The Retirement Detox Program

Do you need a retirement detox?

Are you struggling with retirement?  It's not uncommon.  Once the 'honeymoon' period is over and reality starts to set in, up to 1 in 5 people can feel that their life is in the doldrums, they're not getting the retirement they deserve and that, if this is all they have to look forward to, they wish they'd never retired in the first place!

If all this sounds horribly familiar to you, don't panic... Use these 10 thought-provoking questions to help give yourself a Retirement Detox:   

1. What do you want more of in your life? (What makes you happy?)

2. What do you want less of? (What bugs you, makes you unhappy or even downright miserable?)

3. What would your ideal retirement look like and how close to that ideal retirement could you get?

4. If this was your last day on earth, how would you spend your time?  What implications does this hold for the way that you spend your time on a daily basis (and who you spend it with)?

5. Which activities do you do that bring you meaning and fulfillment?

6. Which activities do you do that just fill your time without adding anything of value to your life?

7. What do you do that adds structure and a sense of purpose to your days?

8. How do you continue to obtain a sense of achievement and a 'job well done' now that you are retired?

9. Could you come up with a 'bucket list' - a list of 100 things that you still want to be, do and have before you 'kick the bucket'?

10. What single, daily action could you take to ensure that you achieve all the items on your bucket list?  For example, you could make an agreement with yourself that you won't watch TV until after 9pm and spend the time between dinner and 9pm working on your list.  Or you could commit to exercising for an hour a day to maximize your chances of being around long enough to achieve all the items on your list.

These are just ten of the hundreds of thought-provoking questions I ask in my eBook, The Retirement Detox Programme: 40 days to get your retirement back on track.  The eBook is available for just £10 (approximately $20) from my website by clicking the above link.

This is a brilliantly inspiring book that will pep you up and lead you to find the confident, balanced, ordered, joyous and peaceful life that you’ve always wanted.  Margaret Sheridan-Wallis

'I am blown away by this amazing Ebook, so much value for just £10!' Dr Alison Grimston, GP, UK

www.holisticdoctor.typepad.com

Randy Pausch Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Carnegie Mellon Professor, Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university before a packed McConomy Auditorium on 18 September, 2007.  In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.  For more, visit www.cmu.edu/randyslecture.

What to do if you can't pay

'Times is', indeed, 'hard'... and, even if we're not actually struggling to pay our bills, we can't help wondering what will happen to property prices and how our kids will cope when that fixed rate mortgage ends this year...

If you (or someone you care about) are stretched to the limit and reaching the point where you're starting to miss payments, cast your eyes over 'What to do if you can't pay'  on  uk.msn.com  - the article covers mortgages, rent, council tax, gas, water and electricity bills, credit cards and loan repayments.  The general message is:  communicate with the creditor, try to come to an arrangement and keep paying SOMETHING,  even if you can't afford to pay the whole bill.

If I had my life to live over by Erma Bombeck

(Written after she discovered that she was dying from cancer)

If I had my life to live over, I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you's".. More "I'm sorrys" ...

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back.

Five things happy people do

When 'O', the Oprah Magazine, canvassed leading experts on happiness in an attempt to find out what happy people had in common, this is what they came up with:

1.  They find their most golden self
2.  They design their lives to bring in joy
3.  They avoid "if only" fantasies
4.  They put best friends first
5.  They allow themselves to be happy.

To find out more, visit Five Things Happy People Do on msn.com.

When bargain hunting becomes an addiction

Are you the sort of person who can't resist a bargain?  Do you get so excited when presented with a great deal that practical considerations, such as whether you need or can afford the bargain you've found, just never enter your head?  In this article for msn.com, Melinda Fulmer examines how, for some people, bargain shopping can be as addictive as drugs or alcohol...

Rules of being human by Dan Miller

You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but make the best of it because it’s going to be with you for the rest of your life.

You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full time informal school called life on planet Earth.  Every person or incident is the Universal Teacher

There are no mistakes, only lessons.  Growth is a process of experimentation. ‘Failures’ are as much a part of the process as ‘Successes’

A lesson is repeated until it is learned.  It is presented to you in various forms until you learn it, then you go to the next lesson.

If you don’t learn easy lessons they get harder.  External problems are a precise reflection of your internal state; pain is how your subconscious gets your attention.  First it whispers, then it Yells.  When you clear inner obstructions, your outside world changes.

You will know you have learned a lesson when... your actions change.  Wisdom is practice, practice, practice, practice.  Remember a little of Something is better than a lot of Nothing.

‘THERE’ is no better than ‘HERE’. When your ‘THERE’ becomes ‘HERE’,  you simply obtain another ‘THERE’ that looks better than ‘HERE’

Others are only mirrors of you.  You cannot love or hate something about another unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself.

Your life is up to you.  Spirit provides the canvas, you do the painting.  There are three kinds of people; those who make things happen,  those who watch what happens,  and those who wonder what happened.  Take charge of your life -  or someone else will.

You always get what you want.  Your subconscious rightfully determines what energies, experiences and people you attract, therefore only the foolproof way to know what you want is to see what you have.

There is no right or wrong, but there are consequences and responsibilities.  Corollary Law: no one gets away with anything; everything has a value – and a price; you pay now, or you pay later.

Your answers lie inside you. Children need guidance from others; as we mature, we trust our hearts, where the laws of spirit are written. You must know more than you have heard or read or been told.  All you need to do this is look, listen and trust.

You will  forget all this.

You can remember any time you want.

Viagra turns 10

As Viagra celebrates its 10th birthday, Kaitlin Walsh, in an article for Superliving magazine, examines whether or not there is a downside to the possibility of 'sex for life' and asks the question, 'Does it make life and relationships better?

Great quotes - On just doing it

If there's something you've always wanted to do, when are you going to do it?  You have to get up out of your easy chair if you want to check out what the world has to offer.  But if you wait, tomorrow has a way of turning into never.  And that's sad if there's some long-ignored part of you that for a long time has been needing a special adventure to feel fully alive.

Mira Kirshenbaum

The Daffodil Principle by Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

Thanks to Sarah Cairncross for passing this on:

The Daffodil Principle

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come and see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. Going and coming took most of a day - and I honestly did not have a free day until the following week.

“I will come next Tuesday,” I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove the length of Route 91, continued on I-215, and finally turned onto Route 18 and began to drive up the mountain highway. The tops of the mountains were sheathed in clouds, and I had gone only a few miles when the road was completely covered with a wet, gray blanket of fog. I slowed to a crawl, my heart pounding. The road becomes narrow and winding toward the top of the mountain.