I just turned 62 years old. It is easy to believe at this stage of life that this is a time of diminishing, a natural time to let go of earlier vitality, beauty, relevance. I have struggled to accept nature’s way in this; age takes an honest toll, even as it delivers such powerful gifts.

Tonight I stopped everything to sit down and make a declaration, a clear intention for how this next third or half of my life is to go. I just moved into a new home, a good time for intention-setting. Moving has been a monumental task for a person with only one hand, as my right one is broken. It requires that I learn to depend on friends, which has been humbling, which though it is not according to my nature I have done, which has been full of gifts. Yet the biggest part has fallen to me, of course, to pull off. When my daughter Josi mentioned to her husband Eli that I said that I felt busier than a one-armed paper hanger, his comment was “Or a one-legged ass-kicker!” It has made me smile to know that they believe I am as ever up to task in kicking ass.

Tonight I wrote the following in my journal, and then decided to transcribe it also as a blog. When I logged on to do this I saw that the last blog I wrote was the 499th since this blog’s inception. I have often wondered what #500 would be, but determined not to be self-conscious about it. So now this is it, without pre-conception.

Tonight, April 28th, 2013, at 9:03 PM, this is my declaration for life. These words come from my bone-marrow, my cells, my deepest heart. I hope they might strengthen you as well.

From today forward I am going to be more happy
more strong
more beautiful
more healthy
more joyful
more buoyant
more giving
more grateful
more free
more generous
more confident
more in charge
more loving
more forgiving
more humorous
less fearful
less worried
less vain
less holding on
less angry
less terrified

Today I begin a new life. I am 62. The changing world defines age in changing ways.
I want to call this stage free.
Happy.
An increase in vitality.
An increase in beauty.
An increase in perspective and gracefulness.

So be it.

My great love to each of us as we make our declarations.