Finding Your Joy and
Living Your Dream
Excerpt from “Mindful Aging”: Embracing your life
after 50 to find fulfillment, purpose and joy.
– By Andrea Brandt
F or many people, turning 50 is just the beginning
of great things: Pablo Picasso was 55 when he painted
Guernica, and much of his best work was still ahead of
him. Barbara Hillary, a retired nurse and two-time cancer
survivor, decided at 75 that she’d like to see the North
Pole and raised $25,000 to make the trip, becoming the
first African American woman to visit there. And J. R. R.
Tolkien was 62 when he published The Lord of the Rings.
Given these accomplishments and adventures past
midlife – well past, in some cases – it’s surprising that
the media-fed fantasy of “old age” features beach walks
and golf and a “life of leisure.” If you’re buying into these
daydreams, be warned. Research suggests they’re not all
they’re cracked up to be. A British study showed that
boredom set in as soon as 10 months after retirement.
While many people make financial plans for their post-
career life, they don’t address a key question: What will
you do all day once you have no job to go to?
Home in Niagara Falls!
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Creating a Vision
Let’s take an imaginative trip. We’re attending our own
memorial service. Who would be there? What would they
say about you? Was there a single thread that best defined
your life and your passion?
If your answers to these questions leave you feeling
disappointed, you have time to create a brighter scenario. A
mindful life is one in which we remain aware that the day
of our eulogy will eventually come and let that awareness
guide our choices. It’s never too late to craft a new vision,
and we’re never too old to pursue it.
We need a vision that will actually bring us the satisfaction
and love we want, rather than someone else’s notion of
what we should want or love. Focusing on the qualities
we want to experience – authenticity, vitality, loving
connection, fulfillment, adding meaning to other people’s
lives – will help us achieve our desired result. Having this
kind of intention without knowing exactly how we might
accomplish it makes way for the most free and innovative
part of us to contribute in the creative process, leading to
a much more rewarding journey than our rational mind
might devise.•
Sales Office:
7000 McLeod Rd., Unit 7A, Niagara Falls
Fri. to Sun. 11am - 5pm
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289.228.2888
Silver & Gold Magazine ~ Autumn 2017
27