Stages of human development

 Many years ago in another lifetime almost, I took a course in human development, based largely on Erik Erikson's Eight Stages of Development. I found it a useful tool in my work at the time, although all models are that -- models, not the reality they are emulating.

I found in my own adult (?!?) journey that the descriptions of the stages applied fairly closely. Lately -- I will be 75 in May -- I  notice that the relevant stage, which Erikson calls Late Adulthood, rings true in unusual ways. Here is the section from the article linked above:

Stage 8 — Late adulthood. The final stage of the developmental process proposed by Erikson centers around ego integrity and despair. This stage begins at age 65 and lasts throughout the rest of your life. If you’re satisfied with your life, you age with grace. You often feel pride in what you’ve accomplished and want to demonstrate your wisdom to others.‌

If you don’t feel a sense of accomplishment when you look back on your life, you may fall into despair. When that happens, you tend to focus more on regrets.

I find myself going through the process spontaneously. Dreams, random memories, incidents in my life -- some preschool, even -- drift through my mind when I am out for a walk, sitting on the balcony watching birds, doing nothing much. Despite a regular practice of meditation, I don't set time aside to reflect on my past, to ponder my accomplishments and failures, be whatever they may be. But it feels like I am wrapping something up, putting it all together and bringing it to a conclusion.

I am in good health and don't feel the need to make my peace with a deity of some sort. Or even to make peace with myself. Instead I seem to be simply finding peace. I am human and have regrets. But I do not focus on them. I simply let them go. I am human and have accomplished some things. But I do not find myself thinking of those, either. I simply let them go.

I certainly do not wish to demonstrate my wisdom. To whom and for what purpose? To share perhaps that the one thing I have learned is that people find (or do not find) wisdom through their own experiences, not very much from what others try to tell or teach or preach to them.

So I post this reflection for myself and put it here on this blog where I imagine no one will ever find it.

Peace.