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DAY 9

Senior Living—Your Sixties

Human maturity is neither offensive nor defensive;
it is finally able to accept that reality is what it is.

— Richard Rohr

I have some good news for you: by the time you are in your sixties, if
you have not become all you want to be, you can recreate yourself and
step into a whole new territory. I call it the authentic life, and it’s full of
new opportunities that now you are mature enough to recognize.
You can turn the base lead of fear into the gold of your life. This
requires us to come to acceptance with how we’ve lived and to reflect

on what we truly value.
These can be our best years. It sounds nice, doesn’t it? But we usu-
ally get there by way of what Franciscan priest Richard Rohr calls “nec-
essary suffering,” the surrendering of our false self, which we have usu-
ally taken for our absolute identity. Perhaps the suffering has taken the
form of an unexpected financial reversal or an unwanted illness. This
necessary suffering can lead us to find the pearl of great price that has

been hidden until now.
We become ready for more spaciousness in our lives as we release
the old ways and are led by the grace of mystery. We are gifted with
new choices and opportunities at each stage of life, and this stage,
like every stage, requires courage of us. And that courage leads us

Fear Is a Good Thing.indd 29 01/09/20 6:45 PM