The Shimmering Portal
September 11, 2025
As children we did it naturally: imagined ourselves in some future role: veterinarian, movie star, Arctic explorer. How we got there didn’t matter. We just all of a sudden were somewhere, doing some thing, being Some One.
As many people age, however, that portal to envisioning and stepping into our own future tends to close down. Sometimes it seems so distant we hardly know if it even exists. Yet it does, and it is just as accessible as it ever was, inviting us to step into a shimmering, if somewhat blurry, world where our future beckons, full of potential. Entering that portal can inspire us to think a little bigger, imagine a little more creatively, and act a little more decisively.
For me it works like this. I imagine myself five years in the future. How am I living? What do I eat? What is my relationship with my community? How do I handle difficult challenges? It works especially well if I’m having trouble starting something or sticking with something, or when I feel discouraged.
It’s important not to get bogged down in details with this exercise. We don’t have to figure everything out, like: What will my health be like? I don’t know if I can afford to live in the city I’d really like to move to. In five years I’ll be too old to do what I wish I’d done ten years ago.
It’s a portal into possibility. It’s not a business plan.
Envisioning and stepping into a new reality can be especially poignant as we age, for it is at this time that we can determine what it’s time to let go of and what we really want to embrace.
For all these reasons, I am so happy to be co-guiding, with Silvia Talavera, an Elder’s Journey for Women in magical Aravaipa Canyon, southern Arizona October 20-26.
Every day we’ll focus on a different aspect of our elderhood as women: physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. We approach these big questions through Council practice, self-generated ceremony, and a lot of time in nature. Everyone will have the opportunity to do a dawn-to-dusk solo one day.
Who are you today?
Are you the One You Want to Be?
Let’s step through that portal together.