| Welcome! Are you approaching 60 and a bit bothered about it? If you want to make peace with and live joyously at 60 & beyond, you’re in the right place. |
 |
Bonnie McFarland has a message for you about savoring your sixties. To watch it, click the picture above and then click the play arrow. |
“When you turn 50 there are only two questions: How much time do I have left? And what am I going to do with it?”
David Bowie
This is true at 50 and even more so at 60.
Whether we realize it or not, these are the questions we’re all asking ourselves.
What are your answers?
What are you going to do with the time you have left? Click on Comments, scroll down, and write away.
Were you hoping for a magic pill? Me too. Oh, if only it were that easy.
I already know the key to aging well. So do you.
I doubt you can pick up a magazine or read a newspaper or go online without being reminded of it.
Here’s one example, an article by Judy Jones in the June 2009 issue of More magazine.
According to the New Rules for Saving Your Memory, a huge number of people are keeping their cognitive function well into their 80s or beyond. Part of the population, though is not aging well at all, not even in their 60’s.
What’s the difference between the 2 groups?
An active lifestyle.
30 minutes of aerobic exercise at least three times a week boosts brainpower, decreases stress, and reduces the risk of dementia, depression, heart disease, and more. Everything but wash the windows, apparently.
Seriously, I know exercise is important, vital, crucial. I’ve known this for years. But I still don’t do enough of it.
I dabble in it here and there but I confess I do not consistently get 30+ minutes three times a week. There are so many things I’d rather be doing.
What about you? Do you get the recommended amount of exercise? What tips and tricks do you use to get yourself to do this? Click on Comments, scroll down, and write away.
My father died 40 years ago, at the age of 45. He saw one grandchild before his death but missed the other seven as well as the eight great grandchildren that followed. He would have loved them all.
One day my sister, Vicki, sent me an email about her granddaughter (my great-niece), Haley. The children in Haley’s second grade class were asked to bring a picture of someone in their family who was a veteran to display in the classroom. Haley proudly took a picture of my father, her great grandfather, who was a World War II Navy veteran.
That same night in a letter written to the tooth fairy (apparently she had lost a tooth that day) she wrote, “I don’t need anything for my tooth but I would very much like to meet my great grandfather.”
When I read this email, I was busy (of course!) getting ready to go somewhere (more hurry, hurry) but my sister’s story stopped me in my tracks.
My heart broke open and I chose to give myself some time to be with that. I carved out a few moments to miss my dad, to feel sad that he has missed so much, and to ache at the poignancy of a child’s simple request that could not be fulfilled.
After those feelings moved through me, I was left savoring the sweetness of a seven year old asking not for money as one usually does of the tooth fairy, but to meet her grandfather. Pausing for a few moments, I allowed myself to savor this sweetness, to be profoundly touched, fully and deeply alive, and grateful for this child’s presence in my life.
The experience of that sweetness lingered for days. And I was so glad for the reminder to take time to savor life’s sweet moments.
Maybe like me, you sometimes need to be reminded of what you already know: to fully experience the joys of life, to pay attention to the special moments. Life is made up of moments, some more enjoyable than others. Are you savoring the sweet ones?
Noticing, focusing on, and savoring the sweet moments will feed your heart, increase your energy, and nurture you. These moments make your life fuller, richer, and more joyous.
Renowned mythology professor and author, Joseph Campbell, said, “I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive . . . so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.” Sweet moments help us feel the rapture of being alive. If we let them.
Whenever life offers you a sweet moment, take time to savor it. The more you do this, the more you’ll experience the joy of being fully, wonderfully alive.
What about you? What moments in your life do you savor? Click on Comments and write away.
Baby boomers have quite the track record for changing society. Retirement will be no different. Our retirement is not going to be like our parents retirement.
A recent US News article lists 10 ways that baby boomers will reinvent retirement from living longer to retiring with debt to staying active.
What do you think? How will your retirement differ from your parents? Or from even what you might have thought it would be? Click on Comments, scroll down, & write away.
What could help you slow aging, fight illness and depression, and prolong life?
Friends!
Of course, we know how important friends are. But science is now catching up with recent studies showing friends make your life better in many different ways.
In a New York Times article Tara Parker-Pope wrote about researchers who took students to the base of a steep hill and fitted them with weighted backpacks.
“The students were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the exercise, while others were alone.
The students who stood with friends gave lower estimates of the steepness of the hill. And the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.”
Turning 60, being in your sixties, aging. These can be steep hills in your life. May you stand with friends during these times.
What do friends mean to you? How strong is your support system? Click on Comments, scroll down, and write away.
Gratitude is a cornerstone of joyous living. We can never have too much gratitude.
Brother David Steindl-Rast will fill you with gratitude, and perhaps even joy for “This Good Day.” Give yourself the gift of 5 minutes to experience this moving video.
Remember when you were younger & got a pimple on your face? Ick!
The whole world revolved around that pimple.
It was huge. It was blaring. It was screaming on your face.
You knew everyone was focusing on your pimple. That’s all they saw when they looked at you.
How could you possibly go out with that pimple on your face? What could you do to hide it? When would it ever go away?
As you grew older, you came to realize people were more focused on themselves than you. Most of them didn’t even notice if you had a god-awful pimple!
You also realized your pimple wasn’t you. It wasn’t even your face.
The pimple wasn’t really all that big. It didn’t matter all that much.
You were so much more than your pimple.
What if being in your sixties is like a pimple?
No one but you really notices or cares all that much.
You are not your age.
Your age doesn’t matter than much.
And you are so much more.
What do you think? Click on Comments, scroll down, and write away.
Growing older is the best birthday present according to a recent Dear Abby column. The column is about turning 50 but the same wisdom applies to turning 60.
Abby and her readers make some excellent points about celebrating and being grateful for more years.
Not everyone gets to have 60 or even 50 years alive on this earth!
Yep, there can be some challenges to aging. But it’s better than the alternative, isn’t it?
Thoughts? Click on Comments, scroll down, and write away.
“Baby boomers are going to do something quite spectacular.” according to Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind,in an interview with Oprah.
“They say, ‘Sixty’s not old. Oh, I’ve got 25 years left.’
Then they look back 25 years and say, ‘Holy smokes, that sure happened fast. Are the next 25 years going to happen as fast?
And if they are, what’s my legacy going to be? When am I going to live my best life? What kind of imprint am I going to leave on the world?’”
Baby boomers aren’t going to be content with doing nothing after 60.
Sure, we may take more time for rest, relaxation, and recreation. But we’re also looking for meaning and fulfillment.
As more boomers cross the 60 threshold, we’ll see countless examples of women living rich, full, joyous, and meaningful lives at 60 and beyond. Hooray!
What willl you do with the gift of possibly 25 more years? What does your best life after 60 look like?
Tell us by clicking on Comments, scrolling down to the form, and writing away.
PVDM3Q433DB8
Turning 60 and bothered about it?
If you’re like many women “in the neighborhood” of 60, you are feeling apprehensive or concerned about being in your sixties. You might even be dreading it.
Yep, some women just sail through 60 but many other aren’t feeling good about their future and don’t know what kind of future they would feel good about.
If you want to live with joy, passion, and purpose at 60 and beyond here are five steps to help you move from dread to delight, from struggling with 60 to savoring your sixties.
Did you know you had an internal GPS?
What “lights you up” – what energizes and enlivens you – is your own wise, simple, easily accessible guidance system for your life.
Paying attention to what lights you up (and what doesn’t) connects you with your inner GPS. That guidance system points the way to a life you will love, a life with energy, aliveness, vitality, passion, joy, and purpose.
Make a Lights List for yourself. Tune into your inner GPS as you do this.
What lights you up? What energizes and enlivens you? What brings a smile to your face just thinking about it?
Now do more of the things on your list more often.
When you do more of what you love, you’ll find more joy in each day
Well, duh! Isn’t this obvious? Yes, and it’s amazing how many of us are so focused on the busyness, the “shoulds,” and the routines of life that we forget about ourselves and what we want.
If turning 60 or being in your 60s troubles you, you’ve likely got some fears about this time of your life.
Take some time to identify your fears.
Which ones can you do something about? Do what you can do.
Which ones can’t you do anything about? Find ways to accept and make peace with what you can’t change or control.
Remind yourself of what has helped you deal with life’s challenges in the past.
Meditation? Exercise? Talking with trusted friends? Being in the present moment? Time in nature? Ways of quieting your Monkey Mind?
Whatever life tools have helped you before, bring them out now and put them to work on your 60s challenges.
You know you’re not ready for life to be over at 60. But what is your vision for your life in the next year or five years or 10 years?
Take some quiet time by yourself to reflect on what you truly, deeply want in your life. Don’t worry about if or how it could happen. For now, assume anything is possible (which it just might be!)
Ask yourself, “If I could wave a magic wand, what would I ask for in my life? What would I want my life to be like?”
Again, pay attention to what lights you up, to your inner GPS as you do this.
When you have a clear, compelling, energizing vision, it’s much easier to get excited about your future.
Now it’s time to begin taking action to bring your vision to life.
Let your lights, your internal GPS guide you in choosing which actions to take.
What lights you up? Where do you have some energy? What are you curious about? Take those steps next.
You don’t have to be miserable while you’re on the path to what you want. The steps toward your vision can be energizing and enlivening, not more draining tasks to do.
Lights on actions immediately put more of what you love into your life. They create more energy to move you toward your vision. Plus they make the journey – and your life – more fun!
Tune into your internal GPS.
Do more of what you love.
Face your fears.
Create a vision for your life.
Take energizing steps in the direction of your vision.
These five steps can help you move from dreading your sixties to delighting in them, from struggling with 60 to savoring your sixties.
P.S. I’ll be writing more about these five steps as well as offering individual and group coaching for women who want additional support applying the steps to their own lives.
In the meantime . . .What do you think about these steps? What questions do you have? What else would you like to know? Click on Comments below and write away.
Sign up for my |
|
 |
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
