to see this
32:41
Speaker 2: journey we've come on, what have we gained from it?
32:45
Speaker 2: And then what is it that we indeed want to
32:48
Speaker 2: take forward with us, while at the same time we
32:51
Speaker 2: let go of some things that really do need to
32:53
Speaker 2: be let go. And so you ask Victor about ways
32:57
Speaker 2: to do life review. There are a lot of ways
33:00
Speaker 2: to do life review. I think it's just build into
33:05
Speaker 2: human nature that when we end up getting into you know,
33:08
Speaker 2: around retirement age sixties seventies or some people, even before
33:13
Speaker 2: we begin to find ourselves more and more thinking about
33:16
Speaker 2: the past. I think it kind of naturally happens that
33:21
Speaker 2: we want to be looking at our life and seeing
33:25
Speaker 2: what this journey's been and seeing what we've learned from it.
33:29
Speaker 2: That naturally happens. But for a lot of people they
33:33
Speaker 2: don't pay much attention to it, and for a lot
33:36
Speaker 2: of people, engaging in some kind of a structured way
33:41
Speaker 2: of doing life review can be really meaningful. One way
33:45
Speaker 2: that I really like was a one that was taught
33:48
Speaker 2: by Rabbi Zalman Schacter Shilomi, who wrote the seminole book
33:52
Speaker 2: From Aging to Saging, and he encouraged people to make
33:57
Speaker 2: a commitment over a period of you know, several weeks
34:00
Speaker 2: or months, to have writing time with themselves. And during
34:05
Speaker 2: this writing time, he suggested break your life into seven
34:09
Speaker 2: year segments. And he liked to think of it like
34:12
Speaker 2: the first seven years, or the January of your life,
34:15
Speaker 2: the next seven years, or the February of the next
34:17
Speaker 2: seven of the march. But break your life into seven
34:20
Speaker 2: year segments, and as you think about each segment, reflect
34:24
Speaker 2: on and write about what most stood out for you
34:29
Speaker 2: about that segment of your life. You know, who were
34:32
Speaker 2: the people that were most important. What do you think
34:35
Speaker 2: were the most important things you learned about yourself and
34:38
Speaker 2: about life? What were the biggest challenges you faced during
34:42
Speaker 2: that particular time. You know, what were the moments when
34:46
Speaker 2: you were most joyful? Looking at each chapter in that way,
34:51
Speaker 2: as you make your way all the way up to
34:53
Speaker 2: the present. We beg we begin to see a whole
34:57
Speaker 2: unfolding process of a life, if you will, and we
35:01
Speaker 2: begin to see certain threads that have been woven through
35:05
Speaker 2: this certain kind of experiences that have come up now
35:09
Speaker 2: and then and again and again. That kind of help
35:13
Speaker 2: us to see what is integral, what are the threads
35:16
Speaker 2: that have held our particular life and our own particular
35:19
Speaker 2: journey of growth together. And so doing that kind of
35:23
Speaker 2: a review can be really, really helpful for a lot
35:26
Speaker 2: of people. I'm just going to mention one other Victor,
35:29
Speaker 2: and that is that people can spend time writing a
35:34
Speaker 2: perhaps three or four page, carefully written what I call
35:39
Speaker 2: a legacy letter. Some people have other names for it,
35:43
Speaker 2: but basically, imagine that you are writing a letter to
35:47
Speaker 2: a descendant, to a grandchild or somebody who may never
35:51
Speaker 2: actually know you in person, but you want them to
35:55
Speaker 2: be able to know who is the essence of Victor Furman.
36:00
Speaker 2: What would you like this grandchild, for instance, to know
36:05
Speaker 2: about your life? What do you feel was most important
36:08
Speaker 2: in shaping you? What was your most important contribution, what
36:12
Speaker 2: were your most important values? What were the challenges you faced?
36:16
Speaker 2: And doing this really carefully, so you're not just talking
36:21
Speaker 2: about what a nice guy you were, but you're really
36:23
Speaker 2: giving this grandchild a picture of who you were and
36:27
Speaker 2: what your life was about. It can be an incredible
36:30
Speaker 2: gift to our descendants, but I think even more it's
36:33
Speaker 2: a gift to us because it requires us to look
36:36
Speaker 2: at our lives in a way most of us don't
36:39
Speaker 2: look at our lives at any point, and certainly not
36:43
Speaker 2: when we end up getting, you know, toward our sixties
36:46
Speaker 2: and seventies.
36:48
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you mentioned the word forgiveness. One of the things
36:53
Speaker 1: that I found officiating funerals and memorial services is that
36:58
Speaker 1: many will come up to me after the service and say,
37:01
Speaker 1: I wish I had forgiven that person, or I wish
37:04
Speaker 1: I had asked them for forgiveness, or I wish I
37:06
Speaker 1: simply wish I told them I loved them before they
37:09
Speaker 1: passed away. What do you say about forgiveness? Who's forgiveness?
37:13
Speaker 1: For ah?
37:14
Speaker 2: Forgiveness is more for the one who needs to do
37:20
Speaker 2: the forgiving than it is for the one forgiven. Forgiveness
37:27
Speaker 2: is so important because if we don't forgive and we
37:31
Speaker 2: are holding resentments, that is toxic, is sapping our energy.
37:39
Speaker 2: You know, the one who might need to be forgiven
37:42
Speaker 2: perhaps isn't even aware. I mean, you know, that's way
37:46
Speaker 2: in the past. You know, maybe they're not even aware
37:49
Speaker 2: that they did something that needs to be forgiven. But
37:51
Speaker 2: here we are holding on to it and holding on
37:54
Speaker 2: to it. And I know I've had some important personal
37:58
Speaker 2: learnings about this myself, seeing how toxic it is to
38:02
Speaker 2: hold on to resentments and grudges when it's not serving
38:08
Speaker 2: anybody at all. And so you know, I've one of
38:13
Speaker 2: my original partners in this work, and many of the
38:16
Speaker 2: people who come on our retreats, it turns out, are
38:19
Speaker 2: people who have worked somehow in hospice, and they all
38:24
Speaker 2: say that it seems like the thing the biggest factor
38:29
Speaker 2: in many people not being able to die a peaceful
38:33
Speaker 2: death is lack of forgiveness that they take all the
38:36
Speaker 2: way to their deathbed. And so very often this lack
38:40
Speaker 2: of forgiveness is not about someone else, but it's about themselves,
38:46
Speaker 2: you know, certain resentments and grudges that they have carried
38:51
Speaker 2: about themselves and about things they have done or not
38:54
Speaker 2: done that have diminished their sense of joy and their
38:58
Speaker 2: sense of worth and their sense of of of being
39:02
Speaker 2: able to see the beauty in their lives and so
39:05
Speaker 2: forgiveness is more for the forgiver than it is for
39:08
Speaker 2: the other one.
39:09
Speaker 1: Absolutely. What is the death lodge practice and how can
39:14
Speaker 1: it support conscious eldering.
39:16
Speaker 2: Well, the death lodge practice is, I think a practice
39:21
Speaker 2: that we do on our week long Choosing Conscious Elderhood retreats,
39:25
Speaker 2: and we certainly encourage people to engage in in their
39:28
Speaker 2: in their in their daily lives periodically that many people
39:34
Speaker 2: find incredibly incredibly powerful. It stems from a practice that
39:41
Speaker 2: my mentors told me that they they learned from the
39:46
Speaker 2: Cheyenne people of the Plains States here in the America's
39:52
Speaker 2: and it's how among the Cheyenne people prepared to die
39:58
Speaker 2: for that final passage. And the essence of it is
40:04
Speaker 2: that if someone really had a sense that the end
40:07
Speaker 2: was near, they would lead. They would, you know, they
40:11
Speaker 2: would take care of whatever they needed to on the
40:13
Speaker 2: physical plane, you know, in the village, but then they
40:17
Speaker 2: would go to a place called the death lodge on
40:19
Speaker 2: the edge of the village, and there they would do
40:23
Speaker 2: that work that was most critical, that they felt was
40:26
Speaker 2: most critical to prepare to meet their creator, and you know,
40:30
Speaker 2: they would do their own inner work, their own prayer
40:33
Speaker 2: work their own reviewing their life and honoring the life
40:38
Speaker 2: they have lived and what they have learned. But a
40:41
Speaker 2: critical part of it was that those who played important
40:46
Speaker 2: roles in their lives in the village, in the community
40:49
Speaker 2: were invited to come one at a time to their
40:52
Speaker 2: death lodge, and there the person who is nearing their
40:57
Speaker 2: death and the other one would have a final conversation,
41:03
Speaker 2: you know, with an understanding that death was near for
41:05
Speaker 2: one of them, and they would talk about whatever was
41:09
Speaker 2: important to bring closure to their relationship. You know, they
41:13
Speaker 2: would offer forgiveness to each other or ask for forgiveness
41:18
Speaker 2: if that was needed. They would acknowledge how important the
41:24
Speaker 2: other one was in their lives and express affection and gratitude.
41:29
Speaker 2: They would do whatever needed to be done so that
41:32
Speaker 2: there was true closure, so that then the one who
41:36
Speaker 2: was about to die could move forward, you know, toward
41:40
Speaker 2: their final days, not carrying any un finished business. And
41:45
Speaker 2: so in our work we incorporate a I guess you'd say,
41:50
Speaker 2: a modern day version of the death lodge practice, where
41:54
Speaker 2: people go and spend two or three hours in nature
41:58
Speaker 2: imagining that they are in that kind of a death lodge,
42:01
Speaker 2: as I talked about, and imagining that the end of
42:05
Speaker 2: their life is near, and it may be for you,
42:09
Speaker 2: for me, for all of us. We don't know, it
42:11
Speaker 2: may be, so imagining that it is near, and we
42:15
Speaker 2: invite in spirit into our death lodge a person than
42:21
Speaker 2: a second person, if that feels right, to have a
42:24
Speaker 2: conversation in spirit, saying those things that absolutely need to
42:29
Speaker 2: be said between two souls, so that any old resentments
42:34
Speaker 2: can be cleared, so that appreciation and love can be expressed,
42:38
Speaker 2: so that there can be real closure. And I'll tell you, Victor,
42:42
Speaker 2: we have had some of the most incredible stories of
42:46
Speaker 2: healing when people have done this kind of death lodge
42:49
Speaker 2: work on one of our retreats, or we've heard stories
42:52
Speaker 2: how people when they're at home, and sometimes the most
42:55
Speaker 2: incredible synchronicities happen, because it's not just people's experience of
43:01
Speaker 2: It isn't just well, I'm just pretending I'm having a
43:05
Speaker 2: conversation with somebody in spirit. People experience it is a
43:11
Speaker 2: reality that they are having a conversation soul to soul
43:15
Speaker 2: with another person, and great healing can happen in that.
43:21
Speaker 2: And I just love some of the stories I've heard
43:23
Speaker 2: about that, and so that in essence is what the
43:26
Speaker 2: death lawge practice is his.
43:29
Speaker 1: Book, the tenth anniversary edition of Conscious Living, Conscious Aging.
43:33
Speaker 1: We'll be back with more with Ron Pevty after these
43:36
Speaker 1: words on the Own Times Radio network.
43:40
Speaker 10: Humanity Healing International is a small nonprofit with a big dream.
43:44
Speaker 10: Since two thousand and seven, HHI has been working tirelessly
43:49
Speaker 10: to bring help to communities with little or no Oh.
43:52
Speaker 10: Our projects are not broad mandates, nor are they overnight solutions,
43:57
Speaker 10: but they bring the reassurance then no one is alone
44:00
Speaker 10: and that someone cares to learn more. Please visit Humanity
44:04
Speaker 10: Healing dot org. Humanity Healing is where your heart is.
44:09
Speaker 6: So I'm a cat and I just moved in with
44:12
Speaker 6: this new human and she's got this little toy she's
44:14
Speaker 6: always playing with all day long. Tap tap tap tap
44:17
Speaker 6: blue bloop. She can't put it down there it is oh,
44:21
Speaker 6: and get this, She even talks to it. Last week
44:24
Speaker 6: she asked it for Chinese and guess what, Eggirl showed
44:27
Speaker 6: up Like magic. Humans have cool toys.
44:31
Speaker 9: A person is the best thing to happen to a
44:32
Speaker 9: shelter pet be that person adopt.
44:35
Speaker 4: Brought to you by the ad Council and the Shelter
44:37
Speaker 4: Pet Project dot org.
44:39
Speaker 11: This is the story of a very special woman. Just
44:42
Speaker 11: a few knew about her superpowers. In a matter of seconds,
44:45
Speaker 11: she turned herself into a great mathematician. She masqueraded as
44:49
Speaker 11: a regular person at work, but as a superhero at home.
44:53
Speaker 11: Everyone knows her as Gabriella. I still call her mom.
44:57
Speaker 7: Your hero needs you now. An aa RP is here
45:00
Speaker 7: to help find the care guides you need to help,
45:03
Speaker 7: complete with tips and resources at AARP dot org. Slash
45:07
Speaker 7: Caregiving brought to you by AARP and the ad Console.
45:10
Speaker 12: You can escape a traffic.
45:11
Speaker 7: Jam no one else.
45:13
Speaker 12: You can't escape seasonal allergies, and you might think you
45:20
Speaker 12: can avoid that coffee stain until well, really, you can't
45:27
Speaker 12: escape a lot of things in life, but you can
45:29
Speaker 12: escape pre diabetes. Pre Diabetes captures one in three adults.
45:35
Speaker 12: There are usually no signs of pre diabetes. In fact,
45:38
Speaker 12: most people don't even know they have it. But with
45:41
Speaker 12: early diagnosis you can change the outcome and prevent or
45:44
Speaker 12: delay type two diabetes. Take action by taking the one
45:48
Speaker 12: minute risk test at do I have Prediabetes dot org.
45:53
Speaker 12: You might not be able to escape having this song
45:56
Speaker 12: stuck in your head, but you can escape pre diabetes
46:01
Speaker 12: go to do I have prediabetes dot Org today brought
46:05
Speaker 12: to you by the AD Council and the Centers for
46:07
Speaker 12: Disease Control and Prevention.
46:10
Speaker 1: Back on Vox Novus, my guest this week, Ron Pevney.
46:14
Speaker 1: We're talking about the tenth anniversary edition of his book
46:17
Speaker 1: Conscious Living, Conscious Aging. Ron. Some feel a strong need
46:23
Speaker 1: to contribute to the world as they age, but also
46:26
Speaker 1: want to slow down and save her life, spend lots
46:29
Speaker 1: of time with family, and be reflective. It often feels
46:33
Speaker 1: these goals are at odds with each other. How can
46:36
Speaker 1: we best deal with that tension?
46:40
Speaker 2: Well, Victor, it's all a matter of finding balance, you know.
46:44
Speaker 2: I guess that's true with all of life. But I
46:48
Speaker 2: think that as we approach our elder years, we need
46:54
Speaker 2: to come to know ourselves. And again, I think this
46:57
Speaker 2: is part of becoming conscious, of really owing ourselves well.
47:01
Speaker 2: We need to know what that particular balance is that's
47:05
Speaker 2: right for us. And it's not going to be the
47:08
Speaker 2: same for me as it.
47:09
Speaker 13: Is for you, or for for any one of one
47:12
Speaker 13: of your listeners, but they're both critically important because elderhood,
47:17
Speaker 13: the life stage of elderhood, is very very much about
47:23
Speaker 13: deepening our inner lives, deepening our spiritual.
47:26
Speaker 2: Lives, and you know, seeing the sacredness and the beauty
47:32
Speaker 2: around us in ways, in small things, in ways that
47:35
Speaker 2: perhaps we couldn't do when our lives are all all
47:38
Speaker 2: caught up in the bigger things. You know, that are
47:42
Speaker 2: part of being younger. That's important. Savoring life, savoring each
47:47
Speaker 2: moment is critically important, but at the same time, at
47:52
Speaker 2: the same time, and I think more so maybe in
47:55
Speaker 2: today's world than in a long long time, have an
48:00
Speaker 2: obligation to somehow be contributing to the larger world around us.
48:09
Speaker 2: Elders have always had an obligation. The communities have always
48:13
Speaker 2: let it be known that the gifts of elders are needed.
48:16
Speaker 2: They're not just an option, they are needed. And so
48:19
Speaker 2: there's an obligation to find ways to give our gifts
48:23
Speaker 2: in ways that feel right to us, that you know,
48:27
Speaker 2: don't somehow violate us or we're not constantly putting pressure
48:30
Speaker 2: on ourselves, but ways that just kind of seem to
48:34
Speaker 2: want to flow from us, a natural outgrowth of who
48:37
Speaker 2: we are at this point in our life and what
48:39
Speaker 2: we've learned and who we've become. And so finding that
48:42
Speaker 2: balance is so important and you know, I know it
48:47
Speaker 2: can be really challenging for a lot of people, but
48:52
Speaker 2: I think, you know, a definition of elder that is
48:54
Speaker 2: really meaningful to me is one that I have heard
48:58
Speaker 2: from various wise men terms of mine, and that is
49:02
Speaker 2: is an el You know, you're an elder and you've
49:06
Speaker 2: entered true elderhood if and when you get to a
49:10
Speaker 2: point where when you get up each day, your strongest
49:16
Speaker 2: motivation is it today, somehow I am going to grow
49:21
Speaker 2: and somehow I'm going to be of service And doesn't
49:26
Speaker 2: mean that's all you aspire to that day, but that's
49:30
Speaker 2: your strongest motivation. And if you're going to somehow grow
49:33
Speaker 2: and be of service, then you know, I am quite
49:38
Speaker 2: confident that you're going to find a way to do
49:40
Speaker 2: it in a way that is truly balanced. But for
49:44
Speaker 2: so many people, I think, in today's world, who have
49:49
Speaker 2: not been blessed with you know, even exposure to some
49:55
Speaker 2: of these ideas about elderhood that I and others share,
49:59
Speaker 2: who don't have any kind of a vision for what
50:02
Speaker 2: elderhood can be, their strongest motivation when they get up
50:06
Speaker 2: is how am I going to fill the hours? How
50:10
Speaker 2: am I going to maximize my security? And how am
50:15
Speaker 2: I going to get as much pleasure as I can
50:16
Speaker 2: possibly get? And that's a very very different motivation. And
50:23
Speaker 2: so I think the best balance comes from having this motivation.
50:31
Speaker 2: How am I going to somehow grow? And how am
50:33
Speaker 2: I going to somehow serve? And from that we're going
50:36
Speaker 2: to find ways to grow, to serve, to find some security,
50:39
Speaker 2: to find some joy, to find quiet, reflective time. We're
50:43
Speaker 2: going to find our own particular balance that can enable
50:47
Speaker 2: us to thrive as elders.
50:49
Speaker 1: We had talked before about purpose. What about passion? Is
50:54
Speaker 1: passion the same as purpose?
50:57
Speaker 2: You know, I think in common pat arlance, in common
51:01
Speaker 2: use of language, many people equate the two victor, but
51:06
Speaker 2: I see them as I see them as being a
51:08
Speaker 2: little bit different. Yeah, you know, I think oftentimes when
51:12
Speaker 2: somebody talks about passion, you know, like I have a
51:14
Speaker 2: passion I love to fly fish, Okay, And I might
51:19
Speaker 2: say I have a passion for fly fishing or something
51:22
Speaker 2: like that. But to me, to me, what passion is
51:29
Speaker 2: is a life energy that is strong and flowing free
51:34
Speaker 2: in us that we apply to specific areas of our
51:42
Speaker 2: life that are important to us. If we don't have
51:46
Speaker 2: this energy that I'm calling passion, a strong life energy flowing.
51:51
Speaker 2: Then whatever we might enjoy or might want to put
51:56
Speaker 2: our energy into isn't going to be very empowered, is
52:00
Speaker 2: not going to be that much energy. And so that's
52:02
Speaker 2: why for me, living a life of passion really means
52:08
Speaker 2: doing those kinds of things that support us having strong
52:11
Speaker 2: life energy. And I know one important question to I think,
52:17
Speaker 2: and that we always share with the people in our retreats,
52:19
Speaker 2: is to ask, what are the things you do that
52:23
Speaker 2: sap your life energy? You know, what are you feeding
52:26
Speaker 2: yourself that is sapping your energy as opposed to really
52:30
Speaker 2: supporting you having strong life energy and therefore strong passion.
52:35
Speaker 2: You know, you're feeding yourself a junk food diet, you know,
52:38
Speaker 2: a physical food. Are you feeding yourself a junk food
52:41
Speaker 2: diet of image images and constantly surrounding yourself, you know,
52:47
Speaker 2: with the images of fear and crastness that surround us
52:52
Speaker 2: in the media, or are you're feeding yourself plenty of
52:55
Speaker 2: inspiring images and poetry. There's a whole list of things
53:01
Speaker 2: that we can do that can feed our passion, and
53:04
Speaker 2: a whole lot of other things we can do that
53:06
Speaker 2: can just sap our energy. So we don't have much
53:08
Speaker 2: of the energy of passion to apply to anything. Does
53:11
Speaker 2: that make Does that respond to your question.
53:14
Speaker 1: Victor absolutely Ron, what would you like readers to take
53:19
Speaker 1: away from Conscious Living, Conscious Aging?
53:22
Speaker 2: I would like readers of that book, and I would
53:25
Speaker 2: like people who are listening to this interview to recognize
53:31
Speaker 2: that there are possibilities for their aging that are far
53:38
Speaker 2: beyond what the world around us tells us is possible.
53:43
Speaker 2: There is a vision for a whole life chapter that
53:46
Speaker 2: can be a time of fulfillment and purpose and growth
53:49
Speaker 2: and service that we can aspire to, even though that
53:54
Speaker 2: vision isn't the dominant vision in the world around us now.
54:00
Speaker 2: I'd like readers and listeners to know that to grow
54:05
Speaker 2: into the possibilities of this vision, into the elderhood that
54:11
Speaker 2: is possible, takes some effort. We have to be willing
54:14
Speaker 2: to stretch outside of our comfort zones. We have to
54:17
Speaker 2: be willing to live out, to stop living just out
54:22
Speaker 2: of habit and to try to live more with more
54:25
Speaker 2: awareness and consciousness. It takes some work. But from all
54:29
Speaker 2: those I know who I feel have have embodied the
54:35
Speaker 2: possibilities of elderhood, They'll all say it is so worth it.
54:40
Speaker 2: It is so very, very worth it, and so in
54:43
Speaker 2: my book, I paint a vision for what this elderhood
54:47
Speaker 2: can be. Have plenty of practices and exercises and reflections
54:53
Speaker 2: and stories that can help people to see how they
54:56
Speaker 2: can make this vision a part of how they age,
55:00
Speaker 2: if they choose to do so.
55:03
Speaker 1: My guest is Ron Pevne, his book the tenth anniversary
55:06
Speaker 1: edition of Conscious Living, Conscious Aging. Ron one more time,
55:11
Speaker 1: please share with our listeners with it and get your
55:13
Speaker 1: book and find out more about you.
55:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, Victor, my book's available anywhere that books are available.
55:20
Speaker 2: I would just give one little note here for various
55:26
Speaker 2: technical reasons that even I cannot understand. On places like Amazon,
55:31
Speaker 2: even though they have a picture of the cover of
55:33
Speaker 2: the new edition of my book, it says publication date
55:36
Speaker 2: twenty fourteen, ignore that they're going to receive the new edition,
55:42
Speaker 2: and they can get my book from my publisher, Beyond
55:45
Speaker 2: Words dot com, and in doing so they really help
55:49
Speaker 2: to support the work that I and my colleagues do.
55:53
Speaker 2: People can learn about our work at Center for Conscious
55:58
Speaker 2: Eldering dot com.
56:00
Speaker 1: Ron, thank you so much for joining us and for
56:03
Speaker 1: sharing this important wisdom for those of us who are
56:07
Speaker 1: of the golden years and really are seeking our purpose
56:10
Speaker 1: and great things to do as elders in this world.
56:13
Speaker 2: Thank you Ron well, thank you Victor for the opportunity,
56:17
Speaker 2: and I wish you and your good work well.
56:19
Speaker 1: Thank you and thank you for joining us on Vox Novus.
56:22
Speaker 1: I'm Victor, the Voice Firman. Have a wonderful week.