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Word of the Year

2022 is approaching and as with the arrival of any new year, most of us open the doors of this new year with hope and anticipation. And given the past two years, I believe most of us also have a dream for an end to this global pandemic and a return to a more normal existence, albeit a new ‘normal’. And finally, it is a time to check in with ourselves to understand what it is we want to attract to us, create in our lives, begin or end, achieve, explore and more.

While I no longer believe in setting New Year’s Resolutions or goals, I do appreciate time to take inventory, consider what is next and mindfully engage the energy that I want for myself, my loved ones and the planet. This year, in an effort to change it up somewhat, I have a new strategy: identifying my Word for the Year.

The concept is not new to me. I have been asked many times in the past, by colleagues, what my word is. Honestly, I had never given it any consideration. This past year a colleague of mine, Dimple Mukherjee, wrote a book Word of the Year- True Stories about Intentional Living Using the Power of a Single Word. While this remains on my reading list, I do understand what she means. Choosing a word, and endeavoring to live it daily, holding it in your consciousness, is the same as setting and living an intention. This I know to be powerful from my own experience.

Great! So how do I choose one word to live by? As intention would have it, I attracted an exercise which would help me choose and now, I offer this to you. Here we go….

Step One: reflect on the last year and ask yourself, what could I use more or less of in my life? What would be a game changer for me?

Okay, WOW! What a year it has been. I attracted amazing new work with women, learned more about self-compassion and divine feminine energy, built new relationships (on ZOOM), settled fully into my new life in Cornwall. I feel excited, engaged, lit up, inspired, compassionate and so much more. What was missing: travel, adventure, face to face time with family and friends, freedom, exploring new places. What would be a game changer for me? I am reflecting on this.

Step Two: Visualize how you want to feel at work, throughout the day and when you go to bed. Meditate or sit in silence and ask yourself, what do I want to focus on in 2022?

What immediately comes up for me is an intention I set for my “retirement” – I want to feel excited, lit-up, inspired and engaged. I want to feel that my actions make a difference for others and the planet. I want to exercise my creative juices and my curiosity. I do not see any of these things changing in the months and years to come. I also want to feel increasingly curious, have opportunities to exercise my learning and accrued wisdom, and open up to new possibilities.

Step Three: Create a List of words that come to mind. Let them flow, do not edit or stop yourself. Do not doubt that you can have anything you want, now write….

Here is my short list: beauty, adventure, inspiration, joy, compassion, love, freedom, courage, grace, abundance, gratitude, community, opportunity, travel, meaning, engagement, divine, wisdom, hope, bounty, being, caring, fortitude, health, wholeness, spirit, connection,….

Step Four: Review and refine your list and narrow it down to your three favorite words. How do you decide? What words jump out at you? Make you feel happy, sad, excited? Go…

My three: adventure, joy, gratitude

How do you decide? First read the list and highlight what pops out, triggers a feeling, engages you. Next ask what precedes others, for example joy, love and compassion…If am joyful does love and compassion naturally follow? Have fun. And guess what, there are no poor choices.

Step Five: Ask yourself, “which word can you say you are 100% committed to? Now choose.

My word of the year: Adventure

I have to admit this choice leaves me a little breathless as it feels like it opens new doors that I have yet to explore. At the same time, it feels like a natural progression to being engaged and inspired.

Step Six: Live your WORD.

Suffice it to say, this may be the most difficult step as it really does require calling in the word every day, seeing it, feeling it, intending it.

A few intentional examples:
My life is an adventure.
My work is revealing new adventures and opportunities.
I am attracting adventure in the many aspects of my life.
I am mindfully noticing the adventure in my life and expressing gratitude for those moments.
I see adventure easily and effortlessly.
Adventure fuels my other life experiences.

As with any intention, you will need to pay attention to how your WORD shows up, changes your life, invited you to change or respond. And when life offers you, opportunities related to your WORD, you will also need to be curious and explore the possibilities.

Thanks to Rashita Jones and her SKETCHNOTE for Finding your Word of the Year. I hope you have some fun with this, play, imagine and then live you ‘word intention’.

Blessings for a fulfilling 2022.

Betty Healey, MEd. CAPP

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Pandemic Pandemonium

I admit, the most recent lock-down sent me spiraling to places I prefer not to mention and thinking in language not suited for this column. I am human after all. Wisely my husband, who is a ‘live in the moment’ kinda guy, reminded me that my planning instincts and thinking about all my tomorrows are not really serving me well. The future is a complete unknown at this point and when I consider it, my nose dive into the wilderness of uncertainty creates a lot of inner chaos. I know living in the moment, considering today and what it has to offer, is my best option. Now to train my mind.

Of course, outside all of this pandemonium, there has been plenty of time to read, reflect, observe the signs or Sacred Synchronicities, and of course learn, so here are a few of the gems that have appeared on the screen of my life over the last month.

Bouncing Back or Forward
One of my favorite people to catch up with during these times is my friend and fellow coach Aileen. Hailing from Aberdeen Scotland, I admit I am also attracted to her Scottish Brogue and the way she expresses herself. In a recent conversation we were discussing resilience, the importance of self-care, gratitude and bounce. Okay, self-care and gratitude are well known to me I thought, but bounce? Aileen went on to share that she is curious about the question “what is your bounce?’ Typically we think about bouncing back, meaning that we are able to recover from difficult challenges easily and hopefully, effortlessly. She explained that make we don’t want to ‘bounce back’, we might want to ‘bounce forward’.

I admit, this got me thinking. When all is said and done and we consider all the lessons learned form these COVID times, do we really want to bounce back? It implies that we are returning to the way things were rather than moving forward. And let’s face it, things are simply not the same. The times have changed, society has changed and we have changed. Maybe we do want to bounce forward and, given that we have the opportunity now to reflect on what this might look like, perhaps we can begin to consider how we want to be in the world from this point forward. Hummmmm!

Questions from Tina
Can I just say that I have met amazing people from around the globe through the years. Tina,a Chicagoan,  now living in San Francisco, shared in a recent Facebook post the following questions:
– What is my truth now?
– How can I show up for myself more?
– What am I ready to allow myself to ….?
– On what do I want to invest my energy? Attention?
– What are my intentions for this season?

Rilke wrote the following about questions:  Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. I love the idea of living my way into questions rather than demanding an answer. This is what I have been doing with Tina’s questions – reading them, savouring them, considering them and knowing that as I do so, answers are appearing. I offer them to you with the same intent.

Personal Infrastructure
I am a self-avowed fan of Huff Post and Adrianna Huffington. Two Sundays ago, in her weekly column, she described an idea which again, ding-ding, felt like an Ah-Ha moment, upgrading our personal infrastructure. I say what?

Okay, we all hear about infrastructure, you know the roads, bridges, sewer systems, electrical grids and more that are aging at an exponential rate and how government needs to dedicate time and resources to upgrading them or society will disintegrate. Phew, but how does that apply to us?

Again, she asked a few questions (I know, stop with the questions already!):
– Is your infrastructure in need of repair?
– How solid is your foundation of well-being?
– Does the architecture of your day and your space allow you regeneration time?
– Do the walls between your work and the rest of your life need shoring up or rebuilding?
– Is technology ruling your life?

I thought these to be really important questions to consider given the circumstances many people find themselves in – working from home, blurred boundaries between home and work life, technology invading every corner of life with the addition of Zoom and similar platforms, flexible schedules and where are you in the schedule, and more.

I am somewhat fortunate as I have had a home office for the last 24 years and had the luxury of learning boundaries early on before technology took over. Never the less screen time occupies a portion of everyday from social media to meetings to family conferences to friend time replacing the many face to face encounters of the past. It can and is overwhelming. So it is time to consider my infrastructure, whether my foundation needs repair or shoring up, and what my boundaries are. This is an important exercise for each of us to examine and address as who knows how long these circumstances will continue.

Finally, Pandemic Pandemonium
It is easy to drop into the downside of all the restrictions imposed on us at the moment. I am not immune to impatience and frustration. At the same time, this time and space offers great opportunity to see the SIGNS, reflect, consider and learn.

Pandemonium, defined as wild and noisy disorder or confusion; uproar describes fully the chaos we have been thrust into. And in the chaos lives change and growth.

Until next time, Betty Healey

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Words To Live By

There are so many speeches being given these days, words and more words. Some may say rhetoric. And as we know words can inspire and they can incite. Words can be uplifting and they can be damaging and soul burning. And, although we teach that words represent only a small percentage of any communication interaction, they continue to carry power.

Despite the ‘rhetoric’ I am a lover of words. The turn of a phrase, a silly pun, a stunning metaphor, or simply a well written piece of journalism. Words deliver me from the doldrums, lift me up, carry me on new adventures and to new places, and introduce me to new ideas and possibilities. It saddens me when words are used by pundits to damage, coerce, misinform or rule. Ah, but there in lies the power of the word.

Suffice it to say I have given some thought to the words I choose to live by. As a consultant, coach and facilitator words are essential. Spurred on by a column I read last Sunday, I decided to look back and to ask myself, ‘What are the words I live by?’ What are the phrases, poems, and quotes that inspire me and serve as my guidance, which become imbedded in my work and how I live? Here we go….

Be the change you wish to see in the world….Gandhi
When I left healthcare after 25 years to begin my own business, I had only a sense of what I wanted to achieve. I did not have a masterplan, or for that matter a business plan. I simply had a knowing that I needed to be engaged in work that had meaning and purpose and which lifted others up. As I launched into my consulting practice, at the time focused on team and leadership development, I began to read, and read, and read. Leadership, self-help, spiritual, business books, basically anything that seemed relevant. The year after we launched roadSIGNS, Jim and I decided to take a month-long sabbatical from life, and to celebrate 25 years of marriage, and rented a cottage in rural PEI. I took a suitcase of books with me and dedicated much of the time to exploring words.

Be the change… It seemed that every book I picked up, regardless of genre, contained these words. I am not sure that initially I understood, but like a hammer to one’s head, the message finally seeped in. The foundation of Law of Attraction (unknown to me at the time) – whatever I desired to teach, offer or coach in others had to live within me. I needed to change before I could create change.

WOW! This was an AHA moment! This continues to be my credo.

Our deepest fear….Marianne Williamson
Early in my consulting days I was introduced the Return to Love by Marianne Williamson. The famous quote used by Nelson Mandela in his inauguration speech, comes for this book:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

The final two lines of this piece, “as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”, have been another anchor for me. As my own work evolved I came to a point where I wanted to dedicate my work to enabling others to find their light and see themselves lovingly, these words have been my fuel. And of course, like Gandhi’s words, it meant I needed to see my own light and allow it to shine before coaching others to do so. Holding my hand to the fire!

I will not die an unlived life… Dawna Markova
Shortly before leaving health care, I had the opportunity to meet Dawna, then a consultant with Peter Senge’s The Learning Organization Group. We became colleagues, meeting at conferences a few times. Then she disappeared off the radar for a while, although to be fair she told me she was retreating to write. The result was her book, I Will Not Die and Unlived Life.

The book, inspired by a poem she had written years before, was a read which like Return to Love, changed my life. The poem however, remains a short powerful instrument in and of itself:

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid, more accessible,
to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as a seed goes to the next as a blossom
and that which came to me as a blossom, goes on as fruit.

This poem has been an invitation to live boldly, to take risks, to listen to what my intuition and spiritual guidance impart to me without fear of what others think. These words have given me permission to pursue dreams I did not even know I had.

Thoughts become things…Mike Dooley
I have been a student of the Law of Attraction for many years, hence the reference to ‘be the change’. I also subscribe to Mike Dooley’s Messages from the Universe which arrive daily in my inbox. And at the bottom of every message is the quote, thoughts become things.

I love it frankly, a daily reminder to check in with the inner dialogue, to assess what I am telling myself and what I am thinking and to renovate the thought stream if it is warranted. I have learned that when my thoughts and desires are clear, I can manifest. Thoughts do become things.

Highest Good
I am not sure of the source of these two words. What I do know for sure is that they serve as a comfort when I am confused, anxious, fearful, lost. I set the simple intention, “I am attracting what is in my highest good.”

In the last year alone, these simple words have seen me through many things, including the sale of our country home and finding a new place to live, making our way home from Portugal in March after the state of emergency was declared, significant downsizing and too many decisions to count. It may sound crazy but I simply feel that those words allow me to ask for help and share responsibility with a higher power.

There are other words and phrases that inspire me every day, books which have played a huge role in how I evolved our work through the years. I plan to share more of this as I launch into another year of blogging. While new books come on the market every day, the latest and the greatest and novel concepts, I am inherently aware that there really is no new knowledge. Simply said, new books re-frame what we already know. I have decided to go back to my favorites, look at the highlighted bits and reflect on how these words have guided me.

I encourage you to do the same. What are your words to live by?

Until next time….

Betty

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I Have Been Thinking

This is a dangerous thing, or at least that what my husband believes. It seems that whenever I tell him “I’ve been thinking” it implicates him as well. This is not always true and as you can imagine, some of my plans cannot be executed solo.

It has been awhile since I have written. Recovery from my knee surgery has occupied the lion’s share of the last few weeks, as well as planning a staycation when are plans to travel to Portugal were circumvented by a medical incident. I shared this in a Facebook posting as follows:

Making Lemonade:

Four weeks ago today I landed in the ER with “atrial fibrillation” (rapid, irregular heartbeat). Unexpected, surprising as this was a first and very scared. As the cause was unknown and is yet to be determined (although I have my suspicions) we were advised to cancel our trip to Portugal scheduled for Feb. 25th. The disappointment was huge, tears were shed. We had both been looking forward to escaping winter and shedding the cabin fever that had accumulated.

After a couple of days of living in this space, we both decided that this lemon needed to be turned into lemonade. I signed up at NAV Fit and began swimming twice per week. Jim played hockey locally. We began walking short distances. We checked out events in Ottawa and Montreal and scheduled plays and other events. We went for a spa day. In other words, we set about enjoying our “staycation”.

Today marks our return date from Portugal, where it has been raining most of the time we were supposed to be there, and I am celebrating what has been an amazing four weeks’ vacation. Attitude is everything; that has been my most enduring lesson. I have lingered in bed a little longer in the mornings, meditating and being grateful for the day, I have read more books, I feel regenerated. And isn’t that the goal of any vacation.

When faced again with lemons, and I am sure there will be opportunities, I plan to feel what needs to be felt, move on and make some lemonade.

Turning around this unexpected situation required some planning, an attitude adjustment and a wee bit of thinking. There is much more to share however; here are a couple highlights.

Forgiveness
My staycation allowed me ample time for reflection and reading. One of the books I chose was Forgiveness by Mark Sakamoto. After listening to Mark interviewed on CBC radio, I was completely attracted to the book and to exploring a topic which has long been important to me.

The book is a memoir dedicated to his grandparents Hugh MacLean and Mitsue Sakamoto, both of whom experienced incredible hardship during WW2, Hugh as a prisoner of war in a Japanese Camp and Mitsue as a Japanese Canadian expelled from her BC home to labor in Southern Alberta.

Can you imagine the first time these people met around a kitchen table when their respective children decided to wed? The book describes Mark’s grandparents’ journeys, and how these journeys formed him and led him to understand forgiveness.

I learned long ago that to forgive was to give yourself a gift, for those that you refuse to forgive have no idea that they have wronged you. Not forgiving others causes you pain, not the unforgiven. To forgive is to release oneself from the pain and the burden. I also learned that forgiving never implies agreement or condoning the actions of another. These two learnings have helped me time and time again.

“Forgiveness is moving on. It is a daily act that looks forward. Forgiveness smiles.”
Mark Sakamoto

 

Self-Confidence, Self-Esteem and Self-Worth
I have long-held the opinion that self-esteem and self-confidence are different. I believed that as despite thinking very little of myself for much of my life, this did not stop me from having the confidence to try things.

In her book Wire Your Brain for Confidence, Louise Jewell describes self-esteem as one’s global evaluation of self and one’s self-worth. By contrast, self-confidence is defined as the belief you can do things well or succeed, feeling the capacity to cope with things. You can have one without the other. Finally, she also describes self-efficacy which is essentially the courage to act.

It occurs to me that these days it is self-efficacy that I need the most. Yes, I have spent a life time in action, I have always had goals to be reached, I have always been willing to dive in and see what happens. This seems to have changed recently however, as I step away from the business that has kept me occupied for over 20 years. Frankly, I feel a bit lost. And while I know that the sense of being lost is very much part of the transition process, that neutral zone of discovery, I have to say it doesn’t feel that comfortable.

In looking further into self-efficacy and saving myself from falling into a self-judgmental hole, Jewell goes on to recommend several ways of retaining one’s sense of self-efficacy including setting goals, perseverance (which I also consider to be GRIT), and expecting positive outcomes. Of all of these perseverance rings most true for me, bringing me back to GRIT which is defined as Passion + Perseverance.

What I have been thinking is that it is time for me, perhaps all of us, to define our passion for this phase of our life, that thing that lights us up or which we want to influence in some way and then set about defining how this can happen. All of this requires esteem and belief in oneself, the confidence and courage to try what might be new things. It all feels a bit like starting over.

 

This is some of what I have been thinking about, finding my way through what some days feels like a maze and other days feel like a vast open field. Either way I have a couple of solid intentions for the journey forward:

  • A happy healthy body, resilient and strong
  • Work/projects/activities which both inspire and engage me and which contribute in someway to the betterment of our world.

Sounds simple….Maybe not….Jumping in anyway!

Until next time

Betty

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The Search Begins

Now that you are aware that life can have more meaning and purpose than you might have envisioned AND you are clear about what you want from your experience of the Third Act, it is time to start exploring what the possibilities might be.

So where do you start?

In her book GRIT: The Power of Purpose and Passion, Angela Duckworth suggests asking yourself the following questions as clues in this process of discovery:

  1. What do I like to think about?
  2. Where does my mind wander?
  3. What do I really care about?
  4. What matters most to me?
  5. How do I enjoy spending my time?
  6. What do I find unbearable?

The key is to keep asking yourself questions and take time to note the answers. While you may not have been a person who journaled in the past, now might be the time to put pen in hand and capture some of your musings.

Continue to dig away; share some of your thoughts with others, seek out a personal coach to share the journey with, or create a group of Third Actors who would like to support one another in this exploration.

Life Review
Self-knowledge is also a great starting point. This is the purpose of a life review, a time to reflect on the knowledge and wisdom you have accrued. Consider what in that knowledge stands out for you now as being important or worthy of learning more.

Additional questions/activities to consider:

  1. What parts of my accumulated experience are transferable to new activities/interests?
  2. What are my natural gifts/strengths?
    Consider taking one of the following assessments to determine your strengths: Via Strengths, Strengths Finder, Lumina Spark.
  3. What have been the most significant events/accomplishments during my life? Which of these lit me up and gave me joy? What was it that made the event so significant?
  4. What was it that as a child, pre-occupied me for hours, that I did not have a chance to pursue? Is now the time?

Digging Deep
All of these questions require a deeper dig than you might be accustomed to. As a generation, baby boomers have not been the most reflective types. Essentially, you began your career and simply showed up at work every day. Along the way you may have had a quarter or midlife crisis or two, where you may have stopped and wondered about the greater meaning of life. You may be better off now if that did happen as you have already experienced the process of questioning and introspection.

You may also have told yourself, or been told by others, to ‘get a grip’, this search for self is self-indulgent. In which case, you most likely abandoned the process and returned to doing what you had always done.

Regardless of your past experience, now is the time to look within. I love what Neale Donald Walsch says about this, “if you do not look within, you go without”. It is a worthwhile investment in yourself as you have all those days, months and years stretching before you that can be filled with meaningful activity, purpose and passion. This is a golden opportunity you do not want to miss.

And by the way, living with purpose and passion does not imply being out there in the world doing for others or engaged in activities. The importance of this journey is to understand what is truly meaningful for you, which might be writing, reading, painting or any solo endeavor that inspires you. There are no “should’s, have to’s or must do’s” at this time of your life. You are now free to choose what you want to do or be. You are free.

Freedom is the fragile neck of a daffodil after the longest of winters.
It’s the sound of your voice, without anyone drowning you out.
It’s having the grace to say yes, and more important, the right to say no.
At the heart of freedom, hope beats: a pulse of possibility.
Jodi Picoult, Small Great Things

What else?
Books, workshops, coaching – all of these are additional options for you to explore.

Remember , you have time, there is no deadline on self-discovery. It is a process and an opportunity to exercise your curiosity and to simply wonder, what if…

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BOOM!

There are moments in your life where, in an instant, everything changes. And more often than not, it is something that you are expecting and perhaps wanting to avoid dealing with. An undercurrent of hints and signs present themselves to you and still, you keep trucking along, head turned away from the obvious, believing that if you hold your focus elsewhere, the obvious will not happen.

Then, BOOM! The unexpected/expected happens.

Part of the Third Act for many of us is having parents approaching the Forth Act (if such a term has been coined). I am the proud ‘outlaw’ of two aging parents-in law named Dorothy and Ron, ages 87 and 86 respectively. While physically healthy, both of them are experiencing levels of memory loss, judgment lapses and dementia. Dorothy has been most affected by this, leaving Ron as the primary care-giver. More recently it has been evident that Ron’s health has also been changing and, while all of us have been observing this, it has been easier to believe that things would just keep ticking along.

As I write this, Ron has been hospitalized following a weekend meltdown called pneumonia, which in the elderly is often missed, presenting as confusion, paranoia, memory loss and decompensation. This is where we found ourselves. Everything has changed as we as a family face the reality that they may no longer be able to live independently.

I am fully aware that this is yet another rite of passage for Third Acters and perhaps a perfect example of how we also approach our own aging and Third Act planning. You know that one day you will retire, in some way, and it is easy to avoid looking at it or planning for it. And then one day, your employer tells you it is time to pack up your desk, to ‘retire’ and you are shocked and completely unprepared. How is it possible you could not see this coming?

BOOM!

One day you are working, and the next day you are not. And in your avoidance, you are completely unprepared for the inevitable. What do you do now?

Chances are, the hints and signs were in your consciousness even though you were looking the other way. In our current dilemma, I had already called in the local psycho-geriatric team for Dorothy and we were waiting for Ron’s assessment to be scheduled. This at least was the first step in connecting us to community services. In other words, we have a place to start.

You do as well and the first step is to simply relax, breathe, and recognize the opportunity that stretches before you. It is fair to say that you will miss your J.O.B. You will miss the routine, the work itself, the social connections and more. All of this can re-created in a new way and first, give yourself an opportunity to recognize that stepping away from your J.O.B. is a significant loss. It is part of how you have defined yourself for many years and it is not only appropriate but important to grieve this loss.

This is the first important step of your Third Act. Experiencing and expressing the loss you may feel, allows you to release it and create space for what’s next in your life.

Do yourself a favor and book some time with a massage therapist, an energy worker (Reiki, Integrated Energy, or networking chiropractic), or any practitioner that can support you in moving forward. Consider meditation, yoga, physical work outs of any description. Avoid signing up for every volunteer opportunity offered to you because others know you now have loads of free time. Trust me, this is not a solution.

Learn to ‘BE’ for a while, giving yourself that important opportunity to know yourself and assess what is important to you today and in the future.

Welcome to your Third Act!

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2013 in review

Excited to receive my year end report for The roadSIGNS Coach Blog and to appreciate the number of readers who visited the site. A few details are listed below. Here’s a toast to 2014, attracting more visitors and sharing the road!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,800 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 47 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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In Praise of Older Women

Recently I have found myself attracted to the stories of older women. Whether it is my own age that drives me there or simply that older women are interesting, I have yet to decide. What I do know for sure is that all of us are going to age and we have a say in how this aging will happen. And so I write this to share some of what I am observing, to explore my own journey of getting older and to share a little of the wisdom I am picking up along the way.

Choose Your Role Models Carefully
I enjoy older women. I like their humanity and I love their stories. There is a deeper sense of wisdom beneath those wrinkles and grey hair. And yes, like you, I have noticed that not all older women (and men) are people I would choose to hang-out with. And so it is that in our own journey of growing older, I suggest we choose role models who inspire us. Maya Angelou comes to mind for me. Now is her late eighties, this is a woman who continues to teach and share her stories with a self-deprecating way that is humorous and wise.

I also watched a brief film on YouTube the other day, Fabulous Fashionistas, about six older women, average age 80. In sharing their lives several things became obvious. First, each of these women had a sense of purpose, whether that was continuing to work, having a passion, or promoting a cause. As I watch my family members and some of my friends age, I realize that growing old happens quickly when there is nothing to keep you engaged, a reason to throw your feet on the cold floor each morning.

Secondly, each of these women had a sense of style, even flare. They embraced a “the hell with it” attitude that spoke of caring little for what others think or do, and simply showing up the way you are and want to be. I love that. Break all the rules, the way you are supposed to act like because someone in society said that older women should not wear miniskirts or jeans, have long hair or drink beer in public.

Thirdly, they were active. Despite knee and hip replacements, daily exercise was a must. Dance, running, yoga, whatever it took to keep the muscles and bone moving; use it or lose it.

Yes, I loved these women.

sparkle

You Know Best
Whether you are 23, 45, 69 or 83, today is the day to decide what aging looks like for you. My suggestion – don’t settle. By that, I mean disregard the expectations of others and decide on what is perfect for you. Set your intentions around what you truly want rather than what you think you ‘should’ be doing.

We are entering an era where more and more of us will be growing old together. At 63, I may be closer than some of you. Perhaps that’s why I find myself looking for those role models at the moment and making some decisions about aging with grace.

I am learning that age is largely about attitude. I have watched friends and family assume that they were no longer valuable and choose to step away. It saddens me to see them, disengaged and growing older with each moment. I have also observed the opposite, those women who continue to ‘kick ass’ regardless (I won’t name them here but you know who you are). They are artists, gardeners, writes, dancers, and most importantly, they are alive. Aging for them seems to be at a stand still.

And so I say to all of you, women of all ages, and men if you choose to join in, it is time for us to celebrate:

  • to be enlivened by life and never put down
  • to live with purpose and never give up
  • to be inspired and inspire others
  • to dress for YOU and disobey the rules
  • to play with your inner child and never grow up
  • to choose your path, what’s perfect for you, and turn a deaf ear to ‘they said’
  • to work and play as you choose rather than being the norm
  • to re-fire rather than re-tire when the time comes.

Final Thoughts
As one of the women in Fabulous Fashionistas noted, ageism is pervasive in society; the focus on youth and all that goes with it lingers. Reality tells us that older women are quickly becoming the majority. I say, let’s not be the silent majority!

If you want this attitude to change, be part of the change. If you don’t know how, find some role models to inform you. If you have retired, re-fire, identify a new project or cause, re-ignite your passion. Most importantly live large, be bold, and be YOU!

Betty Healey

Betty Healey is an award-winning author, coach and inspiring speaker. You can book Betty for a workshop or speaking engagement at www.roadSIGNS.ca or contact her at betty@roadSIGNS.ca.

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MORE THAN WORDS

I am delighted to have Aileen Gibb as a guest blogger today on the roadSIGNS Coach. I first met Aileen in 1998 at the Higher Ground Community Retreat. As a master coach, Aileen has touched many lives around the globe including mine. I was privileged to be a reviewer for her new book Voices. Enjoy Aileen’s blog, More than Words.

I’m always inspired when Betty finds an unusual road sign to convey a message for her readers. I was similarly struck by an experience beyond words recently when I checked in to the 14th century Manor House Hotel in the historic village of Castle Coombe, England. A charming young man valiantly pulled my heavy suitcase along what looked like a street of cottages from bygone times. Yes, this row of cottages had been converted into luxurious hotel rooms with amenities a far cry from those their original inhabitants would have known. Mixed emotions flitted through me as we passed by this charming row of cottages to a lone cottage on its own at the end of the lane. Was I being stuck in the outhouse? Of course not – my cottage turned out to be a little house on its own, separated from the very centre of the charming town itself only by five-foot thick walls of hand-hewn sandstone. My chaperone bent down, hobbit fashion, to open the door to my cottage and welcome me in. Imagine my joy at finding I had my own little house for the next five days. A real log fire, which I just had to light one afternoon; a comfortable bed with a choice of six different kinds of pillows, from which I would gaze up into the old oak rafters; and a traditional-looking, yet thoroughly modern bathroom with rain-shower, claw-foot bath and endless hot water.  This was turning into an experience beyond expectations and beyond what words can really convey. A picture might help:

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Sometimes we need more than words to capture the real situation. We need to experience it. And sometimes words convey so much more than the initial, or superficial experience we encounter. Take the thoughtfully provided toiletries in this already memorable hotel room. I was struck by the clever spin on words that some creative product designer had come up with – words that took me to an experience beyond using them for my daily ablutions. An ordinary soap bar labelled “SOAP BOX – JUMP ON” – well that’s an invitation it doesn’t take me long to respond to. A cleansing lotion titled “TAKE THE DAY OFF” extends an invitation to remove the murk and grime of a busy city workday and replace it with a sense of relaxation or even playing hooky. And a kit of manicure essentials promises to “MEND A HAND”. These plays on words create visceral and emotional responses to everyday items.  And they make me think about the words and language we use in everyday life and leadership.

In many organizations, I find myself listening to clients who seem to have a language of their own: three letter acronyms, buzz words and jargon terms which have long-ceased to have   meaning for the increasingly dulled ears on which they fall. Fighting to be heard amidst cryptic text messages, email pings, or even re-runs of last evening’s TV reality show.

Where, I ask, are the quality conversations? The meaningful questions which inspire deep contemplation of possibilities and solutions? The focused listening – not for what has gone before, rather for what is really needed and waiting to emerge? My colleague and mentor, Ian Wallace of the Dream Organisation in Scotland, makes the distinction between communication (usually the one-sided transmission of information and data) and conversation (which literally means to turn something around together).

Every team or organization I have worked in for the past twenty years has, at some point said “we need better communication around here”. I’m convinced that what we really need is “better conversation”.

And better conversation invites better awareness as to the impact of the words we choose the questions we ask, the listening we demonstrate, the voice we use – all wrapped up in the experience of being fully engaged with another person. My coaching clients will often say they can’t get the type of conversation they have with me, anywhere else in their organization. This saddens me. And it inspires me to equip those same leaders to in-turn lead conversations that make a difference.  When those leaders pay attention to their words and invite people into conversations that meet their individual needs, then I believe we’ll see a shift.  A shift from dominating the conversation, as the Lord of the Manor might have done in the 14th century, to listening truly for the real voices and for more than what simple words convey.

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About Aileen Gibb:

Aileen Gibb is an inspirational coach, facilitator and leader whose work has taken her around the globe. She has worked with leaders and teams in Kazakhstan, Venezuela, the Middle East, France, Angola and in many companies in the UK and North America, to uncover new possibilities and transform results. Where she has travelled she has been amazed at the power of coaching-style conversations and the choices people make to become more successful in their work and to live more fulfilling lives. Aileen is from the small village of Fyvie, in North East Scotland and has lived for the past twelve years amidst the rocky mountain in Canmore, Alberta, Canada with her husband, Jake and their two boxer dogs. Aileen thanks you for your interest in VOICES, please let her know how it inspires you. http://www.aileengibbvoices.com

https://www.facebook.com/aileengibbVOICES

About Voices:

VOICES is a series of connected coaching stories which reflect many of the real-life choices people might consider making to live the life they truly wish for. All the stories are fiction and her hope is that one of the stories – or one of the questions in one of the stories – might resonate with your life story and invite you to make a choice. The coaching stories are interwoven with the musings of a future-guide who travels to and from a parallel time, considering what the key messages are for inspiring a better future society.

VOICES is available for purchase now and although Aileen has some upfront costs to recoup, as soon as it starts to generate profit, funds from the book sales will be going to support people going through cancer to access complementary therapies such as acupuncture, which are proven to mitigate the extreme fatigue and other side-effects of cancer treatments. http://www.aileengibbvoices.com

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Peace

Over the years I have found myself reflecting on my higher purpose in life. While I have found many ways to express this, it always comes back to one theme – world peace. As I write this, part of me thinks how ridiculous, you sound like one of the contestants from Miss Congeniality, that wonderful movie with Sandra Bullock where all contestants ended their personal presentations with “And I want world peace”. It smacks of sugar and honey. Then there is the other part of me, my personal and devoted self-critic who says to me, “Who do you think YOU are to have such a lofty purpose? Really!” And there you have.

Undeterred I forge forward and, despite my personal naysayer, it keeps coming up. I refuse to feel too small to contribute to such a large vision. As I result this is what I have learned:

  • I have come to understand that world peace begins with me and my capacity to make peace with myself
  • I have learned that when I make peace with me, I am far less judgmental of others
  • I have learned that when I set an intention of peace, within me and around me, life is a heck of a lot easier
  • I have learned that infusing peace into our property, Tigh Shee (Celtic for House of Peace), that people actually experience it while they are here and carry a little of it away with them.

Peace is an Attitude

Peace is an attitude as well as an action. It is easy to look at the many troubled places on our planet today, and the world leaders who are tasked with ‘solving’ the crises, and not see our part in it. Our media focuses on the action of peace as the antidote for war. As a result, it is easy to see the seeking of peace as someone else’s issue because we happen to live in a country where peace is our way and where war typically does not touch our shores.

But what if we have the capacity to influence peace everywhere? What if individually and collectively we have this power?

I am suggesting you do, and it begins inside you, in your relationship with yourself. You may be thinking that I am crazy (some do!) but before you leap to this conclusion, stop for a moment and consider what I am saying. Check in with your relationship with yourself for a moment. What is the content of your self-talk? Does your inner critic reign? And what vitriol is she feeding you? How many ways does she make you less than perfect; does she put you down, criticize you, or fill your head with all the ‘shoulds’ she can conjure up? If this is the dominant conversation you are having with YOU, then you are at war with yourself.

In contrast, you also have a self-coach, who appreciates you, who understands and supports the difference you make to your community every day, who sees you through the lens of your strengths. She is there to lift you up. She is your voice of peace.

You have the power of choice, deciding which of the two sides of you will speak louder and occupy your emotional/spiritual space. You have the choice to fuel yourself with negative or positive self-talk. Here is what you must realize: if peace is important to you, and it is to most of us, you cannot be a voice for peace in the world unless you are a voice of peace for yourself. You cannot create a peaceful life for yourself in your outer world unless the inner world of self-talk is a match.

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Final Word

I do pray these days for the troubled areas of the world and the leaders who sit in the hot seat of decision-making. And with these prayers/intentions, I take the time to look inward and check in on myself, making sure that peace lives within me. There are great days, good days and crappy days – I am human!

Being aware is the first step. Shifting your relationship with yourself is the second. Choosing to consciously communicate in peaceful ways with yourself and others is the third. Radiating peace is the result.

This past Saturday, September 21st, was World Peace Day as declared by the United Nations. Here at Tigh Shee we celebrated this with our fall equinox labyrinth walk. With almost 40 people in attendance, we began our walk by greeting one another in the following way, “Peace be with Me, peace be with You.’

Peace BE with ME. Peace BE with YOU!

 

Upcoming Events

ME FIRST; If I Should Wake Before I Die: Two-Day Retreat October 19-20th/2013.

Living From Your Strengths: a One-Day Coaching Circle November  23rd/2013

 

For information on both events go to: http://www.roadsigns.ca/upcoming-retreats-events/

 

Until next time,

 

Betty