It makes me proud to be growing mellow as a contemporary of Naomi Judd. Beautiful and elegant, she bursts on the stage at the AARP WLC and then meanders among the participants sharing her wisdom. She speaks from the heart:
We feel so disenfranchised and separated today, and it makes me happy when we get together like this in community. Everything you are here talking about – union of spirit, mind and body – is in my new book, Naomi’s Guide to Aging Gratefully: Facts, Myths, and Good News for Boomers . Vitamin G – gratitude – if you practice it. Shift happens when you have a breakthrough. I’m a communicator. It’s important to figure out your story. The number one cause of unhappiness is not knowing who you are. Americans are more unhappy today despite living in the richest country in the world – we rank 23rd in happiness in the world. Start thinking about your story.
Naomi thinks that we have collective ADHD. Nobody has anytime to pay attention to her own life. We are distracted from what we are doing and why. She explains where here wake-up call came from:
If you don’t know who you are and what you stand for, you’ll fall for everything. That’s what the media wants – for us to buy their stuff. We only use 20% of what we have. I’ve had to become a detective of my life – as I saw the stories about myself in magazines and TV.
She speaks of having, “cleaned out the energy vampires in my life”. The chronicle is in her book. Her conviction on the importance of that experience compels her to say:
I want you to go home and think about yourself. Instead of vacuuming out your thighs, vacuum out your brain. Here is how you get started thinking about who you are at your core essence. Take off your masque. We are followers following followers. You can tell your values by looking at your check stubs. We are all driven by emotions.
Naomi was aware at 17 of what emotional template was driving her life – this was her first life lesson. Her brother was taken to the hospital and she was left to raise the other kids in the family. In life the tests come first and the lessons come later. That year, my brother died, mom and dad got a divorce, the boy who got her pregnant left town. All of this caused her to step back.
The world screams and God whispers. I had to get in touch with my feelings and express them. Start communicating with yourself. What was your first life lesson? The lessons were that I figured out that real security comes from within. The deepest source of my identity is God. Control and security are really illusions. You can control your reactions.
When you know who you are, not only do you not fall for media hype — you get a sense of peace of mind and the ability to deal with stuff. Naomi’s second life lesson at 22 as she was getting a divorce. She had 2 kids and realized that how healthy, happiness and long-living you are depends on your self-esteem. She recognized that< “We bait and set our own traps. I recognized that you get to be a victim once and after that you’re a volunteer.” She went back to Appalachia and became an RN. In that time, the talents of her family surfaced and her life direction changed. Her final thoughts sum it up:
What’s not serving you? What’s not working as you look at your life story? Life’s a process. It’s always gonna be something. The bottom line is that I figured out my story and I stand with my girls figuring out their story. When you do a serious moral inventory of your life, nothing can happen.
