November Roses
Mindfulness at Seventy
by
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About the Book
How are we to live? When we are done with providing and procuring – when we have had enough noise, nonsense and negativity – when we no longer wish to gather up trophies, toys and talismans. What is left? Do we see a dark wall or a shimmering edge?
In 2008, the author turned seventy. Because this was a big birthday, marking the undeniable transition into old age, she decided to journal. For one year she would write a short piece daily. There was to be no theme but, as life happened, themes emerged.
Some entries are narrative, some are conjecture and some are poetry. All are brief and are seen through the lens of the author’s Zen, Contemplative, Twelve Step background.
November Roses is about simple living in a complex world. About aging, holding on and letting go. It is about death and birth, loss and recovery. About many things that we think but do not often say. But it is mostly about paying attention: to the first light of dawn; to the movement of the breath; to tastes, smells and sounds; to the content and quality of our thoughts and behaviors; and to the last light of day. It is about living the moment fully and fully aware. The moment, in all its splendor and drudgery. The terrible, glorious, dull, mystical moment.
About the Author
A Volunteer Naturalist for the Wellfleet Bay Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary and a semi-retired Psychologist, Dr. Denessen lives on Cape Cod. She has traveled extensively by automobile throughout the United States and Maritime Canada with her young adult grandchildren, lodging in a tent and cooking on a camp stove. She particularly enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking and playing her Native American flute. Dr. Denessen is the author of Little Dipper: Roots of Healing, Tides of Change (Dreamcatcher Publishing, 2007; Xlibris, 2010), a memoir of her experience in her cabin in the woods of coastal Canada. She is co-author, with her grandson Derrick Soares, of Luminous on the Threshold: Hope for the Bereaved and Help for Those Who Would Stand by Them (Xlibris, 2007), written subsequent to the death of her granddaughter, Derrick’s sister.