Wouldn’t you agree that now is an outstanding time to re-evaluate everything in our lives?
We have everything we need to do this inventory and, if we play it right, we might have fun in the process. All it takes is time (which we have more of now that most of our activities are limited, with more time indoors), research resources (everything is available online), and the inclination (which is that nudge forward that I’m giving you here today).
I recently took an informative and life-transforming online class with Dr. Chris Michaels about making decisions. (You can find out all about this fascinating teacher/coach/spiritual leader/author and his work here. )
In the class Chris talked about how thriving enterprises have created business plans in order to succeed in the marketplace. A parallel concept can be made that, since we’re all in the business of life, humans also need a good life plan.
Have you thought about your future?
What is your plan? What idea do you want to bring forward for the remaining years of your life?
Dr. Michaels has identified six ways that will help develop a plan for our remaining time. I found these items to be self-explanatory but would encourage you to write down your ways to accomplish each.
- Fall in love with yourself: wherever love is, wholeness resides.
- Get to know your body: listen to its messages and learn the best way to care for it.
- Release negative emotions by forgiving or letting go.
- Exercise: find something you don’t hate. This goes hand-in-hand with an eating plan that emphasizes long term goals vs immediate gratification.
- Make time for people you love, which grounds us and can provide wonderful support.
- Get to know your source: that deep feeling which inspires us to act.
The following items help get in touch with these six plan components:
~Find out the message inside you that is still waiting to be born. Are you committed to getting it out there?
~What might you do to correct the areas of your life that need help. Perhaps you don’t take the best care of yourself. What can you do to plan for good health? What will draw good health into your life?
~Before beginning this process, let go of past limitations and mistakes. It’s too easy to let poor choices in the past prevent you from ever starting to think in a new way. Don’t create your future based on stories of the past.
~Just for the fun of it, look at what choices you might make for your future if you didn’t know how old you were or if you weren’t limited by past history. This fun suggestion worked best for me when I got comfy, closed my eyes and just thought about how I might be changed based on these criteria.
Developing a business plan for your future is smart. Doing so will help you see issues more clearly and help you identify ways to avoid failure.
You can jazz up your life plan by making a story board with colored pens or stickies and glitter, much like a goal poster. While a business plan sounds constricting, a life plan doesn’t have to be boring. Make it fun and rewarding.
You’re going to have a life, might as well have a plan for the best one!
Another interesting and helpful piece that spoke to me Antonia.. Thank you. I am going to do my research in to Dr. Michaels, his piece contains so many nuggets of wisdom. I especially like the part about changes that you might make if you didn’t know your age. As in Satchel Paige asking “how old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are.” I have found myself increasingly constricted by the thought of ageing and regretting certain paths not taken. And as I read that over I rather smile at myself for of course we are ALL ageing and none of us knows when we will breathe our last. But as long as we are still here, and every day I am grateful for THAT, then there is time left! So, thanks for this proverbial kick in the arse to get going! Stay well and in the Light… Cathleen
Your upbeat approach to the aging experience is inspiring. I appreciate how you’re expanding in the face of something beyond our control. Here’s to getting the most out your onward process. And, as always, thanks for continuing to read and respond, Cathleen.
Thank you for this post, Antonia. It is particularly timely and meaningful to me as I transition from being employed full time with a steady paycheck, to…well…to be determined (retired? self-employed? starting my own nonprofit?). I’ve thought about the steps a lot during the past year, and this post gave me lots of great ideas of how I can move ahead. Again, thank you!
That’s great news, Laurie. Instead of folding during these scary times, you’re expanding to new and different ways to be in the world. All the best in discovering different methods to support yourself. Cheers!