Mama J Unchained: The Potential Joy and Freedom in Aging

By Christa Johnson M.D.

Mama J Unchained is about living your best life, every day, especially as you age. While not denying the inevitable losses that come with aging, including death itself, this book turns traditional views of aging on their heads as they generally neglect to see the beauty in this part of our lives. Unchained from the stressful obligations of our younger years, we are free to explore who we really are. Beneath our ego driven need for success, career, raising children, keeping up appearances and making money lies an inner being that has always been there but ignored in the pursuit of worldly goals. Call it soul, spirit, inner being or Buddha nature, this part of is is always at peace, naturally loving, compassionate, kind, wise and accepting of yourself and your life just as it is. Learning to view our lives through these lenses changes everything, perhaps making our last chapters the best ones yet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667894898

Book preview

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Mama J Unchained

The Potential Joy and Freedom in Aging

©2023 Christa Johnson, M.D.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

print ISBN: 978-1-66789-488-1

ebook ISBN: 978-1-66789-489-8

Contents

The Potential Joy and Freedom of Aging

Realities

Retirement

Ahh, but I Was Such a Beauty

A Gift from Facebook, of All Places

So, Who Is This Mama J?

Sweetie, Honey

Thank You, Officer Hobbs

Nothing to Prove

Lens Replacements

Life Is Hard

Accepting Difficult Realities

Silver Linings

You Must Be Yourself

Dancing Queen

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

Just Go for It

Adventures with Bubble Boy

The Value of the Bucket List

Shenanigans

Old Friends, Not Bookends

You Did What?

Bitch, Bitch, Bitch

The Fall and Rise of Jamaica Dane

Still Woman, Still Roaring

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Antigua, My Home away from Home

Channeling My Inner Patch Adams

If You Want to Be Interesting, Stay Interested

When Our Kids Become Our Parents

Happiness or Contentment

Worst Nightmare

Grace

Keepin’ It Real

Who Are You Really?

Ego, Friend or Foe?

Meditation

Focus

Lovingkindness meditation

Movement meditation

Music meditation

Physical effects of meditation

Neurotransmitters, the Keys to the Kingdom

Swim Drunk

Your Life as a Meditation: Mindfulness

Mindfulness in Health

Inner Wisdom and the Heart Attack

Mindfulness in Parenting

Mindful Eating

Mundane Task Meditation

The Healing Nature of Everything

Mindfulness and Acceptance

Mindfulness and Attachment

Back to Aging

Gratitude

A Most Mindful Hobby: Photography

Miss Rumphius

My Buddha Boy

JoJo Jellybean

Weeds, What Weeds?

Yin/Yang, the Sand Dollar, the Lotus and the Butterfly

Lynn’s Legacy

This Is Her Eternal Message

Messages from Beyond

What Does This All Mean?

The Joy of Eldering

The Potential Joy

and Freedom of Aging

As I have been too busy—having fun, mostly—this book has been languishing, fully outlined, for months on the back burner of the stove that is my life. Since proudly declaring on my birthday just four weeks ago that my seventies would be the best decade of my life, I have been traveling, exercising like a fiend, setting Herculean goals, and satisfying my lifelong wish to excel at everything, including aging. I have such gratitude for a personality that gives me no choice but to fully engage in life. I am grateful also for the lenses, albeit rose-colored, that allow me to see the best in even the most difficult situations.

I was just released from the hospital after sustaining a heart attack. One week ago, I suffered acute, severe shortness of breath and had to be jet skied out of Buzzards Bay, where I was doing a 1.2-mile swim challenge. Labs determined I was indeed in the middle of what might have been the big one. When my Covid test came back positive, I was relieved that this heart issue may be Covid related and thus temporary. Covid myocarditis was the discharge diagnosis. Permanent heart damage (or not) will be determined by further outpatient cardiac studies. (The fact that Covid is a BEAST cannot be denied; however, that is a discussion for another place and time.)

Having allowed myself to have a tearful day yesterday, I grieved for what might be lost in all this. I grieved that my healthy swimming addiction might have to bow to the demands of an inflamed heart. I grieved that my Superwoman cape would need to be covered with mothballs for the time being. I grieved that my recent mastery over my physical conditioning and lifelong weight problem would take a huge step backward, never to rebound.

Well, that was yesterday. Upon awakening this morning, I recognized the hand of the cosmic universe sending me a not-so-subtle message. Not so fast, Miss Zippy! How about using this time to reflect on your aging future more gently instead of negatively?

Now that I am restricted from swimming my usual two hours a day, I have time to help this book crystalize. The heart issue will certainly help soften it and make it much more real. For that, I am grateful.

Realities

You will die. You will get sick. You will lose people you love. You will lose your prior abilities. Your memory will go. Your vision will get worse. Your hearing will become challenging. You will get aches and pains in places you never even knew existed. Weight loss is harder even as your appetite wanes. Physical activity is more challenging. Just taking in a full breath can feel impossible. The temptation to just sit at home, watch TV, and nap is ever present. These are all truths, many of which are unavoidable.

Acceptance of these realities is crucial, but what we need is healthy acceptance, not giving up. Healthy acceptance is not denial. It means doing everything you possibly can to make your last years joyful, despite it all. This requires looking at everything in a different way and not accepting the usual concept of the aging process.

Traditional views of aging miss the incredible gifts that come along with getting older. Recognizing and embracing these gifts is the secret to fully living right up to the end, not giving up two or three decades before it is necessary. That is what this book is about.

The good news is it is never too late to start. And because everyone will get here eventually, it is never too early either. In fact, healthy acceptance is absolutely required, even when we are young.

No one comes to old age unscathed. The cosmic universe sends us sucker punches on a regular basis that follow us throughout our lives. Successfully navigating the tough times, though incredibly painful, will give you gifts and knowledge (and yes, a few scars) to use for the rest of your life. This is not just having a positive attitude. It takes a lot of work and introspection and is probably the most important and rewarding work you will do throughout your whole life. So, what do you say? Are you ready to dive into this newest chapter of your life with me?

Retirement

I had no idea how I would feel leaving the home of the gentleman who would be the last patient of my career as a hospice and family physician. This fulfilling and heartfelt career was central to my identity as a human being. Would I be devastated or relieved? Would there be a few gentle tears or a forceful gnashing of teeth as my perceived usefulness in the world faded away? Would I miss the relationships forged every day with staff and patients with whom I shared and from whom I learned so much? Of course I would; how could I not?

Much to my surprise, I did not cry as I descended the steps of that