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Podcasts 2024
| Retirement is like that. Life is like that. It isn’t that you grow Dahlias, write the great American novel, or build a better boat. The questions to answer are: Does it work for you? Are you committed? Do you understand what you're doing with your life and why? | |
| Giving meaning to life is important for all of us. We need to feel that we have something for which life is worth living. If ancient religion doesn’t provide it then something else must. | |
| One thing about retirement: it gives us time to slow down and try different ways of living than those that have dominated our life through custom, convenience and habit. "Thanksgiving without turkey?" How could that be? | |
“The worst thing you can do is lie about something. Don’t deny something that is true. If people can’t trust you to tell the truth then we lose all trust. That would be the very worst thing. Do you understand." |
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| A friend gave me a bottle of wine maybe 50 years ago. “It is really good wine,” he said. And then added, “If you open it when you have a good friend over it will be all the better”. How true. | |
| In the younger phase we are always being asked what we are going to do in life. The question usually refers to a career plan. In the last half or so of life we are usually asked what we are going to do in retirement. Many of us never prepare. We just launched into it. | |
| Health decisions seem to mount as we move towards and in retirement. We are faced with choosing between alternative treatments. What to do? Where do we turn for advice? Most of the time, we can readily agree with our doctor. Other times, it just doesn’t feel right. We want a second opinion. | |
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It always amazes me that we can do all of our little errands and at the same time get terrific exercise. The papers and magazines are filled with articles that report about the effect of exercise on this or that disease. It seems like exercise is the only thing that is always recommended. I don’t think you can do too much. |
| We like to trust people. That is a good thing. However, sometimes we can be taken advantage of if we are not careful. As we grow older this can become a very serious problem. | |
| I know some people who say they don’t know what they would do if they were retired. My experience tells me that you will, or can be, very busy. Busy, but busy doing exactly what you want to. | |
| I know some people who say they don’t know what they would do if they were retired. My experience tells me that you will, or can be, very busy. Busy, but busy doing exactly what you want to. | |
| Freedom has all sorts of limitations. Retirement does open up new doors that were always closed. We now gain an advantage in life we have never experienced. But we must be aware of and willing to open those new doors. | |
| Social isolation is a major problem for retired people. We can lose all emotional contact with others. We lose people to care about. Our phone never rings. We sit at home alone; perhaps get a dog, a cat or a bird. According to a recently published book it is our major problem in retirement. | |
| Daily routines present themselves to us - like it or not. What's to be said concerning these daily tasks? Are they to be avoided; to let slide, to dread? Or are they jobs that can be done and even enjoyed? | |
| How much money is enough? That’s a pretty good question. When people consider retirement, that is always first and foremost in their minds. They just don’t seem to know how much is enough. There seems to be no hard and fast rule. | |
| How do we determine truth from fiction? We still have some people among us who are "Flat-Earthers". When it comes to politics, well, we have people telling us everything. Who are you supposed to believe? | |
| I think of retired people I know who love to watch birds. They get outside; fair or foul. They travel around the world to see different species. They send money to organizations to help protect birds or bird habitat. Retirement would be well spent if one were to focus on birds. | |
| Does music come to mean something else when one retires or moves into the later stages of life? Perhaps Nietzsche’s most acceptable aphorism was: “Without music, life would be a mistake”. | |
| This is the second part in a series concerning a trip to Puerto Vallarta and thoughts of moving south for retirement. Here are two examples of folks that did just that. | |
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We tend to develop daily routines. Aristotle knew that and advised us to take care with the routines that we establish. We are habitual creatures, he said. He claimed that we are good people because we have developed good habits. I believe that. I know that I'm a creature of habit. |
| I know that whenever I talk of doing something in the future my daughter's advice rattles around in my mind, "Don't wait too long." | |
| What wakes you on a daily basis? How do you get your news? Do you control it? It might be worth giving it a bit of consideration. Something to think about. | |
| One thing about it: where ever you go, there you are. You always take yourself with you. But as for us. We are not moving. As for the gun fire at night; It has never been repeated. What would your ideal place to live look like? Is it out there? | |
| A week ago a vascular surgeon inserted a stent into my iliac artery and on up into the aorta. The aneurysm was big and could pop any time. The aorta was clear but just below that was trouble waiting to cut my time just a bit short at any moment. Symptoms? | |
| 39,000 feet and feeling miserable. My eyes burn; my butt is numb. I'm scrunched; trying to be thin. Is there a secret to flying that I haven’t figured out? | |
| My education and culture have taught me very little about the benefits of sitting still. Many of us approach retirement with the idea that we must keep busy. We must continue to be “active” and for us that means moving or traveling. | |
| Retirement is the perfect time to indulge life with the wonders of audio. We live in a time of screens but it is audio that has also advanced to enhance our lives. The world of audiobooks and podcasts are at our fingertips. | |
| “Individuals who have a strong sense of meaning and purpose generally have better health, recover quicker from illnesses, and typically live longer”. This is a quote from one of the many health newsletters we receive. It is a publication from the Wellness Council of America. | |
| That’s the thing about working with your hands. When you finish the job you can run your hand along a smooth surface, take a picture of it, sit on it or put things in the drawers. You can even show it to other people and bask in momentary praise. It’s real. | |
| Years ago I came across some happiness advice that has never failed me. I liked it because it worked for me and I loved the name of the originator, Baruch de Espinosa: or, Spinoza. “Spinoza knowza”, I used to tell my philosophy students. | |
| I knew that if I stayed there just a bit longer I would become the evening meal of some carnivore. Considering the absurdity of life I thought about it. Then I moved on. Hope is something else that is in our genes. All of our ancestors possessed that gene as well as the one that told them to look around. | |
| Health issues become more and more personal as we move into and through retirement. Our interest and attention become very relevant individually. They have a way of grabbing our attention. | |
| Retirement is a time when a list might be as important as ever. As we enter the latter stages of life our time becomes more important. That is why we have a tendency to slow down. We don't want to rush life. | |
| Maybe retirement is the time to become a magician. Or whatever else you dreamed of when you were a child. Or whatever you dream about now that you are retired. I'll bet with just a few years of practice most of us could learn to pull rabbits out of hats. | |
| "Picking a Fight" is not something our parents told us was a good thing to do. Perhaps we need to rethink this advice. Retirement might be the perfect time to look around and pick a fight with some bully. | |
| A good thing about vacations is that it shines a new light on the life we now live and the life we may want to lead. We can lay out plans, read travel logs, browse book stores and magazine racks, and have something to dream about when we take our afternoon nap. | |
| The bottom line remains firm. You just have to spend a bit less than you earn. You might be surprised by how much pleasure can come from a walk in the woods compared to a cruise in the Aegean. | |
| How great are your needs? Do they expand with every paycheck or salary raise? Were we kidding ourselves about how much we loved our job and really were working for the money? I mean if we quit working and receiving a check do you suppose we would still go in every day and help out for free? We needed to answer all of those questions. | |
| I feel like I must relate a few lessons learned on this winter trip. They might help you think about ramifications if you may someday consider taking off during the cold season. | |
| “I Like Being Old”, is the title of a book I recently came across. It is written by k. Eileen Allen. She is a 90 year old woman who is blind. She says she likes being old and I believe her. | |
| Some of us want to know what is around the bend. We want to move on. Perhaps it is just a simple case of the grass always being greener; the longing for that which we don’t have. It might pertain to our geographical location or our tasks or work at hand. | |
| Nietzsche advised us to step out on the edge and take a chance. He urged us to do something different with our lives. "We need to break ourselves in two," he said. And then create an even greater self. | |
| I recently read of a Barbie Doll who is connected to the Internet via wi-fi. It hears your voice and responds similar to Seri but it remembers everything and can thus personalize each response instantly. Imagine something similar to this in the hands of an isolated senior? A new best friend and listener may be as near as Best Buy. | |
| When retired we're allowed more time to choose different paths; to explore new roads. All we have to do is make up our mind as to which direction we want to go. We don't want to just sit in the middle of the highway and let life wiz on by. | |
| “You never want to let the weather dictate what you do with your life”. That is a line I used to recite to the kids whenever we wanted to go hiking, biking, or skiing. | |
| It only seems reasonable that we should indeed do some preparation for a period of perhaps 30 or 40 years of living. We need to develop some expectations. I’m not sure they need to be "Great Expectations", but at least some might be wise. |
A resource from a listener: Best Free Online Degrees for Seniors guide is designed to assist seniors who aspire to enhance their intellect or consider starting a new career path. It features an overview of the top online degrees for seniors, emphasizing their numerous advantages, and a broad range of subjects to choose from. A friend's website: Terra Firma Designs: Fine Furniture, Stained Glass and woodworking workshops. Copyright 2010 RetirementTalk.org |
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