7 Year Cycles of Life

I was thinking about this the other day, having read once upon a time about how our minds and bodies change every seven years.

Some of us reach the age of maturity later in life

As I’m now at the start of the tenth seven-year cycle, I decided to look it up to see what’s in store. Rather depressingly, it ends here. According to the Rudolf Steiner model, the ages 56-63 represent the final stage.

Another spiritually-based website put a more positive spin on this, calling it the Decision Cycle – at least in the first sentence, the second is a bit of a downer. “People, by this time, have a feeling about doing what they are here to do on planet earth, or not. If they do not become involved in their life purpose, they consciously, or unconsciously, begin the process of leaving the physical world and returning to the world of spirit.”

This tenth cycle doesn’t have a name but this is what the aforementioned website said about it: “In following through with decisions they make for what they feel is important, people can do their greatest work in these years.”

Another website claimed that “at 56 there is very often a tendency to let go of everything that has been, and to take on a whole new life style”. For me this happened when I turned 60 and retired from the day job. Since then I’ve been writing novels and enjoying my forays into the world of lesbian fiction.

So, rather than thinking of this cycle as an ending, I’m looking forward to forging more beginnings. Instead of winding down, this can be a time of revving up.

In writing this I was reminded of the old Beatles song, “When I’m Sixty-Four”… and the lyrics which we laughed at when we were in our teens (the Identity Cycle)…when reaching the age of 64 wasn’t something we thought was going to happen to us. Mind you, the young songwriters, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, had a pretty limited view of what they would be doing at that age…mending fuses, knitting sweaters (their wives, obviously), gardening, going for Sunday rides in the car.

Personally, I’m hoping for a bit more fun when I turn 64.