One of my long-time heroes, the renowned feminist activist, Ms. Gloria Steinem, recently celebrated her 80th birthday, and it got me thinking about something I posted last summer.
It was about the time I had the privilege of meeting Ms. Steinem at the University of Connecticut Women’s Center.
You see, I helped found the Women’s Center back in the 70’s, and when great things happen there I can’t help but smile (and often jump at the chance to be part of them).
This event was particularly exciting, though, because Ms. Steinem was appearing as their keynote speaker.
During her talk at the Women’s Center, Ms. Steinem told a story of being asked what she thought of as her biggest accomplishment.
Her answer, “I don’t know, I haven’t done it yet.”
And I thought to myself, “Wow, what an answer, especially coming from someone who has been at the forefront of the women’s movement for almost 50 years.”
Not only that, but she’s authored several best-selling books, and she’s been the one to frame the issues that have led to so much progress for women and men throughout the world.
And yet, at the age of 80, even after a lifetime of groundbreaking contributions, she still believes that her greatest accomplishment is yet to come. I find this truly inspiring because I really identify with it.
And as I reflect back on Gloria’s words, I can’t help but think of all of you, our community at NICABM.
As practitioners we have so much to offer. With our highly developed skills and expertise, each and every one of us has no doubt contributed greatly to the lives of our clients.
And with such advanced training, we have the potential to make a huge impact far beyond even that.
So today, I want to challenge us, yet again, to dream big. Our greatest accomplishment and contribution to the world may be yet to come . . . no matter what our age.
If you let yourself, what would you dream of accomplishing? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts below.
My God Ruth, you so often bring tears to my eyes and hope into my life. I feel I know you personally!
You make me dare to believe my dreams could really happen past 60…when my conscious mind say no way…how delusional! But you make me think about it!
ONE thing that I have been putting together in my head, is how to encourage or introduce a program of catalogued Movie Therapy, for people who are autistic, have been head-traumatized, raped, isolated, shaken as babies (whatever the trauma but by SUBJECT)…to have them unwind their traumas without being retraumatized (a titrated way to metabolize what would happen with exposure, or flooding BY PERSONS–so it does not feel like a new ATTACK, avec perpetrators.
It could include multiple viewings and round-robin discussion with a group therapist, to better digest the material. There is ONE idea, in a nutshell.
I share your Hero, Ms. Steinem, with you Ruth. And I echo your challenge/question: dare to dream big.
I will be 68 next week, and I have stepped into the stream again as an artist and elder in a high school art program, sharing the teachings of mindfulness with youth, and empowering them in their creative growth. I am being nourished in deep ways by their energy, idealism, hope, and their easy humour and compassion with each other. The dream would be for all to see our social net as a living organism that supports us and is fundamentally good. These young people bringing their hearts to their life at school and socially is a baby step into that dream.
Dear Ruth, Thank you so much for all you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An interactive online mindfulness program for young children in the style of Mr. Rogers. I am weary of sound bites and fast action entertainment for children and want to create a way for children to listen calmly and be able to reflect on life and have the message touch them in meaningful ways.
I was a counselor and thrapist for years but wanted to reach more people. I was guided to write,
Not therapy books but children’s books. After all kids are the future, so I gave it a shot!
I have been very fortunate to have had many books and songs published, the thought of
Touching people’s lives is thrilling. Yet, I still think my best work is ahead of me, something that
Truly comes from my soul to touch other souls. Something that lifts us both in consciousness.
I love the old Frank Sanatra song “The Best is yet to Come!”
I resonate so much with the message of your presentation and views on Gloria Steinem’s attitude.
As a social worker of over 40 years and currently primarily teaching Gerontology in the dual-degree MSW-Social Work program here at Loma Linda University School of Behavioral Health. I come from a family of 80 plus aged achievers, and I am 68 with no current plans to retire soon. I tell my students my goal is to be a Play Therapist at 90. This is because I observed a 90 year old play therapist in her heyday at 90 working for Child Help. My mother-in-law turns 90 in July and she currently cares for 3 nieces, makes fleece blankets for cancer patients, recently retired as Religious Liberty leader at her church, continues to drive, live on her own in an apartment complex and is a beautiful woman and snazzy dresser. I pick up items for her from Chiico’s a tony store for middle aged women (primarily.)
Yes, I love your challenges, it is what I tell our students, plan now for what you will do as elders.
Continue to dream big all of your life. In order to live long, we all need a bit of good health, and wealth.! Thank you so much for sharing this, with your permission, I’d like to use it as part of my devotion at the beginning of class.
Keep up your inspiring work and website. Victoria
Thank you for sharing this, Ruth. From the time I was a child, I sensed my “elder” years would be my best. I have always subscribed to learning something new, following my curiosity, and sensing the energy of each situation for what I could contribute. My journey has been to stay in the present, AND to keep my visions and intentions as I see how they need to modify to adapt or stand fast.
Thank you, Ruth! I am emerging from a time of feeling that “it’s too late” for me to accomplish my dreams – silly, I know, but truthfully it was most likely a manifestation of my grief at losing two of my children. I’m back on track now, learning new skills, writing and teaching in new ways, even working on establishing a new school. My great dream is of becoming a philanthropist, a vision I’ve had for my life from the age of nine. I’ve done this in small ways, but now I want to see that truly blossom.
I recently attended the 80th birthday celebration of a woman who has greatly inspired many, myself included, and with whom I had the privilege to work in the 1980s. We created and facilitated workshops, women’s circles and other events together. It was delightful listening to her speak of her latest projects – clearly she is still working on her own accomplishments. Life is, indeed, a journey!
Gloria Steinem is also one of my heroes. She was the voice of reason and gave credibility to the purpose of the women’s movement – equality and respect for all women. It’s hard to believe she is 80! I’m 72 and she has again inspired me and give me hope for my future!
I hope to become an expert in Functional Medicine to help my patients in the real way to recover their
wellfare,primaryly in Metabolism´s issue,SNPS,etc.
Exactly what I needed to hear as I approach my 77th birthday.
i feel part of this message is about the ‘journey’ and not the ‘destination’. while i whole heartedly agree with enjoying the journey, i believe we may often function from an ‘it’s not good enough or i’m not good enough’ perspective in regards to the journey and the destination and this saddens me.
healthy relationships with ones self, family, body, spirit are what its all about in this lifetime for me and i hope this is honored and empowered between all people, communities, cities, etc. with an acute awareness that we are all good enough.
I would dream of being with a movement accomplishing a culture of care where no one is in fact valued more than anyone else and all are appreciated. Where people, animals, and plants, all life and feelings, all the natural world. spirits, energies, and gifts of talent are all valued, loved and respected equally. Where this aware and accepting culture would have power via wisdom and truth being accepted and valued and all would come to realize mutual interdependence and act within that awareness to do what we can to make a living working world together.
Our moving from a traumatized culture to a healing culture helps make a transformation to that a little closer. To dream does not mean to be naive about the obstacles.
We can believe that this dream is possible and that living in connection with it and effort for it may bring it about.
To dream without clinging to it or owning it but being with and acting for it lets it be and grow.
Dear Lynda, Thank you for your magnificent and perfect dream/statement. It is exactly how I feel also!!!!!! much love and blessings. A
I dream of a world that all life, including the unborn, and the elderly, are valued and all would come to realize our mutual interdependence and act with that very awareness to protect the most vulnerable among us.
i met Gloria years ago and admire her.
i am only 72, and i will never retire.
artists don’t retire.
Yes, it may be coming for me too. I’m 53 years old, and I just got admitted to a PhD program in Nursing. I am specialized in psychiatry and will be working with psychologists and psychiatrists. Maybe, in one year, I will be working on my first publication, helping people recover from trauma?
I’m 82 – and I agree with Gloria – I’m working very hard trying to raise consciousness re Restorative Practices which down South is difficult. I may or may not be able to convince folks – but I am working at it constantly…
People ask me all the time why I have not retired. I tell them that I am having fun. God also told Adam to live by the sweat of his brow all the days of his life. So I have not been able to find any suggestion of retirement in the bible. I am still seeking my greatest accomplishment and contribution to the world. Grreat article. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Have the privilege of knowing friends who after so-called retirement have and are seriously living their dreams and raison d’être in all domains !
Although it is sad that you have been through so much thrasy men, I have to confess that your experiences have made you grow and so it’s there loss. I want to believe that life is not full of losers and that one day, a great man who values the great woman that you have become will come to you in a white horse and a big umbrella and will call you Vivian oops and there we go again another thrasy man hahahaha ok, he will say Jann but he will come in a white horse cause cars are too expensive and You will be happy and loved I KNOW SO!!! Te Adoro primita y perdoname pero me reed a carcajadas porque escribes excelente y de eso se trata de que podamos reir de nuestros tropiezos!!! Besote pa’ti!!
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I like your story. I gives me hope that I still have time to do great things. People keep asking me when I am going to retire and I still have things I would like to do. As my husband tells those who ask, “She says she is still having fun!” I find that opportunities at my age are sometimes a challenge and some of them just scare me to death, but I still move forward, there is room for great things to happen in my life. 70+ and still having fun.
I resonate with what you and Gloria Steinem have said Ruth for at soon to be age 66 I absolutely know that my greatest accomplishment and contribution to the world is yet to come….and every day I intend to live as fearlessly, fully expressed, and lovingly as I mindfully can.
There are so many women elders that I have come in contact with over this past year who exemplify fully expressed lives – Jane Goodall, Lynn Twist, Jean Houston, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and so many more! Recently I attended at talk by Gladys McGarey, M.D., M.D (H) and listened to her speak of “living medicine” as she shone up on stage telling her many patient and personal stories, and sharing her powerful presence.
It was not the things she has accomplished though they have been many as the Mother of Holistic Medicine here in the U.S., but instead her presence in the front of the room speaking for a solid hour in a clear, articulate and engaging way without a break and literally shining with beauty and health. She is still seeing patients and is head of The Foundation For Living Medicine. Dr. Gladys is 93 years old!!
Almost 3 decades ahead of me she, like Gloria Steinem, represents possibility at every and any age. There is absolutely no excuse not to be our finest and fullest expression! Thank you Ruth for sharing Gloria’s response to your question!
I am 75 years old and am enrolled with the University of Stellenbosh (near Cape Town, South Africa) in a Post Graduate course in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. I am hoping to offer the skills of mindfulness training to Seniors with the aim of sharing this technique to help them to achieve a state of wisdom in the winter of their lives! Teaching by example I am offering skills in cognitive enhancement, emotional resilience, physical fitness and mindfulness stress reduction.
I have the privilege to be a founding member of the 1st worker’s mental health Coop
in Wisconsin (possibly in the country). We are 2 1/2 years strong in providing services to one of the highest concentration of rural poverty in Wisconsin. The women in our coop have been highly influenced to reach for the stars. We have the can do attitude along with the servant heart. The best to come is to grow at a pace of need with financial strength. We are able to offer services to the Whole Body, (mind, body and spirit). The excitement is in the air!!!
It seems that women all over the world are experiencing more abuse and rape on our campuses and in the military. In my era, I’m 77, we fought and marched for ERA, Roe vs Wade. to my surprise we are still fighting for the same things. The religious right doesn’t approve of birth control, which would prevent abortions, this seems insane to me. With a huge population who is constantly brainwashed by these principles “change” is complicated. Today, it’s almost like women’s issues are going backward. This makes me sad. The horrors that happen to women in foreign countries is mind boggling.
We do, however, see women advancing in many professions which I’m thrilled about, but not enough women in Congress, and not enough women climbing out of poverty. The cost of living keeps rising and day care costs are impossible. It seems for every success we have three women are downtrodden.
There are too many kids on drugs and alcohol. Our society has many problems.
Hi Ruth,
I first saw Gloria Steinem speak in ‘84, about the time that yoga became a defining influence in my life. During her talk she mentioned that someone had told her she did not look 50, and her response was “well actually this IS what 50 looks like”. She did not buy in to the flattery (assuming it was intended) while making a profound statement about aging in a market driven youth focused world.
Many other powerful women like Tara Brach and Sharon Salzberg have shaped my approach to the mindfulness based yoga I teach now. My “mission” is to bring more men into the world of yoga with the idea that this vexed world of ours could be a more peaceful planet if more men did yoga.
Thanks for bringing your powerful messages into the mainstream, it gives me hope.
Namaste,
Henri Ferguson
Work to make community mental health a prize in the area where I live. Do missionary work in South Africa. Teach young therapists. Develop a women’s mental health facility that incorporates healthy living, nutrition, and yoga/exercise as well as mulitple therapy groups.
I have done a lot of things in my life but I know I haven’t accomplished my dream yet and when that happen I will notice and receive it.
Thanks for sharing this encouraging message. Even for those of us in professions far different from yours, it was a needed and inspiring message. Thank you so much.
Yes, second that motion about Hillary for president, perhaps Gloria for VP?
My next wish (and I am working on it) is to educate everyone I meet and work with (30+ years in mental health) about the necessity of understanding and using brain science to know ourselves and others in every area of life. I want to take it to future books and music that I write and publish and perform! Ruth, it’s amazing to see ‘what’s next’ in your work and I am tickled to be a part of it here.
I only hope to continue to stand on the ‘shoulders of giants’ in many areas. I just want to collaborate with others of many areas and ages of wisdom and after reading their stories here reminds me influence, education and story telling allows a wonderful collegiality. Missrepressentation.org was influenced by her.
“I don’t know. I haven’t done it yet.” is a great role model. I’ll keep listening to my life.
Thanks Ruth for starting this today.
What a wonderful & inspiring attitude!
Go girl!
A big accomplishment will be electing Hillary as President! It is a moment that has to come for women!
Joyce
It was perhaps 40 years ago that I attended a presentation in Cincinnati by Gloria Steinem. I never ask
for autographs, but I was so impressed by this larger-than-life woman that I asked for hers. After
signing my program, she looked me directly in the eye – and asked me for MY autograph! How much
did she communicate in that one small perfect moment. I was stunned; Gloria Steinem is always and ever
stunning.
However much one can feel inspired by a looking forward attitude at 80 years of age, I am thinking of a different future at 74 years of age. Being able to move toward the end of life with grace, consideration for others, letting go of many aspirations, being present for others as one has no agenda of a special own project can also be a goal.
While working, raising a family, one could not be as present for others. There are limits for everyone. So I do believe, the next stage does not have to be spectacular looking at it from the outside, but more human, kind, and preparatory for the time we will not exist.
I am inspired by what you have written Ruth.
I an 60 and I would like to think that my greatest accomplishments are before me.
I would like to continue seeing people in my work as a psychotherapist and write about it . Also I love to travel and hope to do that in the years ahead.
Hopefully “the best is yet to come”.
I love the question, Ruth. Thank you. As I reflect on it I am drawn more to ‘who I have influenced’ versus more than I’ve done. I guess that is how I am wired. Not that getting things done isn’t important, because it is. But, for me, at the core, I want to bring an energy, love, respect, and the space for those I come in contact with to become more of who they were created to be. The “doing” for me comes from using my gifts to their fullest. Like Gloria, I’m still learning, and still working on being more awake and aware in the present in order to better leverage every opportunity and interaction. If I can do that, and leverage others to be there optimal self, and they do the same, the power of compounding of the human spirit will be…AWESOME!!
Still learning what I don’t know…
Jim
This is very inspiring. I recall reading this from Ruth before.
Thank you for this Ruth, Ms. Steinem is an inspiration. I’m 72, retired and have had a great & successful life, but don’t really agree with the concept of retirement especially at this exciting time of heightened awareness and the new science and understanding of how our brain works. I too feel I have more to give and to accomplish. I think we can go on making great contributions to Humanity in general and to those around us in particular for the whole of our lives. I’m trying to find a way to help younger women whose families are now grown up to develop the confidence that they now have so much to offer the wider world through their own knowledge & experience. I feel with my own life’s experiences and the understanding I’ve gained, I can help them find new paths to success & fulfillment in the next phase of their lives. I believe the world needs their wisdom and with encouragement who knows what they and all of us might achieve and accomplish in our later years.
To be on the stage!
Thanks for the opportunity to share my dream with others, Ruth. Some day, I don’t know when, I would like to contribute to the art and science of psychotherapy in a major way. I have been studying, thinking about, and practicing psychotherapy for over 30 years. I am in awe of people like Milton Erickson, Jay Haley, Salvatore Minuchin, Habib Davanloo, Bessel van der Kolk, and many others who have contributed to the practice of psychotherapy. My greatest wish and passion to add to our practice in some small way.
All and Only Love…
My dream is to help our campus promote a culture of non violence and people excited about bystander prevention.
I want to make it common knowledge that sensory motor awareness must be maintained throughout life for lifetime mobility. My biggest accomplishment, thus far, has been to self-publish Where Comfort Hides. Every client who has learned to relieve their own pain is a success, but in terms of my lifetime goal my biggest success is a High School Physical Education/Health Teacher who has integrated Somatics into his curriculum to give his students real tools for lifetime wellness.
My dream is to educate people that authentic healing takes a 3 faceted approach – mind, body and soul and that it is totally within YOUR power to accomplish it.
Create a workshop on Grief, Bereavement and Children and present them to various organizations.
Just LOVE. Adrianne
My biggest dreamed accomplishment is making a difference into my own life and those of others, to achieve and help achieve bigger love and understanding for ourselves, bigger understanding and mastering of our own minds and better understanding of the world, as a result of it. That would lead us closer to a deep sense of inner peace, more trust and confidence in ourselves and life. So, being able to serve as an inspiration for myself and others to live better, greater lives, deeply connected to ourselves and to each other in deep surrendering to life, our biggest master. Great article Ruth, thank you.
Find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and find a way to make the elderly safe during their late years.
Gloria Steinem has been one of my inspirations since my college days. 80 ~ Wow!
Thank you, Ruth, for all you do.
I share the same wish with you !
Incredible way to think Ruth, I love you.
This is a smakk dream, but if I make it come true, I think I can do the most incrediblw things after. Like meeting the Norwegain health minister and have an impact on the health politic in Norway.My shorttime Big dream is participate in ICF s streetcoaching 21/5 this year! 🙂