The Grace in Aging: Awaken as You Grow Older

by Kathleen Dowling Singh

Overview

Learn to use your later years for awakening and spiritual growth.

Encouraging, inspiring, and practical, The Grace in Aging invites all those who have ever experienced spiritual longing to awaken in their twilight years. Since aging, in and of itself, does not lead to spiritual maturity, The Grace in Aging suggests and explores causes and conditions that we can create in our lives, just as we are living them, to allow awakening to unfold—transforming the predictable sufferings of aging into profound opportunities for growth in clarity, love, compassion, and peace.

Kathleen Dowling Singh streamlines vast and complex teachings into skillful means and wise views. Straightforward language and piercing questions bring Singh’s teachings into the sharp focus of our own lives; the contemplative nature of each chapter allows for an uncommon depth of inquiry. Examples from our lives and from the chatter in our own minds touch the reader personally, offering the chance to absorb the implications deeply and do the work of freeing his or her own mind. Ecumenical in spirit, tone, and language, Singh offers wisdom from teachers from a variety of spiritual backgrounds: Chogyam Trungpa, the Apostles, Annie Dillard, and more. Lessening our attachments, decreasing our aversions, unbinding what binds us, we bear witness to the possibility of awakening for all beings.

The Grace in Aging offers guidelines for older individuals of any wisdom tradition who wish to awaken before they die; no need for caves or seven-year retreats. This is spiritual practice for the lives we live.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614291268
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	08/05/2014
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	323,590
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kathleen Dowling Singh is a Dharma practitioner and in-demand speaker and teacher. She is the author of The Grace in Dying: How We Are Transformed Spiritually As We Die. A mother and grandmother, she is old enough to be eligible for Medicare. Kathleen lives in Sarasota, FL.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction 1

An Invitation

Wake Up 9

Predictable Sufferings 15

Creating the Causes

Stepping onto the Noble Path 31

A Map of Awakening 43

Opening the Precious Package 67

The Special Conditions

Gathering the Special Conditions 77

Opening to Our Own Mortality: Meditation on Death 93

Withdrawal: Liberation from Habits 103

Silence: Liberation from Illusions 123

Solitude: Liberation from Attachment; Release into Sufficiency 133

Forgiveness: Liberation from Aversion; Freedom from Anger and Judgment 151

Humility: Liberation from Pride and the Illusions of Perfectionism; Release into Ordinariness 169

Presence: Liberation from Frivolity and Other Inessentials 187

Commitment: Liberation from Deception 205

Life Review and Resolution: Liberation from Our Story; Release into Freedom 229

Opening the Heart and Opening the Mind 245

Afterword: A Spiritual Inventory 263

Appendix: A Questionnaire on Aging 267

Citations 271

Index 273

About the Author 291

Editorial Reviews

"With her own special grace, Dowling Singh eases us into the foreshortened shelf life we all face as we age and approach death. This future is shorter than our past, but she optimistically shows how we can use it for the spiritual awakening we may have long sought. Wise and remarkably clear, The Grace in Aging can be a comfortable, easy and peaceful fit for our deepest and heartfelt seeking and a wonderful space for our impermanent minds to explore."

Jean Smith

"Establishes guideposts in the fog for those seeking greater meaning and fulfillment as they edge toward life’s grand finale; Singh urges us to reclaim the process of aging. The impact is exhilaration."

Spirituality and Health

"In her wonderful book Kathleen Dowling Singh helps us to face and embrace the hard truth of the precarious nature of our life. With acceptance of this fact arises a deep appreciation of life's preciousness. Then we don't want to waste a minute. We are inspired to enter our lives fully. Through her skillful guidance we come to see that aging can be a time of grace and great aliveness."

Frank Ostaseski

"In The Grace in Aging, Kathleen transposes into a new key all previous discussion of aging. Her book sings with both depth and grace, erudition and that insight born only of deeply sifted experience. All those who have woken up in the morning one day older than when they went to bed the night before owe her a debt of gratitude for pointing us toward that eternal Now, which reveals both life and death as single embrace of transforming Mystery."

Martin Laird

"The inevitability of aging need not be a dismal, morbid scenario, but a glorious opening a to a gentle wisdom and peacefulness that the tempests of youth manage to obscure. Let Kathleen Dowling Singh be your guide in this extraordinary period of life, which can be a time of celebration instead of defeat."

Larry Dossey

"In Kathleen Singh's luminous words, the hidden nature of old age as a practice stands fully revealed with all the potential for fulfillment of a true spiritual path. Don’t grow old without it."

Rachel Naomi Remen

"I find Kathleen Dowling Singh's insight and wisdom compelling, readable, and life changing (Death changing too!). This book is indeed grace!"

Richard Rohr

"A bracing but gentle wake-up call for baby boomers, and indeed, anyone who wishes to understand and come to terms with the aging process and the universal impermanence of life itself."

Booklist

"Readers of all ages can gain an awareness of the joy inherent in everyday moments large and small. Her calming and illuminating prose aims open readers' minds to live with compassion and wisdom, surrounded by truth."

Shelf Awareness

"Kathleen Dowling Singh reveals the clear opportunities for spiritual awakening throughout the wonder and challenges of our aging process. The Grace in Aging is a practical guide into our psycho-spiritual dynamics that can be helpful at any age but is especially tuned to the trials of the later stages of our life. Kathleen leads us forward with such dignity and resolution that we become convinced that this phase of life holds a promise and a potential unlike any other."

Rodney Smith

"A bracing but gentle wake-up call for baby boomers, and indeed, anyone who wishes to understand and come to terms with the aging process and the universal impermanence of life itself."

Booklist