What’s Next for Seniors
English: This hand-colored print shows a man aging every decade from infancy to 100 years-old. Verses at the bottom accompany the drawings at each stage of life. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Retirement (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Coaching for Elders in transition and for Care Givers
We don’t know how long we will live, but the capacity for change is a vital resilience skill. As we age, new opportunities open for us and new challenges may confront us. The continuance of your life’s contribution should not end with career retirement, personal mobility issues, or the achievement of a specific age. In this specific time of your life’s journey, let us help you or someone you love, honor themselves, celebrate their depth of wisdom, and continue to reach the full dimension of the gifts yet to be given.
Coaching can assist you with your next life choices to “strategically age”, reconnecting core values that truly are your guiding principles, while discarding those that make you non-congruent with your internal gifts. Strategic aging is conscious living, the transition to living in synchronization with your core beliefs and the choices you have yet to make. Our coaching will help you end the cycle of ‘I should have’ or ‘why don’t I’? Together, we will address these areas, creating your ‘strategic aging’ life:
- Clarify the issues & opportunities facing you now
- Define a true description of your final outcome & the time period for fulfillment
- Identify competent resources you may need for complete fulfillment
- Honor those values that are still guiding principles and shed those that do not serve you
- Acknowledge your flexibility along the road to your final achievement
- With our assistance in your transition, you can design your ‘strategic age life’ without guilt.
What’s Next? Continuing Life’s Journey…
All of us have progressed on our journey, having families, pursuing academic or professional success, becoming political advocates, assuming social responsibility; and, assuring environmental safety for future generations. Along this journey your outlook may have shifted or radically changes from those you held in family conventions or acquired by association. So what’s next?
The continuance of your life’s contribution should not end with career or military retirement, end of child rearing, personal mobility issues, or the achievement of a specific age. We invite you to realize your ‘what’s next’ with us.
- How will this resolution (promise) bring meaningful change to my life?
- Are there external resources you will need to help achieve this objective?
- If others are involved, what competency or skills do they need to help you?
- Is the time frame you’ve established truly reasonable for your lifestyle?
- What are your fallback plans in the event your pursuit does not proceed exactly as planned?
- If this resolution is a larger community movement, are you certain you have the staying power for efforts this significant?
Services & Benefits – Transforming Dreams into Achievements
… Coaching provides services for the entire aging process, arriving to mid-life, returning to the job market, defining second careers, assisting Elders in transition, coaching family members, and residence staff to be loving Care Givers. The benefits of coaching transform dreams of any life chapter into real achievements you can be proud to live with. Many people have used our coaching to explore and achieve results in the following areas:
- Too Young to Retire-Defining the Next Chapter of your Life
- Exploring Your Next Career Choice
- Endorsing the Third Age & Sage-ism
- Contributing in Civic Engagement-The Sage Mentor
- Assisting the Care Giver-What do I do now?
- Residence Staff-Tapping Core Values for Resident Satisfaction & Care
- Gracious transition to Independent Communities
- Renewing Elder Contribution in Assisted Living
“The greatest good we can do for others is not to share our riches, but to reveal theirs.” – Gil Atkinson
Home Living Transitions – Continue the Celebration of Your Life
Each of us has created our homes with loving care. This home represents the unique identity of our life’s achievements, community contributions; and, can contain smiling photos of our family’s legacy. The transition to independent or assisted living communities can be overwhelming. We understand the process of activities involved can cause confusion and fear: what to take, what to leave, what to give to relatives, do you keep your own doctors, what activities will you continue or delete, how will you make new friends; along with, creating the identity of your unique life’s contributions. We believe that the transition from a home of 50 or more years should be a continuing celebration of your life. …develope a transition program assisting the Elder and their family in taking the appropriate steps to create and celebrate a new home.
The Care Giver Family—-Are you asking?
- Are you practicing loving behavior to yourself as well as your Elder?
- Does your weekly schedule include private time to reconnect to the ‘cosmos’ strengthening your spiritual harmony?
- In your domain of responsibility, who is going to be responsible for your well being?
http://www.walksbesidecoaching.com/coaching/caregivers-and-seniors/
What’s Next?
While some people want to focus on their purpose and goals, others want to focus on what’s next, in order to be most present in the moment. It doesn’t hurt to have a little help from your friends.
What’s Next? for John
Host Sherry Parrish surprises John at home, by bringing him an entire new wardrobe for him to modernize his look and transform him to be more sociable and outgoing.
Living in the Moment
Can You Only Be Free in Paris?
Practice Being Present with What’s Now
Instead of Planning What’s Next
Mike and I recently returned from three beautiful days in Paris.
Here’s what I noticed about this storied city:
- There are hundreds and hundreds of cafes where people can be found sitting and relaxing at all hours of the day as though they have nothing else to do and nowhere else to be.
- People don’t rush getting on and off the Metro like they do in New York City.
- Everyone seems to eat lots of gluten, dairy, and sugar, yet no one is fat.
- At restaurants, people sit and look at one another and talk instead of looking at their phones.
- People walk down the street looking in front of them rather than at their phones.
Here’s what I also found out:
Everyone in Paris takes July and August off. It’s standard for companies to give seven to ten weeks of paid vacation to their employees.
We spoke with some friends who are expanding their business in France, and they told us that it’s completely impossible to move forward with anything business-wise for all of July and August. People are literally offended if you call them during their vacation. It’s sacred time.
Having spent only three days there, and in holiday mode to boot, I’m aware that these pieces of information do not likely cover every aspect of Parisian life and that there may be some grimmer realities going on adjacent to the practices and cultural norms described above.
Nonetheless, these practices and norms do leave me with the following important question:
WTF, America?
Part of the reason I left NYC after living there for six years was that I craved a slower, more intentional lifestyle that didn’t include constantly striving.
I wanted to recalibrate my inner compass for enjoyment and lifestyle rather than achievement.
Yet, here’s my confession:
- I strive a lot.
- I have tons of lofty, achievement-oriented goals.
- I often check my phone and email obsessively.
- I regularly find myself planning what’s next instead of enjoying what’s now.
Yesterday, I got into a bubble bath at 5:00 p.m., after a day of rain-soaked sightseeing.
It felt profoundly luxurious.
And here’s what I realized:
I work for myself, and I have a solid foundation of residual income that comes in whether I’m working or not.
I can freaking take a bubble bath any time of any day that I want.
Therefore, Mike and I have agreed to incorporate a few choice Parisian lifestyle habits into our own life.
Walking down the street, looking up instead of at my phone, having coffee to stay rather than to-go, stopping to take a bath, and enjoying what’s happening now can all be summed up in one word:
SANE.
No matter where you stand on the old reincarnation question, I think we can all agree that this one life we’re currently living is precious.
So often, we’re too busy going for the next thing, and we forget that our precious life is happening now.
No matter how great our lives are, we can always be more present in them.
Want to add a little flavor of Paris to your life too?
Practice being present with what’s now instead of planning what’s next.
When what’s next germinates in the fertile soil of what’s now, the present and the future both get a whole lot brighter.
Have you ever travelled and gotten some wisdom nuggets to bring home with you? What lifestyle tidbits from other cultures have you incorporated into your own life? What have you noticed?
By Kate Northrup
Practice Being Present with What’s Now Instead of Planning What’s Next
Where is the Freedom?
…..on the Edge of Freedom
How many of us walk through the door of opportunity and feel as if Life Itself has waited outside? I know for each of us there are moments in our lives that seem to be calling us into greater expression; moments when our own resolve seems shaken by adversity, or when there seems to be no options. Maybe we have just reached the door of opportunity, slung it open only to find a brick wall has been erected just inside. It’s like Real Life 101.
Within everything lies gifts, and those gifts must be appreciated if we are to see the illusion of the brick wall before us. There are solutions and there are problems, and it has been said that, “you can’t solve the problem at the level of consciousness that created the problem.” We want to be solution oriented.
Each of us have this miraculous ability to rise above any misfortune, any crash in the job market, any deficiency in our finances, any issue within our relationships, and move into a greater expression of freedom. We don’t have to Live on the Edge of Freedom, always feeling as if it continues to elude us.
Many people choose to pity themselves…don’t do that…that increases the flow of displeasureable moments. Or, they sit back and wish for things…but wishing never brought anything forward until some action was taken towards the wish coming true! Or quite possibly they imagine things happening for them…say for instance…what they will do with all the money when they win the lottery…but they never purchase a ticket. Have you told yourself that story? That…is Living on the Edge of Freedom.
Our evolution is compelling us to step over the edge; to move into greater freedom through uncovering the Truth of our being., We have capacities within us that are limitless, however, so many of us have opted for the limited life instead of the limitless life. We must ask ourselves where we have accepted a lesser reality, and be willing to let it go for the greater reality. Ernest Holmes, Founder of Religious Science is quoted as saying, “We must put down the lesser so that we may grab hold of the greater!”
Living on the Edge of Freedom is promising at best and painful at worst. Promising in that there are steps that if we were willing to take, we could cross over the threshold into complete emancipation; yet, painful due to the lack of initiative and motivation. How many people do you know that could be doing so much more with their lives but they cop out to apathy or they are just really powerful procrastinators?
Do you procrastinate? Take a moment to reflect back on all the things you told yourself you were going to do…did you do any of them?
Moving beyond the threshold is simple, but it certainly isn’t always easy. Here are a few things you might try to inch yourself over the line of resistance and into the realm of greater freedom:
1. Don’t make your list too long for the day. Keep it simple. Keep it short.
2. Don’t leave yourself short of tools to achieve freedom. Use the right tools for the job. If the only tool we have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail!
3. Find someone to share in your freedom. Use a mentor, a sponsor, a Practitioner, a therapist. Share the Truth of your Life.
4. Write down your successes. Use a tablet or a journal to record your progress daily. Put things in your journal you are grateful for.
5. Remember to forgive yourself. The price of freedom is forgiveness. Remember to forgive yourself…if you do any of these…this is the one to do.
It doesn’t take much to make progress in life. To move beyond Living on the Edge of Freedom, cut yourself loose from the moorings of the past, and choose to see and recognize love expressing everywhere.
Right now, write down everything you love about your life. This is sure to take you beyond Living on the Edge of Freedom.
Living on the Edge….of Freedom?
“Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”
― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles
― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles
For some reason about a week a week ago, I realized by blogging was suffering. Sometimes it was due to rushing to post an article and tossing some ideas out to quickly. I took a few days off from blogging hoping my writing process would become fresh again. After all, attempting to post material daily isn’t as easy as it appears.
After I wrote another blog, I still wasn’t satisfied. Then it hit me. It’s tough to describe, but once you become accustomed to holding back and censoring your own thoughts; it tends to become a habit. It hinders you from your doing best work.
Once I realized the problem (fear), I experimented by writing a blog without fear of retribution. I was stunned by how powerful my posts became instantly. It turns out this stifling style affected my writing for some time. I hadn’t felt this much writing energy since my first book.
Part of the problem was listening to other people’s advice: “You better watch out” or “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” No you wouldn’t, you sell yourself short daily by not taking chances. You’ll complain, cry or through a temper tantrum, but you will never stand-up for yourself or others.
Besides, freedom of speech is a guaranteed right of our Constitution. If we can’t or won’t express ourselves is it any wonder that tyranny has become the norm?
While some people mean well by believing they’re offering “time tested advice” the truth is the advice originated from the Industrial Age mindset of “Don’t rock the boat”, “Keep your mouth shut” and my favorite- “Just do your job.” Those words of wisdom worked for 100 years in a system built upon conformity and compliance. In today’s new connection economy, we need to do the exact opposite of yesteryear.
Following my own advice, I was picked by Bloggers.com as one of the ‘Editors Pick of the Day’ out of thousands of bloggers. That little reward gave me the extra edge and confidence to open up my writing and write more effectively. I was asked to post a guest blog and by allowing my own blogs to resonate without hesitation my audience has increased some days by 25%. Kicking my fears out the door is making a difference.
If you want to find your edge, start dealing with your own state of denial. What holds you back from becoming a warrior and doing your best work? Discover the reason why you hesitate and confront it head-on. Lock that little monkey out of your head.
We only get one life here on earth and it passes quickly. Don’t sell yourself short and spend your time ‘just getting by.’ Life is too precious to waste your strengths, time and energy seeking mediocrity. Worse yet, you may never know your true calling!
By Jim Carver
Being Free 