How to become an elder instead of just getting older!
2025 has started off fast & volatile. I’m noticing clients and friends are feeling off balance, triggered, and anxious. (See below for a practice that can help you get centered!)
What we need now are our elders.
Russ & Julie with Julie’s grandmother. 🧡
It’s not easy to become an elder in our society.
We live in a culture that normalizes emotional immaturity and fetishizes youth.
We’re trained to be overly dramatic and act like victims. Just look at the soap operas from the 1980s or the “binge worthy” Real Housewives shows.🤮 Young girls are over-sexualized and encouraged to confirm to unnatural standards of beauty. Women get not-so-subtle messages all day long that we should do everything possible to STOP AGING!
There are no rites of passage. Back in the day, our tribe would have organized ceremonies to support us to come into adulthood and elderhood. So we get to our 40s and 50s and no one has taught us how to do life. We normalize mid-life crises, but this is a result of not having elders to hold us.
Let’s go, Women!
It’s up to us as women to change this. We are each made in the image of the Divine Mother. We are the guardians of life. We have a responsibility to Creation.
Even if you’re not a mother to physical children, you’re still a mother. Even if you’re in menopause, you’re still fertile.
Because you have a womb, even if it’s physically been removed, you’re always gestating and creating. We are the ones who get to create a better world.
Russ & Julie with Grandmother Clara of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers
Do the work now. Become an elder instead of just getting older.
As we go through life, we all go through hardship. But when we’re willing to look at the things that are challenging, we inevitably become wiser. And that expands our capacity to hold space for ourself and others.
Do you respond instead of react? How do you resolve conflicts? How do you set an example for your family and the human family?
We are all invited to do the self healing. That’s how you eventually become an elder. You transmute your shadow into light - and Light shines through you. You become a living, walking beacon to those around you. 🌟 The world needs your light now!
Russ & Julie in Mexico with Grandmother Julieta of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers
Self Check Ins: A Simple Practice for Self Healing
Throughout the day, tune in with yourself. Notice how you feel. At peace? Agitated? Grounded? Any negative thoughts? Then support your system with simple things.
For example, you might want to
Breathe deeply Prolonged exhales relax the nervous system.
Ground into the Earth You can simply notice your feet touching the ground or your body supported by the chair.
Think of something that makes your heart open Like baby animals!
I set an alarm every 2 hours as a reminder. If you forget one day, just restart the next day. The goal is to stay in a consistent state of connection to yourself.