A middle-aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she had a near death experience. Seeing God she asked "Is my time up?"
God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live."
Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a facelift, liposuction, and a tummy tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hairstyle and color. Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might
The whole phenomenon of the mid-life crisis really has little to do
with speed and everything to do with direction. The real question to
ponder: “Why are we moving so fast if we don’t know where we’re going?”
Couple this with the fact that a bunch of us are still working on the
question of ‘who we are’ and you have more of a midlife mystery than a
straightforward inquiry into velocity.
I like the metaphor of a racecar track for life because it seems to me
that, at the end of the
By Elizabeth Russell
Bio
My
first experience was in Izmir, Turkey, where I was teaching English at
Ege University. Some of the time, I took a dolmus (share taxi) to and
from the university. I had no problem getting a space in the taxi going
to the university because we lived at the beginning of the route, but
coming home was a different matter.
The first few times I was
waiting at the taxi stand, I noticed that the taxis coming by were full
and so I backed away from the stop. Then one
During the five months I’ve been blogging, I’ve spoken with more than a hundred people in their 50s and older about their experience and views on aging. The resounding consensus is that life is great and getting better all the time. It seems to me this is indicative of a real transformation underway: instead of growing older being a story of ‘decline’, a couple of generations are starting to declare that the 2nd half of life might be the best half.
Here are a few of the common themes from
I just came across news of a humdinger of a research report from Georgia Tech
about how older people process information differently than younger
people depending upon whether they are in a ‘positive’ or a ‘negative’
mood. I have seen some pretty nonsensical conclusions reached by social
scientists and statisticians, but this is about a flaky as they come.
Granted I haven’t read the research itself, only a description of it which concludes:
"So it shows that the young and old are motivated by different goals and, therefore, perceive and process information differently because of the changes in goals across the lifespan,” said Blanchard-Fields.Now my experience as one of the ‘old’ is
I don’t know if Don to Earth reads this, but if so I want to send him a belated 93rd happy birthday message. While I have never met Don and know him exclusively through his blog, I appreciate his mind, his wit and the clarity with which he communicates whatever is on his mind. I think he is an example of someone who is conscious and responsible for his age, but not limited by it. His
Don and Steve are executive coaches who specialize in working with clients approaching their “second half’ to create what is next in their lives. Sometimes this takes the form of starting new business ventures. Sometimes it has to do with preparing for post-retirement transitions. Now I know that ‘coaching’ has become a term all kinds of folks are selling (and not always with sufficient education or experience) but these guys are among the best. Don will be contributing to this blog in
Some words of wisdom here shared over at Blog Disease from the Hopi Nation:
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour.
And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community. Be good to
By Marilyn Kentz
Bio
In
my case, the last to go was the vasectomy-reversal baby. That’s right.
I asked my husband to get a vasectomy, then I changed my mind. I was
38, and my first midlife crisis was beginning. At that same time, my
boys were just about to become nasty teenagers. So, when I was 38, I
successfully pushed my little daughter into this busy world and bought
myself 18 more years of motherhood.
We had an extra special
bond. I think it’s because I taught her to be just like me—shallow.
I recently saw the film I’m Your Man, an acknowledgement concert for Leonard Cohen with a lot of great singers singing some of his best songs interspersed with an interview with the man himself. A nice tribute that gave me a bit more of a sense of him as a human being and the full extent of his contribution. One of the best parts of the film was his sharing that, for him, there were few or no regrets and very little concern or self-congratulatory thinking about what he has accomplished.
Not everyone