Friday, October 18, 2019

Questions to think about

Here are four questions that hopefully will stimulate your thinking about your retirement planning. They are easy questions that are very hard to answer. In your answers think about the pictures and images they call to your mind. There is no correct or wrong answer. You will, however, notice a theme and a progression which hopefully will focus your thoughts. 

I want you to assume that you are financially secure. This means you have enough money to take care of your basic needs and wants now and in the future.
  
The first question is…how would you live your life?  
In answering this question, consider if you would you change anything? Use your imagination and do not hold back on your dreams.  Take some time and write down a description of your complete life with as much detail as you can think about. 

In the next question, you have gone to visit your doctor who tells you that you have only 5 years to live. 

The second question is What will you do in the time you have remaining to live?  What will you change in your life and how will you do it? Will you move, will you change relationships, will you travel, will you create and finish a bucket list?

We move along and you visit your doctor and you are told that you only have one day left to live. This is a shock, but take the time to notice what feelings arise as you confront your very real mortality. 

The third question is in three parts. What will I miss?,  Who did I not get to be?  What did I not get to do? As we are confronted by our own mortality or when we go to the next Celebration of Life, we should think about these questions and if we can we should take steps to be the person I am not yet, and do the things that I have not yet done and spend more time with the people I will miss.

Imagine you are the wise elder of your family and community. The last question goes beyond your life and asks you to contemplate your vision for a better world future and what you can do to create the world you would wish to live in.

The fourth question is What world you would like your grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great, great-grandchildren to live in?  When thinking about your answer, consider what lifestyle changes/actions (large or small) can you take today to ensure the sustainability of the human family and natural world around you for generations to come? What is it that you have done, or will do to make the world closer to the world you imagine for your family?

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