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by Tim Hyland (Author)
A couple of year back, as I approached my 75th birthday, I found myself obsessed and downtrodden about growing old. So many of my close friends and associates were dying or facing serious illness. Moreover, what I will call the "diminishments" of the aging process were getting me down for sure. Losing my hair, my physical strength, and my good vision and hearing, were thoughts dominating my mind each day. I decided to take some action to alter my daily focus. I began to read material from various spiritual mystics and write down my reflections of what I gained from the reading.
In particular, I saw that I had to decide whether my life was over or was I just beginning a new and exciting chapter in my life? Can the "last quarter" of my life be a time of new awakening instead of diminishment and decline? As it has turned out, this daily practice has totally changed my perspective with respects to the aging process.
I named the book The Last Quarter because once you hit 75, it is pretty certain statistically that you are in the final quarter of your life. But it came to me that none of us truly know when we are, in fact, in the last quarter. Death has no age requirement and we all just have the one moment in time that we breathe together on this earth. As such, my hope is that many of the thoughts and reflections in this book will ring true for many of us regardless of our biological age.
Since I began these writings, I have lost my wife of over 50 years two years ago. I have lost my AA sponsor of over 25 years. He was my spiritual guide for all of that time. My brother who has been closest to me my whole life as been stricken with dementia. My best friend of over 50 years also was recently diagnosed with dementia. Life on life's terms has continued to happen.
But my life today is not one of "gloom and doom", but rather a new excitement about what God has in store for me the rest of the way! I feel a sense of a new awakening and a letting go of the many "attachments" in my life that have kept me afraid and in the dark. It's exciting to be in The Last Quarter! I hope this book will help you feel the same!
