Retire to Purpose – Would you recognize it?

I am discovering me. I cooked shrimp scampi, pork chops with broccoli in butter sauce and tomorrow hope to pan fry a chuck steak with onions. I felt accomplished by cooking and it really tastes good.

My purpose at that moment was to cook a good meal that I and others enjoy. Taking the moment to buy the food, prepare and cook it, create a fond memory that I want to repeat. It is not as grand as being a Breadwinner or eliminating world hunger. Though it did give me a sense of accomplishment, sharing and happiness. Could it be that purpose is more intimate and personal and is the result of you living, rather then something you go too.

The question is if purpose came up and introduced him or herself to you, would you recognize it?

A YouTube Video That you find your passions and purpose by living your life!

You spent 40 plus years paying attention to and planning your Breadwinning career. Work-related issues and problems filled your mind on the job and when at home. Now that is gone, but your mind has not moved on. Just like your planning for retirement where you were given financial advice on saving for retirement. You maintain a 401K, set aside money from your family for your own future use. You may even get help by engaging a financial planner to guide your investing. You were told that hobbies and vacations will fill your days with happiness and purpose. It may, but not likely. The book “Retirement How NOT to end up Tired, Bored and Lonely” is an excellent introduction to this next part of your life. In retirement you need to rediscover yourself and your new purpose.

Retirement First steps to the rest of your life – Purpose

Congratulations you have retired. Saved enough so you have food to eat, money to travel and can still climb a flight of stairs. You have been successful in your Breadwinner career and providing for your family. In retirement you need to find your new purpose that give you pleasure, happiness and accomplishment (purpose). Sometimes this is hard to share with others and yourself so you can maintain direction in your life.

Do you know your purpose in retirement?

Here is a Ted YouTube video on how to verbalize your retirements lifes purpose

You spent 40 plus years paying attention to and planning your Breadwinning career. Work-related issues and problems filled your mind on the job and when at home. Now that is gone, but your mind has not moved on. Just like your planning for retirement where you were given financial advice on saving for retirement. You maintain a 401K, set aside money from your family for your own future use. You may even get help by engaging a financial planner to guide your investing. You are told that hobbies and vacations will fill your days with happiness and purpose. It may, but not likely. The book “Retirement How NOT to end up Tired, Bored and Lonely” is an excellent introduction to this next part of your life. In retirement you need to rediscover yourself and your new purpose.

Meditation Is it possible while under drug addition

The purpose of meditation is to have a tool to manage all the busy thoughts generated by judgments of others and negative thinking. Judging other would be great if they wanted or cared about your opinion. Usually, they do not, and it is only you justifying your view in contrast to theirs. Agree to disagree. Accept their idea as an alternative and free your mind and body from managing it on your thought list. Negative thinking is you looking for problems. Great if walking in the forest and watching out for lions, tigers, and bears or running a company looking for future challenges to solve. These are now distractions from you seeing yourself.

Drugs, in this case, sugar and carbohydrates when eaten in excessive quantities are an addictive drug that can result in diabetes, excessive weight, and anxiety or Metabolic Syndrome. These ailments are distractions from you finding yourself and your pleasures, happiness, and purpose during retirement

Are you a sugar and carbohydrate drug addict? Try MyFitnessPal and iPhone application to measure your percent carbohydrates and sugars that are consumed as part of your daily calories. Just like smoking, caffeine and alcohol, all drugs that hamper your free will, you are a drug addict addicted to sugars and carbohydrates.

Ted YouTube video on Sugar and Carbohydrates as an addictive drug:

You spent 40 plus years paying attention to and planning your Breadwinning career. Work-related issues and problems filled your mind on the job and when at home. Now that is gone, but your mind has not moved on. Just like your planning for retirement where you were given financial advice on saving for retirement. You maintain a 401K, set aside money from your family for your own future use. You may even get help by engaging a financial planner to guide your investing. You are told that hobbies and vacations will fill your days with happiness and purpose. It may, but not likely. The book “Retirement How NOT to end up Tired, Bored and Lonely” is an excellent introduction to this next part of your life.

Retirement – How NOT to End Up Tired, Bored and Lonely now available on amazon

My book Retirement – How NOT to End Up Tired, Bored and Lonely is now available in printed and kindle version on Amazon.

Please enjoy the read. I would appreciate all comments and Amazon reviews.

Link to Amazon Page

You spent 40 plus years paying attention and planning your Big money career. Work related issues and problems filled your mind on the job and when at home. Now that is gone, but your mind has not moved on. Just like your planning for retirement where you were given financial advice on saving for retirement. You maintain a 401K, set aside money from your family for your own future use. You may even get help by engaging a financial planner to guide your investing. You are told that hobbies and vacations will fill your days with happiness and purpose. It may, but not likely.

Meditation in Retirement – Managing Negative thoughts

Meditation in retirement is not meant to solve problems but to accept them as they exist so you can have time to discover yourself. Each of us have our individual views on what makes a good life. Some we adopted from our tribe, others we made up as we moved through our lives. You need to free yourself from the things that stop you from finding yourself, that person who has pleasure and purpose in during your retirement. You need to learn to manage your thoughts and judgments you developed over the last 60+ years so you can find yourself and what makes you feel right about you.

If you spend your time commenting on things that you cannot control, not part of your life and you view are wrong. Like:

Your brother in laws lifestyle is a waste of time.
Younger kids have no social skills because of their phones.
Reasons why you will not use a smartphone.
Why Amazon is bad for the world

You need to manage your thought list so they are items about you not other people?

A ted talk on feeling good about ourselves:

Ted talk about how we think empty, rather then half full. Hope this makes you aware so to better manage your lists and remember the good stuff!:

You spent 40 plus years paying attention and planning your Big money career. Now that is gone, but your mind has not moved on. Just like your planning for retirement where you were given financial advice on saving for retirement. You maintain a 401K, set aside money from your family for your own future use. You may even get help by engaging a financial planner to guide your investing. You are told that hobbies and vacations will fill your days with happiness and purpose. It may, but not likely.

Meditation – List management: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD)

Every few days you should review your list of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) issues in your life. These are items that you think about and creates anxiety. They hang around in your mind and fill your head whenever you get some free-thinking time. You try to push them away and distract yourself. But these are tough and keep coming back at you.

You need to accept them without judgement. Make them friends and “agree to disagree” with these thoughts. Bring them closer to your heart.

You have a son who is not employed and spends his days couch surfing with friends from college. He is 25 and not going anywhere fast. You are frustrated that he is not earning money and not growing up and becoming an adult. You know, job, relationship, home and children. You want to tell him how he is missing the boat, not being a contributor. Let me remind you that there are nine billion people on this planet who will tell him about which path to take, but he has only one father.

Look at him and see his goodness, strengths and his love and caring for you and you for him. Accept him and trust his choices as his, not yours. Can you feel that by not judging, by being a friend accepting him with love and caring. He can live his life and still be part of yours.

Do not judge, just agree to disagree.

Do you spend time living other people’s lives and not living your own?

Eckharte Tolle – Addicted to Thinking:

Tara Black on how we drive ourselves into anxiety loops:

During your career, you are given financial advice on saving for retirement. You maintain a 401K, set aside money from your family for your own future use.  You may even get help by engaging a financial planner to guide your investing.  You are told that hobbies and vacations will fill your days with happiness and purpose. It may, but not likely.. Meditation can help you see yourself, rather than your looking good and being right views.

Meditation – Finding pleasure and purpose during retirement

Meditation comes in many flavors. You can go all the way from silence, isolation and deprivation of sensory to just learning how to prioritize your thoughts.
This is the first in a series on helping yourself to see what gives you pleasure and purpose in retirement. We start with the “list”.

The list works as follows:
Write down any subject that comes into your mind as you think about yourself and number them. A short example could be

1. I am overweight
2. My son does not have a regular job
3. I Wish I had more sex time with my wife
4. Garage door makes too much noise

Each item on the list is something you can wrap your mind around, world peace is too big, got it?

The next day or a day latter sit down and write the list again with the old list next to you. As you write the lists you will be able to feel each item. Your worries and woes are open for you to embrace and make friends with, not run from. Do this for 3-5 lists and you will feel that you are beginning to start to see yourself without the items on the list getting in the way. Latter we talk about list items that give you pleasure and purpose.

How do you manage your fears and frustrations?

This approach of embracing and making friends with your fear and troubles come from Tara Brack, PHD. She has many YouTube videos. Here is one you will enjoy. She is pointing out that inside you is a good person and the lists items are just stories that distract you from yourself.

During your career, you are given financial advice on saving for retirement. You maintain a 401K, set aside money from your family for your own future use.  You may even get help by engaging a financial planner to guide your investing.  You are told that hobbies and vacations will fill your days with happiness and purpose. It may, but not likely.. Meditation can help you see yourself, rather than your looking good and being right views.

Loneliness one of the great challenges of retirement

Loneliness is a major challenge when you retire. Once you leave work, you leave behind the majority of your social contacts.
The recommendation of hobbies and arts are typically single person activities.

A lonely retirement is like be in a minimum security prison with kitchen privileges

Research has found that loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it even more dangerous than obesity.

How do you deal with being lonely?

Can you die of loneliness?

In my book “Retirement How NOT to end up Lonely, Tires and Bored” . I go over the steps to become aware of what give you pleasure and purpose and building a tribe.

A video on alternatives from accepting to being alone to stepping out of your comfort zone “How to deal with loneliness.”

During your career, you are given financial advice on saving for retirement. You maintain a 401K, set aside money from your family for your own future use.  You may even get help by engaging a financial planner to guide your investing.  You are told that hobbies and vacations will fill your days with happiness and purpose. It may, but not likely.

Retirement – Acquaintance or Friend – Loneliness

A friend or an acquaintance can make the difference between during retirement.

A friend is someone who you have:
–Shared a meal with you recently
–When called will come
–May not agree with you, but always tells the truth

Ask yourself, how many friends do I have?

The only thing keeping you from being happy is the belief that you are alone.- Anne Drapper (Mad men)

All the people wo you pay for service, work with gym junkies that fill your day are most likely acquaintances. A short story to bring the point home.

I locked myself out of my car at YMCA. I asked a gym buddy, someone I have had conversations with to give me a ride home for the spare key. His response, you can go inside, and the people can help you. The financial advisors who help you save money and help plan for your happy life, most likely won’t give you a ride home

A video to help.

Retirement -What happens when it is just money

We save, work with planners and invest in 401K’s for our retirement. All good advice, but is it enough? Let’s look at what happened to these lottery winners who could instantly retire with seemly unlimited moneys to fund their retirement activities. Here are some Youtube videos about people who retire with a bunch of money.

How do your family, acquaintances and friends view you as a none working person with money. Like a lottery winner?

Here more how your acquaintances and even family see you as retired with money!