Midlife Paradise: Are You Already There Without Knowing It?

The following words by Voltaire came to mind as I was recently taking a group of people through a retirement/follow your dream workshop:  Paradise is where I am.

At one point in the workshop participants rate nine various areas of their life, on a scale of 0 (totally miserable) to 10 (whoopee, it’s my ideal).  The next portion involves each person listing 15 “must haves” that would make their life ideal. Lists are then swapped with partners, who take each other through the process of coming up with their top five. From here participants are asked to define what success would look like if they were able to live the five “must haves” at a “10” level.

Most people usually have all sorts of ideas of what would make their life ideal but one individual was having difficulty. Each time she thought about what was ideal, she discovered that she, for the most part, was already living her ideal life. 
She had come into the workshop looking for “paradise” only to discover it was where she was.  She had to go through the process and see it in written form to grasp the concept. What an eye-opener!

Are you living in paradise without even knowing it?

Action Steps

1. Take 15 minutes and define what paradise might look like for you.  Really get into the feeling of it.
2. Once you’ve defined it, identify three things you can do within the next week to move you closer to your definition of paradise.

None of us lives in paradise all the time but the more clarity you have as to what it looks and feels like, the greater will be your motivation to spend more time there.

Blueprints For Boomers: Are you Heading in the Right Direction?

Here we are almost a quarter way into the new year.  Strange how it feels like January just began   How are you doing sticking to your New Year’s resolutions?  Even if you didn’t make any, you probably have some goals you are trying to achieve.  My goal for the year was to start this blog. Since you are reading these words, I’m obviously on track.  So far so good though I have to say it’s not been without considerable frustration!  Technology sometimes gets the better of me! 

Resolutions are wonderful, positive goals that we set for ourselves.  Sometimes they last several weeks but unless they are a part of something that we are passionate about, something that is truly important to us, they will usually disappear into that “black hole” that contains all those other goals we somehow never managed to get around to.

Isn’t it time then, at the midpoint in your life, to finally get serious about your dreams, the things that you’ve wanted but for one reason or another, never allowed yourself to go after. Isn’t it time to start consciously creating your life? In the words of Janet Attwood, co-author of The Passion Test™, when you are clear, what you want will show up in your life, and only to the extent you are clear. 
 
One way to get clear is to ask yourself what your ideal life would look like, a process that is described in detail in the book, The Passion Test™. If your life were perfect, exactly the way you wanted it to be, what would that look like?  How would you be? What would you be doing or having?  To stimulate thought in this area, some of the questions I ask my clients include:

• What motivates you/drives you/gives you satisfaction?
• What would you do if money were of no concern?
• What would make you jump out of bed with joy and enthusiasm in the morning?
• What do you dream about that you’ve never shared with anyone?
• What did you always want to be when you were a child?
• What would you regret NOT having done if your life were ending?
• What do you do that makes “time stand still”?
• What are you really good at doing, that you also truly enjoy?
• What do you love about yourself?
• What is the theme of the books you read or things you collect?
• At the end of your life, what do you want people to say was your greatest achievement?

You’ve probably spent the first half of your life catering more to the needs of others than yourself, so take the time now to put yourself first.  Reflect on the answers to these questions and you will be taking the first step towards redesigning your blueprints for living. The first step towards creating a more fulfilling life and to being more in alignment with those things that are TRULY important to you.  It’s about time, wouldn’t you say!