10 Quotes by Carl Jung

Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.

To be normal is the ultimate aim of the unsuccessful.

The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.

If our religion is based on salvation, our chief emotions will be fear and trembling. If our religion is based on wonder, our chief emotion will be gratitude.

What usually has the strongest psychic effect on the child is the life which the parents have not lived.

There is no coming to consciousness without pain.

People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul.

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.

A man who is unconscious of himself acts in a blind, instinctive way, and is, in addition, fooled by all the illusions that arise when he sees everything that he is not conscious of in himself coming to meet him from outside as projections upon his neighbour.

The artist is not a person endowed with free will, who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him. As a human being, he may have moods and a will, and personal aims, but as an artist, he is "man" in a higher sense: He is "collective man," a vehicle and moulder of the unconscious psychic life of mankind.

I am not what happened to me, I am what l choose to become.

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

How not to get to the top and stay there

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven’t got the energy."

"Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull.  They’re packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally, after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:

Bull Sh*t might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there...

Retirement Readiness 3

Saving, investing, and planning for retirement can be an exercise in futility if an individual lacks the know-how that is required to be successful. While many people may not have the desire or wherewithal to become retirement experts themselves, they must be able to recognize and rely on sound advice.

Key to having a meaningful discussion with an advisor and having the confidence to make an informed decision is a baseline level of financial literacy, which unfortunately is lacking among people preparing for retirement.

Only 30 percent were able to answer correctly the ‘Big Three’ financial literacy questions developed by Drs. Annamaria Lusardi and Olivia S. Mitchell, which are designed to test an understanding of compound interest, the impact of inflation, and risk diversification. The ‘Big Three’ financial literacy

Health has emerged as the new frontier in retirement security. The miracles of modern science and improvements in nutrition in recent decades have made longer life expectancy the norm rather than the exception.

Inspiring people to make the link between health, wealth and well-being as they age is critical to ensure future retirement preparedness. While most people consider themselves to be in ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ health today, that is unlikely to remain the case for the rest of their lives because many are failing to take the necessary steps to maintain good health.

There is a clear correlation between workers who take steps to maintain good health and a person’s sense of retirement readiness. Workers who engage in all five of the five healthy behaviors identified in the survey achieve an ARRI score of 7.4 – a medium score – compared to those who engaged in none of the behaviors scoring 4.6 – a low score.

One of the key findings of this year’s survey is the widespread desire to remain in and enjoy one’s own home in retirement. Making this possible could involve relatively minor home modifications to help people live independently.

Seventy percent of respondents say that remaining in their own home is either ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important to them as they grow older.

Globally, the most commonly cited feature or device is bathroom modifications (43 percent) followed by home security systems (39 percent) and age-friendly furniture and panic buttons to call emergency services (both 37 percent).

Do you shop online?

I am a big believer in the idea that we should support our local businesses as they provide jobs, and support for our community.  The problem that the small business has is how to compete against the online giants. However, like many seniors, I am on a fixed income and have to watch my budget and so I am not going to overspend. 

The other day I had a small problem with my car, the window on the driver's side would not open or close. If the problem was with the window on the passenger's side I would not have been too upset. 

It was the middle of summer and even though I have air conditioning I don't like to use it so I prefer to drive with my window open. Well with this problem I could not, in addition, going through a drive-through or having to ask for directions or go to the bank using the car for these purposes was not possible. I was surprised at the number of times I wanted to do something but because my driver's window would not open I could not.

I am not a mechanic, but I do have some aptitude on how to fix things if they are not too complicated. So, I went to Youtube and searched for the year and model of my car with my problem. I love that people have the time and energy and skill to fix a problem and to video their solutions. Over 500 videos came up with solutions to my problem. I took a look at about 6 of them and found one that was easy to understand and the video was easy to follow. All I had to do was get the part and replace it. 

The idea of supporting local business now comes into play. I looked up the part I needed on Amazon and it showed a price of $30.00 US plus delivery, taxes and duties so the final price was $48.00 US. 
I did the exchange and the price point for me in Canadian dollars worked out to be about $85.00 all in.

I went to my local auto parts store and asked if they had the part, they said they would have to backorder and it would cost $280.00 plus tax, I was expecting to pay between $85 and $100.00 so I was a bit surprised. 

I said to the auto parts person," I guess I will have to go to the dealership to get the part."

 He said, "I call the dealerships stealerships because they charge so much."

I went to the dealership and they did not have the part but could also order it for me and I was told the part would cost $278.00 plus tax. I thought I would try one more auto parts store which had been competitive in the past, but when I went there, they said the price would be $376.00 plus tax and they would have to backorder. At each of the places, the backorder would take at least a week to get to me.

I went home and ordered the part from Amazon and it took two days to arrive and I put it in following the video instructions in about 15 minutes. Later the same week, my son needed a light bulb for his car and went to a local auto parts store and it cost him $110.00 for one light. Amazon sells the exact same bulb for $22.00 Canadain for two lights. I am willing to buy local when the prices are not too far out of line with online prices and that is one dilemma that many of us who are on fixed incomes are faced with, do we pay extremely high prices to support local businesses or do we stay within our own budget even it if means shopping online.