"One Year to Live" - My Class in San Miguel de Allende

"One Year to Live" - My Class in San Miguel de Allende

Two months ago when the waters of Santa Rosa Sound were choppy and the day so grey I could barely see the boat house at the end of the dock I was taken back in time and place.Today reminds me of a time when my daughter, Elizabeth, and I were making our way southward on a 42-foot sailboat in mid-December

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Not This Life . . . That Life

Not This Life . . . That Life

I have not posted in a while. I couldn’t. I lost my endeavor.  I didn’t feel like it.

Besieged is how I have felt. Priorities I carefully chose suddenly began to compete for my energy. The necessities of participating in life (and moments of trying to figure it out what was happening) made even the creative possibilities I set in motion impossible.I was deprived of clarity. It happens…

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The Working Retirement: 7 Things To Do Within 5 Years of Leaving Your Job

The Working Retirement: 7 Things To Do Within 5 Years of Leaving Your Job

It’s no joke. You intend to create a different kind of life in the future.In this imagined life, you cease responding to texts and emails that waste your time. You’ll never again endure a narcissist’s rant.No long commutes, improbable targets and boring, stupid meetings.No way.In this new life, the day unfolds just the way you’d like.

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Ten Ways to Transition into Paid Work Instead of Retirement

Ten Ways to Transition into Paid Work Instead of Retirement

Yesterday outside Publix, I ran into an old friend. We talked, caught up and then he asked about my work.“I’m helping people uncover possibilities for being productive in work until they want to retire at 85!”He smiled.

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My Life, My Art: How to Make 2016 Your Kick-Ass Year

My Life, My Art: How to Make 2016 Your Kick-Ass Year

We live our lives. We don’t make our lives. Isn’t that right?Of course not. I know you know this.We make the lives we live – step by step, plunge by plunge. We construct, formulate and compose a production using our energies and spirit along with whatever else is thrown our way.Currently our life's play is stimulating, wonderful, dissatisfying, miserable, boring or downright dull.

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Starry, Starry ‘Life’ - Inspire Your Reinvention with a Transition Story (6 Tips and 9 Ideas)

Starry, Starry ‘Life’ - Inspire Your Reinvention with a Transition Story (6 Tips and 9 Ideas)

What’s the dream for your life ahead? How hard are you pushing yourself to get it?The Rijksmuseum is TripAdvisor’s #1 rated ‘Things to do” in Amsterdam. But not for me. On my visit last month I wanted none of those dark Dutch paintings.I wanted Van Gogh’s “Starry, Starry Night.” Turns out “The Starry Night” is in New York and part of the Museum of Modern Art’s Permanent Collection since 1941

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Reinventing Yourself? Why You Need a Transition Story.

Reinventing Yourself? Why You Need a Transition Story.

The inside window ledges of the homes in Northern Holland tell stories.During my ten-day visit I saw handsome turquoise pottery, painted pitchers, tall vases with flowers, ceramic birds and farm animals, wooden ships, and tin angels displayed in the windows.In villages on the Frisian Islands, homes with large front windows edge the sidewalks.

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Lost in Transition? Try the 'Tough Cookie 100-Day Plan for Getting Unstuck' (Over 30 Ideas)

Lost in Transition? Try the 'Tough Cookie 100-Day Plan for Getting Unstuck' (Over 30 Ideas)

There are only two types of people in the world: people who do what they say they’re going to do when they say they’re going to do it, and people who don’t do what they say they’re going to do when they say they’re going to do it.I am the first type. I do what I say I am going to do. Unless, of course, I'm stuck. I hate getting stuck.

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Stuck? Confused? Can’t Find Your Late-in-Life Groove? You Need a 'Tough Cookie' Voice.

Stuck? Confused? Can’t Find Your Late-in-Life Groove? You Need a 'Tough Cookie' Voice.

Getting stuck in a life transition isn’t fun. Even smack in the middle of a lull when we feel something’s bound to come along to move us forward (we’re not sure what) is enough to make us think we missed a step we should have known about.

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The #1 Myth of Midlife Change: How It Holds You Back and Ways to Bust It Up

The #1 Myth of Midlife Change: How It Holds You Back and Ways to Bust It Up

“Roll up your sleeves - midlife change is your best and last chance to become the real you.”Thus begins the article, “The Existential Necessity of Midlife Change,” in the Harvard Business Review OnPoint,Your Next Move, Summer 2015.I was puzzled momentarily. The term “real you” is odd, isn’t it?Who are you now if you’re not the real you?Here’s the answer:

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Five Things People Who Love Their Post50 Lives Don’t Do

Five Things People Who Love Their Post50 Lives Don’t Do

One day you think: Oh, here is the rest of my life. It’s finally arrived.The map of how you got here may be in front of you, but what to do now? No map for that.Still we do figure it out.Not all of us do it well. At least, not every time.

 I solved life after college graduation rather fine. But post-divorce invoked a shaky time that curled my toes and wreaked havoc on providing for my daughter in a fitting way. (My mom sent money.)

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