Are you in control of your life? When a friend starts a new yoga class or reads a "fascinating" book about astrology or the latest benefits of cinnamon, they suddenly become an expert and want to tell you how such and such is going to change their life and you should start doing the same thing right away. What do you do? Being the responsible, skeptical Capricorn that I am, I never pass along far fetched email messages without checking them with scambusters or hoaxes.com etc. Yes, it would be easier to just pass on the information like so many other people do. Have you become just one of the mindless followers?
Combining the experience of having my in-laws move in with us and the research for my "great retirement guide", I have once again come to the conclusion that 80% of the population are sheep, maybe another 15% are vaguely aware that there is a better way to live but can't seem to take any action, maybe a few people who "see the light" too late in life and then that 2-3% of enlightened souls who actually "get it." If it feels good, it is good; happiness comes from within, only you control how you feel and react in every situation; and everything is part of the ever expanding energy of the universe. I may be just too "practical" to ever be truly enlightened but little by little I'm being convinced that we create/control a lot more of our life than we realize.
Ok, my point is...you and I have another thirty to forty years of life left in us. Are we going to live those years pretty much like we lived the last forty? I say we will, unless we stop what we are doing and try to rise above, detach ourselves from what our bodies are doing every day and sort of look at the big picture. They say we all have made our own little map of reality. From our teachers and our own experiences we created this map and it comes in handy so we don't have to re-learn everything every day. We know how to drive a car, we know what a good mother or father should do, we know the process of aging: getting older, weaker and deteriorating until we finally die. The thing is, most people believe their map is reality. So when something happens that they don't understand, instead of adjusting their "map" to match reality, they cling to the map and clash with realty by getting angry, depressed, sick or just go into some kind of denial.
This can explain so much to me. Two specific instances: I know a woman who has always made up her own version of reality and I never understood how that was possible. As a child, she had quite an imagination. Maybe as an escape from life with a rotten step-father, she slipped up and made sort of a fantasy map of reality where families were supposed to be a certain way, her career path was far beyond her abilities and everything in general would be perfect. (I totally understand and may have done something similar) The problem is that she burned the map into her mind as reality and everything that didn't match the map was caused by some unreasonable person or extraordinary event beyond her control. She has probably lost a dozen jobs and not a single one was because she couldn't do the work. They were all "politics" or someone lied to her when she was hired or the people she worked with were jealous, etc. The "truth" didn't match her map so it couldn't be true.
The second instance was when I found out that some people actually don't like me! (can you imagine that?) Of course I knew I wasn't a "fit" with the jocks or high society types and accepted that I could just rate a neutral "zero" with some people. I was never openly mistreated by anyone so it never even occurred to me that someone could actually not like me. Maybe just my ego but that possibility wasn't even on my map. I'll admit that I was a little shocked for a few days. But unlike the woman above, I adjusted my map and it is something I have to consider when dealing with new people.
Back to thinking about the next forty years. Do I continue to work constantly, feeling guilty when I "sneak" in some time for myself? Grow old, feeble, deaf, blind and finally die? In other words, do we follow the same path as our parents and 98% of their generation? I am trying to flesh out the idea of re-inventing myself for my second adult life. There are many people who believe that we can make at least the next 25 years, the very best of our lives. It wouldn't be easy in the beginning but they could be right and I think it is worth taking a closer look. If you were living with your parents, you would be reminded every day of exactly what I am saying. I am determined to find out exactly what it will take to make my next forty years extraordinary. What about you?
Rick Perkins and his wife, Deana have owned and operated their offline manufacturing business since 1980. http://www.bestbadge.com Rick used their experiences to create http://www.SelfHelpPress.com, a free site for personal and business success tips. Now he tackles the challenge of the "Baby Boomer's" quest for a great retirement life in his book "A Smart Person's Guide to a Great Retirement" Enjoy your 2nd Adult life with everything we can provide. http://www.AddedYears.com
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