Thinking of new beginnings

For many people this season is all about new beginnings.  As we move to the end of the year, we start planning New year's resolutions and promises that "from now on, things will be different".

Right now, your social media feeds are probably full of pictures of people at the gym, doing a juice cleanse, and generally trying to make sweeping changes in their lives.

If you're on of those people - GREAT!! I'm cheering for you.

For the rest of here is a suggestion:

Change can be still be meaningful if it is done in small steps.

Think of one small change you can easily make in your life.  Not a massive overhaul of everything. Nothing that involves new memberships or equipment. Just one small change.

• ·       Drink more water.
• ·       Go to bed 15 minutes earlier.
• ·       Spend 10 minutes doing something in a meditative state of mind.

Or anything else you can think of that isn't difficult to do and that you can see yourself doing with some real consistency.

Yes, the big, actions get all the glamour and glory - but sometimes it's the small actions that form the foundation for the bigger shifts and changes.

How do you value knowledge?

Growing up in a working class family, my parents put a very high value on education and knowledge. I still value knowledge, and I place an incredibly high value on "knowing". Not just knowing, but doing something with the knowledge gained.

Maybe it's the "wisdom with age" finally kicking in, but now I'm starting to shift my thinking a bit. Yesterday something interesting occurred to me and I wanted to share it with you.

"Many of us focus on knowing, but knowing without doing prevents us from growing."

Here's my thinking... I can only "know" something that already exists. But the more I focus on doing I become open to not only knowing at an intellectual level, but also at an emotional and personal level.

By doing I am forced to grow and the more I open myself up to expanding beyond what exists. Or to experiencing my knowledge in a new way and sharing it with others.

Does this sound familiar?

One week until Xmas, and here is some something to think about.

Doses this sound familiar: I'm my own worst critic"?

When I look at my life, I've spent a crazy amount of time beating myself up. Sometimes it's not too bad - I'm simply challenging myself to do better next time.  But other times I'm much harsher with myself. 

Why does this happen, there are many reasons for this, one is I listen to the voices in my head that I heard as I grew up. Voices that I internalised over the years and even if I think I have banished them, they come back to haunt me.

Another reason is that I may hold myself to an impossibly high standard. Maybe it's because I occasionally feel nervous about writing this blog, every day.  That's when I catch myself saying:

"Who am I to be giving suggestions or advice? My life isn't perfect."

“Will anyone bother to read what I have written or care what I have said?”

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who beats himself up from time to time.

So, let's all agree that we're allowed to make mistakes.  We're allowed to not have it all figured out and we're allowed to be less than perfect.  I won't judge you and you won't judge me and together we'll agree to give ourselves a break and show ourselves some forgiveness, love and kindness. 

I can do this because I am in the final phase of my life, and I realise that life is great and I have to take life as it happens.  And for the rest of you isn't giving ourselves the gift of forgiveness a wonderful Xmas present?

Some musings on being an aging boomer

I don’t do volunteer work, because of the commitment of time. Now it is not the time commitment but the regular commitment of time. I worked all my life, and I have been retired for 25 years and I value my time. I don’t like the idea of having to commit on a regular basis to one activity, not even golfing with my friends.

I was giving a workshop to the SOB (Some Old Boys Club) on Licencing Issues for Seniors and I was talking to one of the members before the workshop. We had been talking about retirement and I had said, I was so busy that I had been forced to start keeping a schedule.

He then talked about how he respected those who volunteered but that because he did not like to be tied down he would not volunteer. He also said that his wife had decided to volunteer at the local hospital but when she went to the orientation meeting and talked to the staff, she quickly realized that she too, did not want to be tied to a specific schedule. The hospital did not offer any flexible options, so she is not volunteering.

The idea of not volunteering because of time commitment is one I have heard before and one that is a legitimate concern of many seniors. We have worked for over 30 years tied to time schedules and time commitments controlled by others; in retirement we are now in control of our own time and we value our time, and we are suspicious of giving up our use of our time to others.

If you ask people who are not retired, the freedom from work, usually means, if you drill deeper, the freedom to do what they want, when they want. So if people want seniors to volunteer they need to take a flexible approach to scheduling, if they cannot then they will lose many potential volunteers.

My volunteer activities with COSCO Health and Wellness Institute, give me the freedom to choose when I volunteer, it is very flexible, a fact I enjoy.

The other issue that many organizations that work with seniors are faced with is the name senior. I do not think of myself as a senior, I prefer the term sonic boomer, many of my friends call themselves boomers. At a recent conference I was at, a number of organizations said they were considering removing the term senior from their name.

Boomers have always seen themselves as a unique group, we try to defy labels that define us by age or by any other term. The early boomers have reached 70 years and we see the it as the new 50. A friend of mine said that his doctor told him that a 70-year-old today is healthier than a 50-year-old was 20 years ago. I tend to believe him. We are living longer, and we are healthier and cannot see ourselves as seniors. So to attract the boomers to become volunteers or members many seniors’ organizations are changing their name and their approach to engaging my generation. This is a good thing as we need to keep active and involved to bring about change.