i was chatting with a friend recently...
...and noted that both of us had a bit of difficulty remembering details, names, timeframes. it seems that forgetting has become a regular event. many of us live in fear of forgetting. as dementia has come more into public conversation, we who are living in the third phase of life have become concerned that we too may have the early signs of dementia.for most of us, this is simply the normal forgetfulness and not a harbinger of anything at all. in this chatty time with a dear friend we laughed, as we often do, at the process of our eldering years. and then she said…
forgetting makes space for wisdom to come in.
~~ a.r.
there have been numerous studies done on the process of ageing brains. this information may be useful and can also be frightening. but what of other ways of using our intelligence? what of other aspects of mind that are not associated with the physical organ of the brain? what connects the brain with the heart? and what about our “gut feelings”? where do they fit into our re-membering?in his remarkable and challenging book, a new republic of the heart, terry patton tells us, “we used to think that neutrons were concentrated exclusively in our brain and spinal cord. now we know that they are also concentrated in our heart and in our gut.” he goes on to say that there are extensive masses of neurons in both the heart and gut that behave similarly to the neurons in the brain. in fact there are more nerve cells in the digestive tract than in the spinal cord!
the connection between brain, heart and gut is vital to how we live, how our wisdom manifests and how we remember. trusting the heart and gut, believing that we “know” in many ways, may go some way to alleviate the concerns we have about ageing brains. our wisdom may take on a more important role than our ability to remember dates, telephone numbers and the sequence of events twenty-five or more years ago. the wisdom of our experience lives in the heart and the gut.we need only bring that wisdom into our daily lives, into our connection with others and into our community.