Holistic Retirement Living places responsibility for the outcomes we achieve right where they should be, on us. We must learn to be advocates for ourselves if we are to live a happy and engaged retired life. I believe in the Law of Attraction. I not only believe in it, I live my life according to it. I was trained in the sciences with a research focus. Universal Laws will never change. They provide a solid ground from which to experiment with theories. “What goes up comes down.” “The sun rises in the East and sets in the West.”
Knowing there is order to the Universe provides us with a certain safety. Even the choices we make follow unchanging laws. “What we focus on persists.” While this may sound simple, its complexities elude many for the course of their lives. To get what you want in life you must make conscious choices. Choosing means picking up the ball and taking responsibility for your outcomes. There is a formula I’ve learned for this action: E + R = O. In other words: An Event + My Response = My Outcome. This can, unerringly, be applied to every area of your life. Just for example, let’s look at a scenario involving what someone wants, the choices they make and how that plays out in their life in regards to something familiar to all of us, our health. Ted loves to eat. He looks forward to eating and treating himself by going out to restaurants often. “After all, I deserve it”, he tells himself (Event).
He loves steak and ribs and has a baked potato with sour cream and butter for his vegetable. “Fish is for light weights” is Ted’s motto. He grabs fast food when he’s out and about because it’s so easy. “I know I lose control of how the food is cooked” he’ll say, “but why would I cook if I don’t have to?” He eats fruit and usually has it on top of a big bowl of ice cream. He prides himself on how much he can put away; “Even in my fifties I can eat with the best of them” he has been heard to say. He cut down to less than a pack of cigarettes a day. He states he would exercise if he wasn’t so tired (Response). He’s on medication for high blood pressure, his cholesterol is through the roof and his doctor is wondering about Type 2 Diabetes. The pill bottles on his vanity are starting to take up a lot of space.
He needs to buy new clothes more often because they keep shrinking in the laundry (Outcome). The bad choices seem pretty obvious, yet I know so many people who do exactly this and can’t figure out what they are doing wrong; why they are getting the health outcomes they are. The hard part is in recognizing your truth. It’s taking the responsibility to be honest with yourself; and then be willing to do the hard work that will change your outcomes. When we focus on doing things the way we always have, we will continue to get the results we have always gotten. We will find ourselves stuck and we won’t know why. I’ve always told my kids: “If what you are doing isn’t working, you’ve got to change what you are doing.” It really is as simple as that. We deserve the best that life has to offer as we live an Holistic Retirement.
Nancy Montani owns Holistic Retirement Living, which takes a Body, Mind and Spirit approach to living the good life in retirement. She is presently writing a book on women and retirement. You are welcome to leave comments and contribute success stories for the book at: http://womenneverretire.com