What is More Important Than Comfort?

Uncategorized Nov 30, 2021

Originally published at https://sixtyandme.com/comfort-and-dreams/.

WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN COMFORT?

Here we are in our 60s, finally done with raising a family, if we chose to do that, and perhaps enjoying grandchildren now. We are done with the responsibilities of a professional life… or at least one that we must pursue to provide for ourselves and family and build our professional identity.

It is time to kick back, have fun, and relax. We can sleep in if we want or read for an entire afternoon. Some of us must augment our retirement income, but relative to most of the world we enjoy many privileges of the good life. This is the glorious time we have waited for all these years. We have earned our comfort.

The reality is that this phase of life in the 21^st century can last 20-30 years. Might there be more to experience than comfort? When I talk with women about what they desire to create during this era, I often (but not always) hear that they...

What Do You Do All Day? Retirement Questions....

Uncategorized Sep 21, 2021

This article was originally published at Sixty and Me

“SO, WHAT DO YOU DO ALL DAY?” RETIREMENT QUESTION #1

BY ARDITH BOWMAN SEPTEMBER 06, 2021 MINDSET

Many retired women tell me they get asked this question. The reaction to it can be a negative one. I have heard comments like, “Well, they wouldn’t ask me that if I were still working!” One of the most common responses I hear is, “Whatever I want!”

The inner voice is often reacting to being asked the question at all. Notice your own response. Are you thinking, “You tell them!” or “It is not their business?”

Let’s take a look at what might be meant by that question in the first place. It might not be about you at all, but more about the person asking. Perhaps there is a way to help others better understand retirement and what is possible. We are their role models!

Curiosity

One interpretation is that the question means, “What is...

Choose What is in Season

Uncategorized Jul 28, 2021

Originally published in https://sixtyandme.com/wise-women-season/

WISE WOMEN CHOOSE WHAT IS IN SEASON

BY ARDITH BOWMAN JULY 13, 2021 MINDSET

So far, I have written three articles that addressed the importance of feeling a sense of purpose in life, describing the three pillars that can ignite and cultivate your purpose. We have explored:

Your relationship with your own wisdom and guidance;
Your relationship with creating with life;
Your relationship with creating with others.

A Season for Everything

It is said, to everything there is a season. For some of us, our purpose is focused on caring for parents, family and/or work responsibilities. Some of us are exploring what we want next in life. Such freedom is both exhilarating/exciting and perhaps intimidating. Know we each have a choice. Some of the options we choose may include:

Choosing to “keep busy”;
Choosing what seems most pleasant in each day;
Choosing to be without a specific direction and go...

Wise Women Create with Others

Uncategorized Jul 10, 2021

THE THREE PILLARS TO LEVEL UP YOUR PURPOSE: WISE WOMEN CREATE WITH OTHERS

First published at Wise Women Build Strong Relationships | Sixty and Me

We continue to explore the three pillars that support you creating a life of meaning and purpose. The first pillar is strengthening your relationship with your own wisdom and guidance. The second is aligning yourself with the abundance of life.

Now, drum roll, we will examine how your relationship with others can help you attract, recognize and accept the support you need to create the life you want. Claire Zammit of Feminine Power™ says it all – You can’t become yourself by yourself.

Isolation Is Not the Truth

Sometimes women have a way of disappearing, resulting in a sense of isolation. One way is to always focus on others and deflect any personal attention. Another way is to buy into the story that to receive support is weak, thus our work is to not ask for – or even look like...

Three Pillars to Level up Your Purpose

Uncategorized Jun 10, 2021

THE THREE PILLARS TO LEVEL UP YOUR PURPOSE: THE WISE WOMAN CREATES WITH LIFE

BY ARDITH BOWMAN •

• MINDSET in https://sixtyandme.com/wise-woman-creates-purpose/

If you are going to create a life with the personal purpose that inspires you and brings you meaning, you first need to believe it is possible.

In my previous article, I shared that one of the key learnings you need to embrace is that you are enough at this moment. Now, it is time to realize that there is enough. There is enough time, money, love, opportunity for everyone.

We have been trained to believe that there is lack. As a result, we must compete for jobs and money, tightly prioritize our time, and often believe there are limited opportunities for love.

How does this belief in limitation impact what you believe is possible for you?
What would you do if you knew that life is poised to support you with what you need to create...

Set Your Wise Woman Free

Uncategorized May 20, 2021

THE THREE PILLARS TO LEVEL UP YOUR PURPOSE: SET YOUR WISE WOMAN FREE

BY ARDITH BOWMAN • MAY 4, 2021 • First published in https://sixtyandme.com/set-your-wise-woman-free/

In an earlier article, we discussed the value of having a sense of purpose in life and some easy steps to help you discover yours. Recall that purpose is related to vitality, mental acuity, and longevity.

Now, we will explore the three key pillars to keep leveling up your life of purpose… where you are most vibrant and powerful. A life you know matters because you feel ‘on purpose’, whatever that is for you.

The three pillars to create your life that matters include:

Your relationship with your own wisdom and guidance
Your relationship with life
Your relationship with others

We can thank Claire Zammit Ph.D., Evolving Wisdom LLC, for her extensive research regarding these three centers of our power as women.

This series...

6 Easy Steps into a Life with Purpose

Uncategorized Apr 28, 2021

Published in https://sixtyandme.com/life-with-purpose/

In recent years, there have been a number of studies about the relationship between purpose and aging. A Sense of Purpose Promotes Healthy Aging is one example. Research suggests that living with a sense of purpose not only adds quality of life but years as well. It also is associated with less risk of Alzheimer’s.

But what is ‘purpose’? What is it like to not have a sense of purpose in your life? How do you find purpose? There are many ways to describe the impact of living life without purpose – languid, meaningless, without soul, etc. No wonder it is so important!

When you look at various definitions, purpose is really about having a driving force in life or sense of meaning. So, you could say that purpose is what gets you out of bed in the morning. Or, from a quote in Jennifer Louden’s book Why Bother, “Meaning arises from loving life…” What can you...

Making Use of the 6 Retirement Types

Uncategorized Apr 12, 2021

HOW TO MAKE USE OF THE 6 RETIREMENT TYPES

BY ARDITH BOWMAN • MARCH 28, 2021 • LIFESTYLE

Are you in the “one plan and done” retirement trap? Living into your 60s and beyond is a phase of life with many transitions. Sadly, one aspect of ageism is that retirement is seen as a static life phase with decline over time. It is time to disrupt this view, and we are the ones to do it!

When we plan for retirement, we often create just one vision for what we believe will bring contentment and satisfaction. Many of us have already learned that this phase of life is much richer and varied than that.

Think about it: If you retire at 65-ish and are blessed to be healthy and active, your retirement years may last as long as your professional ones! What provides satisfaction today may not in another 10 years.

It might be satisfying for you to decide on one path and then follow it over the retirement decades. Or you can...

Is 'Because Thinking' Stopping you?

mindset Mar 23, 2021

At 72, and committed to living a life I love, I've been reflecting on how easy it is to let outside conditions influence the decisions we make about what we do in our lives.

How many times have you decided to not do something because of conditions around you? For example, what you think someone your age can’t or shouldn’t do, or not investing in yourself because money should be saved, or waiting for success to be guaranteed before venturing ahead.

Seeing Because Thinking for the Limit it is

We all do this. For many of us it is habit we developed to help us make decisions. More than ever in your life, it is important to pause and decide if the decision to not do something is based what is really true.

When we were younger we may have postponed things we wanted to do because …

I need to wait until the kids are older,
I need to get my promotion first,
I’ll do it after I pay down the mortgage,
I’ll just wait until I retire...

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