Are you in this phase of life with your aging parents? 
Life gets pretty real when parents start aging and need assistance. This process can be both a challenge and a blessing. I have seen many clients go through this cycle with their parents. For me both of my parents died relatively young, my mother at 56 and my father at 61. So this wasn’t something I personally had to confront.
One of my clients has been caretaking both her mother and father for quite a few years. Her mother just passed and right on the heels of that her father started to decline. Even though her mother had dementia and didn’t know she was there, my client stayed by her mother’s bedside till the very end.
My client spoke of what a gift it was for her to be there as her mother transitioned even though the years of caring for her weren’t easy. As her fathers health is declining she is faced with this deep loneliness that she has always had but now feels it bigger than ever. This is part of the gift, realizing that it is just the body that leaves us not their spirit. Working through this fear of losing them and feeling alone can be an opportunity for us to heal.
I think when people pass it’s a great time to examine how we feel about the way we are living our lives. Knowing that our life in this body is not permanent. I remember a five-day course I did when I was 32 where there was an exercise where life was taken from us. We got the chance to look at all the words unspoken and a life lived that didn’t serve us.
When our parents start to get older and we know they are going to transition its common to look at how they lived their life. My mother seemed fairly unhappy throughout my life and I completely believe she was happy to die. She was so tethered to fear that it was virtually impossible to let go and enjoy any part of her life.
Growing up in that environment gave me the opportunity to really look at how I wanted to live my own life. Even though it might have been more natural for me to be unhappy and negative, I chose differently in my life.
If you have aging parents use this time wisely to spend quality time with them and to take note of how you live your life.
