Trust in Yourself and Find the Joy

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? (unknown)

Want to crease your success and reduce your stress?  Try short periods of  meditating!  Although you may think that meditation isn't for you, it's actually very simple to practice even only for 10 minutes a day.  Most importantly, the research shows that people who meditate are much better able to handle the challenges and turmoil of life compared to people who don't meditate.  

One very simple meditation practice is called a Loving Kindness Meditation.  This meditation can be done in about 5 to 10 minutes, and there are numerous YouTube links where the speaker guides you in your meditation.  You only need to sit in a chair in your office, close your eyes, and follow the speaker who is guiding you.  Here are 2 links that you might find helpful, although you can many more on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJcLlAI0__w      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cxtdiXBQDk   

Research has shown that practicing 7 weeks of Loving Kindness Meditation increased love, joy, contentment, gratitude, pride, hope, interest, amusement, and awe. Psychologist Emma Seppala lists 18 scientifically supported reasons to try Loving Kindness Meditation. (18 Science-Backed Reasons to Try Loving-Kindness Meditation, Psychology Today 9/15/14)  The research even found physical benefits, such as decreasing migraines and chronic pain, and decreasing depression and PTSD symptoms in persons diagnosed with PTSD.  The doctor has a link to the meditation she used in her study that showed the benefits of Loving Kindness Meditation.    

Another free and helpful program for beginning a meditation practice is the Healthy Minds app.  It is the result of the work of Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc. This organization was started in 2014 by  neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson. As their website states, " At Healthy Minds Innovations our mission is to translate science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being, and we strive for a vision of a kinder, wiser, more compassionate world."  https://hminnovations.org/

Retirement Planning - It's not the years in your life that count.  It's the life in your years. (Abraham Lincoln)

So what are you going to do in retirement?  Have you started planning by age 55 and looked at the 5 stages of retirement?  Understanding these 5 stages can make all the difference in how much you enjoy the last 1/3 of your life.  Remember, you are never to old to set another goal or dream a new dream; the future is in your hands!

Stage 1: Preretirement – Hopefully you looked at your finances to try and plan for retirement and contingencies with a certified financial planner. Although the public thinks attorneys are all millionaires, most are not, so if you did not start early on your financial situation then you have to start immediately! You should begin to talk with friends and your spouse/partner and ask retired friends about their life in retirement. If you plan for part-time work, the 5 to 7 years before retirement is the time to make those plans and make those contacts.

Stage 2: Retirement! The Honeymoon - Wow, golf and play pickleball every day, and travel whenever and wherever I want. See friends and grandkids. Do nothing if I want, and sleep late if I want. This is the life! 

Stage 3: Disenchantment – Your social circle has contracted because you made social contact daily just by doing your job. Now, you don’t know where to go to have a social life. And, if you’re a man, it’s generally harder to get out of the house and stay engaged socially. Statistically, without a plan to be engaged with something for which you have a passion and to give back, you face going into a depression that can last a year or more.

Stage 4: Reorientation - "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." (Goethe)  You realize that you’ve become bored and boring and you decide to do something about it. You find a passion and you begin to realize the importance on your physical and mental health of giving back to society, and having a social network with socialization.

Stage 5: Stability – You’ve found your purpose and you are again productive. Your happiness has increased and you are feeling content. Small things are enjoyable and you are looking forward to a full life.  

If you're searching for the person who can change your life, look in the mirror.  

Jenny Wise Black, a therapist in Franklin, Tenn., believes that smartphones negatively affect our lives.   (Ms. Black hasn't had a smartphone since 2016.)  Check out what she has to say at her "Lose the Phone" podcast to learn how 60 days without a smartphone affected musician Jerome David. Alternatively, to reduce stress and improve your life, you can try and control your smartphone use.  Researchers know that the blue light from electronics interferes with sleep (computer, television, iPad, phone) by disregulating our biological clocks and melatonin levels.  So getting off of all electronics at least an hour before bedtime can improve sleep.  And if you decide not to use your smartphone for anything but talking on the phone to answer telephone calls on the weekends, as we all did before smartphones, you should be able to improve family and social relationships while reducing your stress.  

Do you want to have better and more fulfillinig relations with your spouse/partner and kids?  Read how "Managing Screen Time Increases Family Joy" at  https://www.rootsofaction.com/screen-time-for-kids/ 

Strive not for perfection, but for excellence instead.  Simply do your best to be the best that you can be.  (3rd teaching of Wabi Sabi - Philosophy)

To Begin Is To Win (unknown)

Without change, we would never have butterflies!