The Grace in Aging: Awaken as You Grow Older by Kathleen Dowling Singh

Sage-ing International offers everyone the opportunity to join The Second Half of Life Book Discussion Series, led by Karen West. As both a tech host and participant, I find it rewarding to read books focused on the second half of life and then to share in group sessions that are engaging and insightful.

As the group started in February, Karen let us select the first book from three options that she gave us. We chose The Grace in Aging: Awaken as You Grow Older by Kathleen Dowling Singh. Although Karen noted it might be challenging for non-Buddhists, the group seemed to draw great benefit from what Singh offers, proving that you don’t need to be a Buddhist or familiar with Buddhist teachings and concepts to benefit from this book. Singh highlights the Buddha’s teachings on awakening in the context of aging, offering wisdom and guidelines for older individuals of any wisdom tradition who wish to awaken before they die.

Throughout the book, Singh focuses on the idea of “self” and how we work with it and emphasizes the centrality of mindfulness in the process of awakening. She centers the book on what she calls the 11 “special conditions” that drive spiritual transformation, many aligning with Reb Zalman’s teachings and core concepts:

• Facing mortality
• Withdrawal
• Solitude
• Forgiveness
• Humility
• Moment-by-moment presence; breath-by-breath awareness
• Commitment
• Life review
• Opening the heart
• Opening the mind

The Grace in Aging is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to age gracefully and to develop within themselves the capacity to use elderhood as the opportunity for liberation from a lifetime of limiting habits and conditions keeping them in Reb Zalman’s Box of Unlived Life.