The "M Word".....The Birth of a Sage

I hate it!........I hate the stigma that goes along with getting older. Its really not fair, because only women have to deal with the slotting of ones hierarchy with respect to where they fit into society as they age and grow older. This phenomena happens to us around that magic age of lets say....fifty.

For some reason this "M word" has made me feel very uncomfortable. Perhaps this is because I am new to the experience, but none the less, every time someone ventures to ask me if I have the entered the "M Word" stage of my life, I kinda cringe, and meekly acknowledge that I have indeed reached that saga of my life...(cringe, cringe).

However just recently I had a very enlightening experience which has for now and forever changed the way I think about this particular time of a woman's life. It has also put me at ease with respect to talking about how I feel about this issue, and it has taught me that this time of life is something to be proud of, not to be embarrassed by it.

I was getting ready for one of my Chinese medicine class finals, which in this case was about GYN related topics. I was researching a question that related to the "M Word", and it just so happened that I stumbled upon a passage in a book that will forever make me proud to have hit this particular life milestone.

This is what I found that was written in one of my books and I thought it was a very beautiful thought;

" At seven or 49 years of age, the kidney essence is exhausted in the female and thus the tian gui ceases."

"Instead of preparing the uterus for the growth of a physical addition to the community of humankind, the blood rather then being sent to the uterus, focuses on the heart in which to nourish the woman's spirit. Thus, the menopausal woman becomes the wise woman or sage femme, the mother of her community and a fountain of wisdom. From this point of view, menopause should not be seen as a loss of youth but rather as the potential gaining of wisdom and spiritual power"

Ahhhhh....I like that.

I much rather think of myself as a Sage than as "menopauseal" wouldn't anybody?

Now I think and refer to myself as "The Sage" as opposed to having experienced the "M Word"...Okay Okay...Now I'll say it......Here goes;

MENOPAUSE...Yes I can say it firmly and say it without cringing.

I will now wear the "M Word" proudly since I am the Sage Femme known as PawHealer!

(Many thanks to Bob Flaws who wrote this in the book called A Compendium of Chinese Medical Menstrual Diseases)