Free Range Explorer

With each new day I feel more and more lucky to be alive! I’m glad that I’m a Baby Boomer and still learning about life.  Yes, there are a few clouds around but look how green life is.  As I reduce my hours in Corporate America and have more time for myself, I’m learning to let go of and refocus some of my obsessions I’ve created while climbing the ladder.

Now it’s like opening a gate in my mind and throwing out the assumptions, bad habits, petty attitudes, judgements, goals that weren’t really mine, youthful obsessions and things that don’t mean as much to me anymore.  I’ve outgrown some of the superficial things and I’m learning to spend my time on things that have more meaning to me.  There’s less thinking about how much stuff I can accumulate.  I’ve realized having the biggest house on the block doesn’t really matter to me.  And, I’m remembering there are people in the world who are less fortunate than me and I might be able to make a positive impact on a few of them.  A poster reminds me, “There are people in the world who are happy with less than you have.”

Our society tends to think aging is a bad thing, filled with physical and emotional pain and unhappiness.  Is that the way you feel?  You don’t have to.  Helping yourself and others brings happiness to your heart and soul.

“It’s a very encouraging fact that we can expect to be happier in our early 80s than we were in our 20s,” Andrew J. Oswald, a professor of psychology at Warwick Business School, told the New York Times. “And it’s not being driven predominantly by things that happen in life. It’s something very deep and quite human that seems to be driving this.”

Throughout our mid life, the 30’s, 40’s and sometime into our 50’s we spend much of our daily lives doing tasks that we “have to do”.    This can be exhausting.  But, now it’s time for the real, authentic YOU to come out and show itself.  What does that look like?  Do you remember when you were the real you filled with excitement and be dreams.  Now is the time to find your real soul and spirit.  It may take time but it’s worth it, and now, you have more time for yourself.

One little trick to make sure you’re being you is, when you are doing something, working at a task, or doing anything, ask yourself:

1) Why am I doing this (task, project, whatever)?

2) Do I really want to do it?  Does it benefit me?

3) Am I enjoying it, does it make me happy, do I feel good doing it, does it give me energy?

4) Or, does it sap all the life out of me.  If this is your answer, it’s time to re-think how you’re spending your time.  Do things that feel good and excite you and make you and the world better.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you gained a little something while here.

Look forward to you sharing this, and coming back again.

Thanks, John