Tag: wisdoms

She Lived 122 years , 124 days

Meet Madam Jeanne Louise Calment, who had the longest confirmed human lifespan: 122 years, 164 days. Apparently, fate strongly approved of the way she lived her life. She was born in Arles, France, on February 21, 1875. The Eiffel Tower was built when she was 14 years old. It was at this time she met Vincent van Gogh. “He was dirty, badly dressed, and disagreeable,” she recalled in an interview given in 1988.

When she was 85, she took up fencing, and still rode her bike when she reached 100. At the age of 114, she starred in a film about her life, at age 115 she had an operation on her hip, and at age 117 she gave up smoking, having started at the age of 21 in 1896. She didn’t give it up for health reasons; her reason was that she didn’t like having to ask someone to help her light a cigarette once she was nearly blind.

In 1965, Jeanne was 90 years old and had no heirs. She signed a deal to sell her apartment to a 47-year-old lawyer called André-François Raffray. He agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2,500 francs on the condition he would inherit her apartment after she died. However, Raffray not only ended up paying Jeanne for 30 years, but then died before she did at the age of 77. His widow was legally obliged to continue paying Madam Calment until the end of her days.

Jeanne retained sharp mental faculties. When she was asked on her 120th birthday what kind of future she expected to have. Her reply, “A very short one.”

Here are the Rules of Life from Jeanne Louise Calment:

“I’m in love with wine.”

“All babies are beautiful.”

“I think I will die of laughter.”

“I’ve been forgotten by our Good Lord.”

“I’ve got only one wrinkle, and I’m sitting on it.”

“I never wear mascara; I laugh until I cry often.”

“If you can’t change something, don’t worry about it.”

“Always keep your smile. That’s how I explain my long life.”

“I see badly, I hear badly, and I feel bad, but everything’s fine.”

“I have a huge desire to live and a big appetite, especially for sweets.”

“I have legs of iron, but to tell you the truth, they’re starting to rust and buckle a bit.”

“I took pleasure when I could. I acted clearly and morally and without regret. I’m very lucky.”

“Being young is a state of mind, it doesn’t depend on one’s body. I’m actually still a young girl, it’s just that I haven’t looked so good for the past 70 years.”

At the end of one interview, the journalist said, “Madame, I hope we will meet again sometime next year.” To which Jeanne replied, “Why not? You’re not that old; you’ll still be here!”

The image with the wings is a piece of art by

L. Lichtenfells

Greatest Gift

“Life is so frequently unbearable–you think you can’t possibly go on. Life–the survival of life–is the getting up again and going on, and the means of doing this vary, but at the heart of all things moving forward is the realization–for me, at any rate–that the world, your friends, your own broken heart need your friendship and your laughter and your willingness to go on. Break down and acknowledge your loss, your anger, your diminishing assets, but fall right back on a laugh, a story, a meal–whatever you can cobble together and give to someone else, to yourself.

“My sadness has always been, I think, a reminder that, in my spell of solitude and serenity, the world was still out there getting beat up, people were in pain, and I need to get back to tending to them.

“The greatest gift sometimes is the outstretched hand.”–Alec Guinness/Interview with James Grissom/1997

Refusing Less

“Most of my life has been spent trying to shrink myself. Trying to become smaller. Quieter. Less sensitive. Less opinionated. Less needy. Less me. Because I didn’t want to be a burden. I didn’t want to be too much or push people away. I wanted people to like me. I wanted to be cared for and valued. I wanted to be wanted.

So for years, I sacrificed myself for the sake of making other people happy. And for years, I suffered. But I’m tired of suffering, and I’m done shrinking. It’s not my job to change who I am to become someone else’s idea of a worthwhile human being.

I am worthwhile.

Not because other people think I am, but because I exist, and therefore I matter.

My thoughts matter. My feelings matter. My voice matters. And with or without anyone’s permission or approval, I will continue to be who I am and speak my truth. Even if it makes people angry. Even if it makes them uncomfortable. Even if they choose to leave. I refuse to shrink.

I choose to take up space. I choose to honor my feelings. I choose to permit myself to get my needs met.

I choose to make self-care a priority.

I choose me.”

–Daniell Koepke

Art | Ronnie Biccard

Nots : Badass Women

I have taken the liberty of making a list of things we are not doing anymore.

We are not overgiving as if we may die for enforcing a boundary.

We are not people-pleasing as if anyone’s validation is going to mean one damn thing on our next bad day.

We are not over-functioning as if there is no one else that can do it.

We are not practicing needy behavior. You are enough and you have been given everything that you need to be who you are.

We are not practicing passive-aggressive behaviors. If you have something to say by all means say it.

We are not giving up our power as if we are small children.

Own who you are.

Stop playing the victim.

You are a warrior,

a survivor,

a BADDASS!

We are not giving ultimatums. People are who they are, they deserve the same space that you do to be you, to make your own decisions that are not based on someone else’s opinions.

We are not doing this shit anymore. Instead, we practice self-love and through self-love, we heal ourselves.

They are not the tragic ending but the heroine of our own story.

Hope Strait

A Moon Woman’s Musings

To the Woman who is fading away

To The Woman Who Is

Slowly Fading Away

To the woman who has

lost her spark.

To the woman who’s

get up and go,

has well and truly gone.

~THIS IS FOR YOU~

This is to remind you, that you don’t have to be everything to everyone, every day.

You didn’t sign up for that.

Remember when you used to

laugh, sing and throw caution to the wind?

Remember when you used to forgive yourself more quickly for not always being perfect?

You can get that back again.

You really can.

And that doesn’t have to mean letting people down or walking away.

It just means being kinder to you, and feeling brave enough to say no sometimes.

Being brave enough to stop sometimes and rest.

It starts the moment you realize that you’re not quite who you used to be.

Some of that is good, and some of that is not.

There are parts of you that need to be brought back.

And if anyone in your life is not okay with that…they are not your people.

Your people will be glad to see that spark starting to light up again.

So, if you have been slowly fading away my friend, this is the time to start saying yes to things that bring you joy and no

to things that don’t.

It’s pretty simple.

–Donna Ashworth

Image | Unknown

The Soul Journey : She 🐛🦋

She does not need anyone to help her transcend her pain. Her pain is hers to heal. She is the only one who can choose when she is ready to travel deep down inside and harness her medicine.

She doesn’t need anyone to tell her that she needs to release her past. Her past is hers to own. Her past is a landscape that is only hers. And only she can decide the meaning she gives to all her life’s experiences.

She doesn’t need anyone to transmit wisdom to her. She is her own guru. Her own sage. Her wisdom has been gathered through the ages and her Soul knows what she needs. She has full access to the fountain of Collective Intelligence where she can quench her thirst of knowledge.

She doesn’t need anyone to tell her who she is. She just has to remember. Commune with her ancestors and ask them where she is coming from. Ask her ancestors about the struggles of her great great grandmothers. Thank them for paving the way to have the opportunity to shine her light. She stands on the shoulders of giants and this truth brings her to the values that guide her life.

She doesn’t need anyone to sort her feelings. She is not mentally ill. She is not a statistic that needs to be labeled and medicated. Instead, she tells the world that she owns her feelings and emotions. They are not to be discarded and rejected. Her feelings are guiding posts that lead her to her truth. To what needs her attention.

She doesn’t need anyone to tell her that her unhappiness and sadness can be fixed with a pill. She rejects the status quo. The mainstream understanding of what it means to be human. A feeling human. Instead, she follows the threads of her story and goes to the source of unease in her life.

She doesn’t allow herself to be defined by what they call “anxiety”. She knows that the main source of her feeling restless is perhaps because she allowed life to take her away from living her truth and being true to her values.

She doesn’t need to follow anyone’s vision. She has been gifted with the ability to dream. Dream big. Or not dream at all, if she doesn’t want to. When she is ready, the Universe will open the gates of desire to share her vision of the world and her Soul will guide her to her mission.

She doesn’t need anyone to plant the seed of creativity. She is her own teacher that just has to touch the seed that was planted in her at birth. All she has to do is allow it to wake up, to sprout, and to grow. She has within the rain and the sunshine the seeds needs to blossom.

She doesn’t need to pray harder. Meditate more. Speak in tongues. Or deprive herself of nourishment. What she needs is to believe that she is enough. She is worthy. She is ready. She is loved.

She doesn’t need to give her power away anymore. What she needs is to stand in her own truth. Discover her own truth. Dig deep. Ask questions and wait for the answers to come from within.

And as she inquires within, she understands that she lives inside her inner world. Yes, she walks among humankind, but in truth, she lives within the landscape of her own feelings and emotions.

She now knows that there is nothing outside of herself that can add anything to who she is. Who she really is, is already there. Who she is becoming is already there. And she is the only one that has full access to her story, her truth, her values, her mission and vision…

Her Holy Calling is waiting patiently for her to be ready… Ready to step in her own power… ready to reframe her wounds…

Ready to give a new meaning to her story of survival… her story of resilience…

Her story of how adversity forged her… her gifts, her talents, her inner treasures, her medicine she is called to offer the world…

……………………………………………………..

Essay by Archaeology for the Woman’s Soul

Corina Luna Dea

Archaeology for the Woman’s Soul