CULTIVATING A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS SEASON

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CULTIVATING A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS SEASON

My Word of the Year for 2021 was "Cultivate" and it feels good to come full circle with some tips for cultivating a joyous Christmas/New Year. This is my last post for 2021 and to be honest, I'm pretty okay with that. I'm ready to have a break and focus my attention on Christmas and family - because family is what makes Christmas even more special. 

For those of us who celebrate Christmas as a reminder of the birth of Jesus, it's a time to reflect and to be grateful, and it's also a time to celebrate and to enjoy each other's company while we eat, listen to Christmas carols, share gifts, and generally bask in some Christmas joy.

I thought today I'd share three suggestions for helping to make it a joyous Christmas season...
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WHAT DOES SLOW AND UNBUSY LIVING REALLY LOOK LIKE?

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WHAT IS SLOW / UNBUSY LIVING?

Some of my most popular posts have been about choosing to be Unbusy now that I'm in the second half of life. Retirement gave me even more opportunities to slow down the pace of how I was living each day and to be more intentional about how I use my time. I've become a huge advocate of the Slow Living and Unbusy movements, but what does it really look like in my actual day to day living?
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING AN EXPAT LIFE IN EUROPE

One woman's story of leaving the USA to settle in Ecuador and then moving further to settle in Europe where she is buying and renovating an apartment.

INTRO

Today I have the last guest in my series on Cultivating Wholehearted Living - thriving in the second half of life. Christina is an American expat living in Europe. Today she's sharing her story about how this came about and the lessons she learned along the way. Christina has a youtube channel where she posts updates on the renovation of her lovely unit in Chiatura, Georgia and it's fascinating watching the process. 

I'll hand it over to Christina from here....
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LIVING MY BEST LIFE EVERY DAY UPDATE #4

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LIVING LIFE WITH A SMILE EVERY DAY

It's catch up time on the blog today - all that's been happening here over Spring. This is the BIG birthday edition where it's been all about a little sunshine, a little rain, a little bit of family, and a lot about my 60th birthday. There's plenty of other happenings, but these are a few of the happy moments that have popped up over the last few months in my life.

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LEARNING TO BELIEVE I'M WORTHY OF THE LIFE I HAVE NOW

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WHY DID I STRUGGLE WITH EARLY RETIREMENT? 

After I left work and started to recover my resilience, I noticed that I had an underlying sense of.....I guess it was guilt(?) about being home all day and not being part of the 9-5 daily grind of going off each day to a job. I puzzled over why I had this internal unsettledness with the idea of not earning my way anymore. Was it because it was what I had always done and had thought I would be doing for several more years to come? Part of me felt like I didn't deserve this lovely life I was living - that it was too pleasant and too easy - and there had to be a "catch"....
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ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PAINT BY NUMBERS

Have you wondered what a paint by numbers kit would be like and whether it would be fun and/or easy to do? Here's all the inside information.

SHOULD YOU EVEN ATTEMPT A PAINT BY NUMBERS?

I started my first ever paint-by-numbers project recently and thought I’d write an honest post about what it’s like and how to begin one successfully. This isn't a sponsored post, it's just me sharing the sort of information I was looking for when I was thinking about trying my hand at one of the paint by numbers projects that were popping up in my Facebook feed.

First of all, I would definitely advise that you don’t bother starting one if:
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"THE GREAT RESIGNATION" AND EARLY RETIREMENT

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THE GREAT RESIGNATION

Recently I read an article on how the pandemic has affected the way people perceive their work/life balance and it's instigating fundamental changes. Facing mortality means thinking about your priorities, and for those who are unhappy in their workplace, it's bringing about a change, and that change is resulting in a surge in people quitting their jobs. This new phenomenon is being called "The Great Resignation" - a term that originated with Anthony Klotz, a Texan psychologist. Millions of people around the world are quitting their jobs - or reassessing what they want from their work environment.

All of this is interesting to me because the pandemic played a part in my decision to step away from the paid workforce and into early retirement. Lockdown gave me time to reassess - and like many others, that meant a big change in mindset....
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TURNING 60 AND DECIDING WHAT REALLY MATTERS

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TURNING 60 AND DECIDING WHAT MATTERS

On Thursday I turn sixty - and I still can't quite get my head around it. I'm not even sure I can claim to be "Cresting the Hill" anymore.....because sixty is a whole new decade and it feels like the gateway to the next season of life. Maybe it's because I think of my Mum as being sixty and then get this "Wow!" moment when I realize that it's me that's reached that vast age - and I'm not 35 anymore.

Hitting a new decade has always felt a bit daunting for me, but this one feels different in some ways. Maybe it's because my fifties were all about discovering myself again (or for the first time?) and now I get to see how that plays out in this new stage? One thing that really hit me is a quote that I saved a while ago (I actually saved it twice without realizing it was the same quote - so it must have had a big impact on me). It really sums up how I want to approach this next phase....
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IF MY 50'S WERE A GARDEN...THIS IS WHAT I'VE CULTIVATED

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COMING TO THE CLOSE OF MY 50'S

In a little over a week's time, I won't be in my 50's anymore. A new decade looms and I'm a little bit daunted, a little bit excited, and a little bit nostalgic for what I'm leaving behind. When I hit 50 I was in a completely different frame of mind. I was in a job that was 'wash/rinse/repeat' and I could do it in my sleep, my kids had flown the coop and were happily doing their own thing, my marriage was heading towards a hurdle, and I felt a little lost.

Fast forward ten years and I can't believe how much that decade taught me. I feel like a completely new person, I'm more confident in who I am, I'm no longer working, I've watched my kids make great choices, I'm a grandmother, my marriage survived its crisis and is going well, and I'm much more "me" than I've ever been. Looking back, I'm grateful I put the time and energy of my 50's into cultivating a life that feels authentic, and one that I love. Today's post is all about the garden I've made my life into...
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SIMPLE LIVING, HIGH THINKING IN THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE

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SIMPLE LIVING, HIGH THINKING

I came across the words "simple living, high thinking" the other day and they resonated with my concept of how I'd like to live the second half of life. The expression is attributed to Mahatma Ghandi, or some say it's the Indian guru and yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), who had said:

Plain living and high thinking should be your goal. Learn to carry all the conditions of happiness within yourself by meditating and attuning your consciousness to the ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new joy, which is God.
Whoever said it, I like sound of it, and how it's going to play out in the years ahead. I'm hoping it will look something like this.....
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HOW TO SEPARATE YOUR SELF-WORTH FROM THE OPINIONS OF OTHERS

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RISING ABOVE THE OPINIONS OF OTHERS

Our daughter is currently working as a Head of Department and regularly deals with difficult people and uncomfortable situations. I'm in complete and utter admiration of how she stays separate from the issues, doesn't get caught up in them, dragged down by them, take them onboard more than necessary, or carry them home on her shoulders. She rides the waves of other people's upsets without taking it personally, deals with what needs to be addressed, and then moves on. That's such an admirable quality in my opinion, and one I wish I was better at.

I asked her how she manages to demonstrate self-differentiation so well when I struggle with it still, and this is what she said....
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ARE BLOG YEARS SIMILAR TO DOG YEARS?

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IT'S BEEN ALMOST 7 BLOGGING YEARS

In a few weeks it will be SEVEN years since I started this blog! Sometimes it feels like I started yesterday, other times it feels like I've been writing posts forever. I looked at my stats the other day and I've written 952 posts! That's a lot of my life that's been shared here - the good, the bad, the boring, and probably the ugly too. 

But it got me thinking about how seven blogging years feels so different to seven human years and that maybe they need to be measured on a different scale - much like dog years....
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LIVING MY BEST LIFE EVERY DAY - UPDATE #3

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LIVING LIFE WITH A SMILE EVERY DAY

It's catch up time on the blog today - all that's been happening here over Winter. It's been a wet one for us and that means lots of time inside - or timing it right to fit my morning and afternoon walks in around the rainy periods. There's lots of other happenings, but these are a few of the happy moments that have popped up over the last few months in my life.
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I DIDN'T CHOOSE RETIREMENT - IT CHOSE ME

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I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO RETIRE

I've always worked - I had my first Saturday job when I was 14 years old - working in a department store selling purses, alarm clocks, and other assorted goods. Then it was the dress fabric department at another store, and then into my career as a dental hygienist. From there I moved onto working in a call centre, and then into dental reception, and finally, I was head hunted by a surgeon’s Practice Manager. She offered me the Perfect Job – great hours, great pay, great office, great team…….

But we all know that if something seems too good to be true….. it often is too good to be true.
Forty three years after I started in the workforce, and with an anticipated ten years still to go, things took an unexpected and upsetting turn, and suddenly I was handing in my resignation.
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COUNTRY LIVING IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Do you ever wonder where other bloggers come from? I'm an Aussie blogger and this is where I live.

WHERE DO I LIVE?

I saw a meme the other day that caught my eye - it summed up exactly what I feel about where I live. I grew up in the suburbs of Western Australia and loved living on the outskirts of our capital city when I was younger. But as time went on and we had children, our life took off on a different course. We decided we wanted to raise our family in a place with room to spare, somewhere to kick a football, or to build a cubby house in the bush, or to just run free without worrying about stranger danger, or traffic problems, or being squeezed into a little block of land surrounded by other little blocks of land. So.....we moved to the country....
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HOW TO ACCESS THE RIGHT AGED CARE SUPPORT FOR SOMEONE YOU LOVE

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INTRO

Recently I was approached by Kyra Snell to ask if I'd be interested in collaborating together to share her story about a difficult experience she had seeking care support for her grandmother, and how that led her to create a How To Guide to show others how to tackle the Australian Aged Care system and the services that are on offer if you know how to dig deeply enough to find them.

It's not a topic we think of much because most of us aren't quite ready yet to access help for ourselves, but we are often plunged into it unexpectedly when a mother, father, mother-in-law, or other family member's health starts to fail. 

I've learned a lot from this collaboration, and the free guide she shares at the end of the post is something I'm saving for when it's my turn to navigate the system. I hope you find her story as interesting as I did. Now let me hand you over to Kyra....
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5 SUPER SIMPLE STEPS TO UNHURRIED LIVING IN MIDLIFE

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WHEN LIFE USED TO BE HURRIED

The first half of my life was always lived in a hurry. My days were packed to the brim with work, or stuff to do when I wasn't at work - you know......cooking, housework, grocery shopping, socialising, volunteering, church, hobbies, and all the appointments (hairdresser, dentist, doctor etc). For a long time there was also all the "kid stuff" - school activities, after-school activities, sports, friends, youth group, and all the other responsibilities that come with being a good parent.

Back in those "good old days" there was rarely the opportunity to slow down - because all those responsibilities needed to be done - and done well. There was very little flexibility, and every day was packed full from when the alarm went off in the morning, until I slid into bed at night. They were great times, but always SO busy. Even after the kids left home and the parenting work disappeared, life still continued at a galloping pace. I loved living a busy life back then, but it's not how I wanted  to continue in the second half of my life. So what did I do to move from rushed to relaxed, from hurried to unhurried?
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GREAT CREATIVE PROJECTS TO TRY WHEN YOU'RE NOT VERY "ARTISTIC"

neurographic tree
A neurogrphic tree I created - you can read more about it HERE

BEING CREATIVE WITHOUT AN ARTISTIC STREAK

I mentioned in last week's post that I've been wanting to try my hand at activities that use the right side of my brain. Apparently right brain dominant people are more creative and artistic, and left brained people are more logical and analytical. If that's the case, I definitely tend to be more left brained and now I have more time on my hands, I thought it was my chance to try my hand at something a little bit "arty".....But where do you start when you've never dabbled in that area?
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3 AREAS OF LIFE TO CULTIVATE FOR BALANCE AND GROWTH

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CHOOSING 'CULTIVATE' AS MY #WOTY

Every January since I started blogging I've chosen a Word of the Year instead of making New Year's resolutions. Previous words have been Release, Embrace, Rise, Enough, More, Symphony, and for this year, I chose "Cultivate". I had mulled several words over in my head, but the idea of consciously setting out to cultivate aspects of my life that would lead to me thriving as I headed towards 60 just seemed to fit what I was looking for.

I originally came across the word in Brene Brown's "Daring Greatly" book and a pin I saw online that summed up the 10 areas of life we need to cultivate to live Wholeheartedly. It got me thinking about what areas of my life I wanted to grow more in, where I wanted to deepen my life, and where I wanted to focus my energy.
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"YEAH.....NO" - SAYING YES TO WHAT MATTERS AND NO TO THE REST

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BEFORE I CHOSE TO SAY "YEAH.....NO"

If you're anything like me, you grew up in an era of trying to be all things to all people. Somewhere along the line we had convinced ourselves that we could do it all, and do it with a smile (well maybe, occasionally, with a long suffering sigh...) During the first 55 years of my life I tried my hardest to be the good daughter, the great wife, the hard worker, the hands on parent, the always available volunteer, the committed friend, and so on and on it went. Tie it all together with a lot of self-judgement and that was pretty much my life for a long time.

At the time those things were super important to me, and I thought I was doing a great job of keeping all the balls in the air. It gave me a sense of satisfaction to have said "Yes" to so many responsibilities and to have not drowned under it all. But that was then and this is now.....
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REFINANCING YOUR HOME LATER IN LIFE: HOW TO MAKE IT A SUCCESS

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INTRO

Today I have an interesting collaborative post that gives some insight into an area of retirement that I haven't covered previously here on the blog. My husband and I have been very diligent throughout our working lives in putting extra payments into our mortgage whenever possible, our goal was to have it paid out well before the 25 year lifetime of the loan. We also didn't move often, so that reduced buying and selling costs.

By the time we reached our 50's we were debt free and that made the decision for me to retire early a LOT easier. The pressure of being locked into a mortgage (especially one that's at a higher interest rate than the current ones on offer) can be very disheartening. So, today's post discusses an option that might be of interest if you still have those monthly mortgage payments hanging over your head.
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING A SENSE OF BELONGING

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INTRO

Today I have the next guest in my series on Cultivating Wholehearted Living - thriving in the second half of life. Leslie is a fashion blogger, a Bucket List blogger, a book blogger, a home styling blogger, and writes about all of these things over at Once Upon A Time And Happily Ever After. She's writing today about a topic that has been in the back of my mind for several months - and I'm sure others have struggled with some of the same thoughts and feelings. So, on that note, I'll hand it over to Leslie from here....
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WHAT ARE YOU CULTIVATING IN YOUR COMFORT ZONE?

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COMFORT ZONES AND RISK

There's a well known saying that goes:
A comfort zone is a beautiful place, 
but nothing ever grows there
All the super busy, ambitious go-getters immediately nod their heads because it's a fact that you have to step out of your comfort zone if you want to take a leap forward into the unknown or into something bigger and riskier than you usually experience.

But......
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HOW I BRIGHTENED MY SMILE WITHOUT BREAKING THE BUDGET

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BRIGHTENING A DULL SMILE

Have you noticed that your teeth have gotten duller and dingier as you've gotten older? I've certainly found that mine have been getting darker and less attractive since I hit Midlife and I wasn't sure whether I was just being vain or whether I wanted to get serious and do something about it. I used to be a Dental Therapist/Hygienist in my younger days, and I also worked for an orthodontist for many years. Teeth are something that I'm very aware of - and I also know how much it can cost to get a fabulous smile.....A LOT!!
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AN UNBUSY RETIREMENT IS FINE - IT'S NOT A COMPETITION

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BEING - NOT DOING

One of the biggest payoffs for me when I decided to retire early instead of returning to work, was the chance to wind back on my commitments and to spend less time "doing" and more time "being". I loved the idea of being un-busy and avoiding being over committed and stressed all the time. The serenity I have in my life these days has been hard won and I wouldn't swap it for the world. But......
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LIVING MY BEST LIFE EVERY DAY - UPDATE #2

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LIVING LIFE WITH A SMILE EVERY DAY

So much has been happening over the last few months, and seeing I still want to keep my blogging to one post a week, I decided to spin out my monthly update and make it a quarterly one - so today's post is what's been happening in my world for the second quarter of 2021 - it's the Autumn edition (with a little bit of Winter sneaking in at the end).

My focus this year is on moving towards 60 with a positive mindset and gratitude. Cultivating what makes my soul feel happy, and aiming to live my best life every day. Life will never be perfect, but it's full of perfect moments and a lot of little joys if we choose to look for them. These are the happy moments that have popped up over the last few months in my life.
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BEING PRESENT AND RECONNECTING WITH THE REAL WORLD

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WHAT'S BEEN MISSING IN MY LIFE LATELY?

Over the last six months of so, I've been feeling a little out of sorts. I thought it might be due to the imminent approach of my 60th birthday later this year (I always have issues with changing decades). But then I realized it wasn't anything to do with that, it was the realization that my online life had taken over my in-real-life. Covid played a large part in tipping the scales in that direction - it's been so easy to stay home and to chat online, to write blog posts, to update my blog's Facebook page etc etc. But in the process, I can now see that my real world has shrunk and withered away due to neglect over the last couple of years.

Have I actually become a stay at home recluse? Or do I just need to make a few adjustments?
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WHY THE PROVERBS 31 WOMAN AND I WOULD NEVER BE BFFS

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WHO IS THE PROVERBS 31 WOMAN?

If you haven't grown up in the church, the Proverbs 31 woman would be a complete unknown to you. For a lot of Christian women she is the Instagram Mum of early biblical days.....you know.....the woman who does everything, and does it so perfectly that she's used as the shining example of womanhood - and preached about every Mothers Day in churches all over the world.

This woman has been lauded throughout biblical history and even has a magazine and several websites devoted to her perfect example. But that kind of perfection is a little daunting, and I don't think I'd ever have wanted to spend much time with her. 

Here's why....
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING CREATIVITY

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INTRO

Today I have the next guest in my series on Cultivating Wholehearted Living - thriving in the second half of life. Jennifer writes a really interesting blog called Unfold And Begin, and advocates for the use of Vision Boards for life planning, she even runs workshops on how to create and use them for goal planning and other creative outlets.

Jennifer is sharing some of her tips on how to bring more creativity into our lives - so on that note I'll hand it over to her to tell us her three steps to cultivating creativity...
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TURNING THE VOLUME DOWN A LITTLE (FOR NOW)

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TIME FOR A CHANGE

When I began this blog (back in September 2014) I was a complete blogging novice. I never expected people to find me online and I was hugely concerned that I might be trolled or have negative comments. So.....I turned the comments off for the first six months of blogging.

Over that time I connected with some lovely Midlife bloggers and they told me they wanted to leave a comment and couldn't. So.....I turned them on, and they've been on ever since.

But......
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5 GREAT CHOICES FOR CURATING A SIMPLE AND SATISFYING LIFE

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YOU GET TO CHOOSE YOUR LIFE

So many people feel like their life has a set course and they have very little control over the direction they're heading in. There are bills to be paid, career ladders to climb, mortgages to be paid, investments to be made, chores to be completed, families to raise, and a million other little tasks. 

But what happens when you start ticking some of those necessities off the list? What happens when the mortgage is under control, when the nest becomes empty, and when getting up for work every day becomes a chore in itself? Do you have to keep heading along the same beaten track, or can you start curating a new and more bespoke life to carry you through the years ahead? Today I'm covering a few choices that can lead towards curating a life that's simple and satisfying - and who doesn't want that?
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING JOY AND GRATITUDE

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WHAT IF I FALL?

There's a fantastic little quote from Erin Hanson that's all over the internet - it says....
What if I Fall? 
Oh but my darling, 
What if you Fly?

Life is full of "What if moments?" that often hold us back from moving onto the next stage of life. Or they keep us small because we're too afraid to stretch our wings. I wonder how often we choose scarcity thinking and risk aversion instead of opening ourselves up to joy and gratitude? If we let go of the worst case scenario and reach for joy, life begins to open up in so many wonderful and unexpected ways.
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3 REASONS WHY I'LL NEVER BE A BLOGGING QUEEN

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BEING THE NEXT BEST THING IN BLOGGING

Every new blogger thinks they're going to be the next big thing that sets the blogging world on fire. We all leap in and start hammering away on our keyboards, sharing our thoughts, our ideas, our hearts, and our souls. But as time goes on I've seen so many bloggers come and go - the ones who burn out the quickest are the ones who came with the biggest aspirations. There are 7 MILLION blog posts published EVERY day, so I'm wondering if starting small and being content with being a small fish in a very big pond can sometimes be a better game plan than trying to set the world on fire and failing to live up to your own expectations?
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING A WRITING LIFE

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INTRO

Today I have the next guest in my series on Cultivating Wholehearted Living - thriving in the second half of life. Jo is an amazing blogger who also manages to be a successful romance novelist, a cordon bleu chef, takes fabulous photos, holds down a busy job, walks every morning before the crack of dawn, and on top of all of that....she is a great friend and always good for a laugh. 

Jo doesn't just blog, she BLOGS! Somehow or other she maintains not one, but THREE blog sites - a personal one, an author one, and a cooking one (links are at the end of this post if you'd like to check them out). I'm feeling a little bit exhausted just thinking about it all! Somewhere in the middle of all her writing and cooking, she's found time to be my guest today and so I'll hand it over to Jo from here.....
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3 UNEXPECTED DECISIONS THAT OPENED NEW HORIZONS

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UNEXPECTED DECISIONS AND NEW HORIZONS

Have you ever made an on the spot decision that resulted in big, unexpected changes? I was thinking about this the other day and a few came to mind. I thought I'd share them today because they were little stepping stones that opened new horizons for me. Small decisions at the time that were made for good reasons - but they also had far reaching and life changing results.

I wrote a couple of months ago about courage having consequences - there are always costs and pay-offs when we make decisions, but sometimes the pay-offs far outweigh the costs and today I'm sharing three decisions that paid off far more than I ever would have expected.
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING NEW DIRECTIONS

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INTRO

Today on the blog I have a guest who many of you won't have met previously. Angelique from Hags with Attitude, contacted me after finding me through Pinterest (I do love to Pin!) She has recently had a new book published and has a really interesting story about lockdown igniting her creative side again and sending her on a new path to help other Midlife women with their wardrobes and with adjusting to this new phase of life.

So without further chatter from me, here is Angelique to tell you about her journey...
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FINDING MY QUIET PLACE WITH COLOURED PENCILS

Adult colouring in reduces anxiety and stress, and creates focus. It helps replace negative thoughts with pleasant ones.
from Johanna Basford's Secret Garden

BEFORE MY TIME

I have always loved colouring in, from my own childhood through to joining in with our children and colouring one page while they did the other. From there I had a break because it was a “kid thing” and nobody coloured in when they were adults.

One day in my 40’s I thought to myself that I’d ignore what was considered “normal” and I’d buy myself a colouring book and use it to zone out and enjoy the simple pleasure of adding colour to paper without having to think too hard. I found a Barbie colouring book that had lovely white pages that made the colours look prettier and I used to colour a page or two here and there when I had a little bit of time to myself.
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING A BOLD STREAK

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INTRO

Today I have the next guest in my series on Cultivating Wholehearted Living - thriving in the second half of life. My lovely blogging friend Deb from Tumbarumba (my husband always says "where?" when I say Deb from Tumbarumba - just so I get to say it again - it really rolls off the tongue). She writes a fabulous blog called Deb's World and always has something upbeat and engaging to share.

Deb decided to stick with the theme from my previous guests where she shares some thoughts on is how her Word of the Year (Bold) intersects with mine (Cultivate) - she's sharing about Cultivating a Bold Streak and embracing a new sense of confidence and courage. So here's what she has to say.....
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LIVING MY BEST LIFE EVERY DAY UPDATE #1

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LIVING LIFE WITH A SMILE EVERY DAY

So much has been happening on the blog over the last couple of months, and seeing I still want to keep it to one post a week, I decided to spin out my monthly update and make it a quarterly one - so today's post is what's been happening in my world for the first quarter of 2021 - it's the Summer edition (with a little bit of Autumn sneaking in at the end).

My focus this year is on moving towards 60 with a positive mindset and gratitude. Cultivating what makes my soul feel happy, and aiming to live my best life every day. Life will never be perfect, but it's full of perfect moments and a lot of little joys if we choose to look for them. These are the happy moments that have popped up over the last few months in my life.
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I'M LIVING MY BEST LIFE EVERY DAY

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I'M LIVING MY BEST LIFE EVERY DAY

I used to feel envious when I saw other people living really happy and content lives. I'd wonder how they could have it all when I was so busy trying to keep all the balls in the air. I think a lot of my discontent came from the scarcity mindset I'd lived with all my life. I never felt like I was on top of things - there were always bills to be paid, work to be done, chores to finish, responsibilities to juggle. Life kept rolling along and I was so busy trying to keep up with it all that the days passed and I never really felt like I was living.

It took until I was 50 before I began to wake up to myself and see that all that diligence might have been tiring and at times made me feel a little resentful, but it had paid off and set us up for what we have today. I realized I could throttle back on all the "should do" and "would do" and "must do" and could start asking myself what living a good life would really look like, and the answer surprised me.
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING EMPATHY

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CULTIVATE EMPATHY?

Empathy is a tricky concept to get our heads around. For many years I thought sympathy and empathy were similar concepts. It wasn't until I read some of Brene Brown's work that I finally understood that sympathy is feeling BAD for someone, and empathy is feeling WITH someone. Sympathy leads to the oldest child coming out in me - I want to try to fix the person's pain or problem - or I've been known to try to identify by relating a similar story of my own - neither of these approaches have anything to do with empathy.

So what does empathy really look like when it's put into practice? Brene Brown (I'm a bit of a fan girl) has a fantastic little video that shows what empathy looks like in less than 3 minutes and I've included it here in case you haven't stumbled across it previously.

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WHERE I'M FROM - THE AUSSIE VERSION

Taking up the challenge to describe 1960's Australia and then the 2021 version, using the "Where I'm From" poem template.

WHERE I'M FROM - THE AUSSIE VERSION

I don't know about you, but I find that there are times in life when something resonates with you on a heart/soul level and because of that it sticks in your mind for the long haul. One of the little things that captured my interest a few years ago was a poem written in 1993 by George Ella Lyon entitled "Where I'm From". 

I think I liked the "feel" of how she wrote and the images it evoked for me - and it challenged me to want to write something similar for myself.
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING OUR "SELF"

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INTRO

Today I have the next guest in my series on Cultivating Wholehearted Living - thriving in the second half of life. Sue from Women Living Well After 50 has been my blogging inspiration and greatest source of encouragement since I first met her 5+ years ago. We began blogging around the same time and have cheered each other on ever since. 

Sue was gracious enough to share some of her wisdom, and today's post is how her Word of the Year intersects with mine - she's sharing about Cultivating our "Self" and becoming the women we're designed to be. So, without further ado, I'll hand you over to Sue....
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CELEBRATE GIRL POWER WITH A NEW LOOK

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INTRO

Today on the blog I have a really special collaboration with VisionDirect in honour of International Women's Day that arrives on the 8th of March. It's a great occasion to spoil ourselves with something a little bit different - and if you're like me, you're wearing glasses more often these days. I use mine all the time for reading and blogging and I'm never without a pair of sunglasses in the car or when I go for my morning walk. 

There's so many options available to us these days that I haven't even begun to tap into - including buying prescription glasses online (my daughter and son-in-law swear by the value in doing this). There's also a myriad of really amazing designer sunglasses at great prices and I spent far too long scrolling through Vision Direct's site choosing a pair! I thought in honour of IWD I'd share a few finds I discovered while I was checking out their products.
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I'M FINALLY OKAY WITH NOT BEING A JOINER

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LEARNING SOMETHING NEW ABOUT MYSELF

My blogging friend Jennifer (from Next Phase In Fitness) made a comment in her "67 Things About Me" post saying "I’m a boring person and really don’t care". It made me smile because I think we often see ourselves as boring and wonder how we can make ourselves seem more interesting or engaging, and I loved that she's reached the point where she doesn't care.

I know I sometimes feel the urge to make myself seem more interesting. In the process I look at all the wonderful online options that are available (especially since COVID shut down a lot of face to face events). There are virtual hikes, virtual book clubs, virtual exercise classes, virtual yoga sessions, virtual paint and sip events, virtual cooking classes.....the list is endless. But seeing the huge range of things on offer taught me something new about myself.
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING AUTHENTICITY

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WHAT IS WHOLEHEARTED LIVING?

Brene Brown talks a lot about the concept of "Wholehearted Living" in her book "Daring Greatly" and to sum it up in a couple of sentences it means: Engaging in life from a place of belief in your own worthiness - cultivating courage, compassion, and connection. It also involves cultivating a sense of being "Enough" which is the the opposite to scarcity thinking - where we feel that we never have enough (especially compared to what we believe we see others having).

CULTIVATE is my Word of the Year for 2021 and Brene mentions Cultivating in her 10 Guideposts to Wholehearted Living from another of her books "The Gifts of Imperfection". Today I'm focusing on an area I've been working hard on over the last decade, and that's Cultivating Authenticity - and how it applies to Midlife and living our best life right now.
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COURAGE HAS CONSEQUENCES BUT PLAYING SAFE DOES TOO

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COURAGE HAS CONSEQUENCES

Making changes takes courage. No change comes without some kind of cost. Often to gain something you need to sacrifice something else in its place. It's been almost two years since I took my courage in both hands and wrote my letter of resignation from a job that had slowly become a nightmare. Anyone who read my blog through 2019 would know that I was at rock bottom and it took a lot of time and effort to get my resilience back.

What I found in the process is that having the courage to make a change will always have consequences - both good and bad. Looking back at the last two years I can see that there has been a huge shift in my thinking process and in my world view since I put in that resignation letter - and rode the waves of fallout that resulted.
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WHOLEHEARTED LIVING - CULTIVATING A POSITIVE MINDSET

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INTRO

Brene Brown's writing about Wholehearted Living and cultivating positives in our life is the inspiration behind my #WOTY "Cultivate" and I'm delighted to introduce my first guest blogger for the year who's sharing what she's cultivating in her life. Pat writes very thoughtful and well-researched posts on her blog Retirement Transition and she's sharing some of her story today about how she's progressing in her journey of getting to know herself and her strengths.

On that note, I'll hand you over to Pat....
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WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN YOU HEAR A "POP" IN YOUR CALF?

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HEARING A "POP" IN YOUR CALF

I'm no fitness fanatic and don't often experience muscle problems or injuries. I'm not a runner or a gym junkie, and my main way of staying healthy, fit, and mobile is to walk every day - aiming always for those magical 10,000 steps on my Fitbit - and generally enjoying being outside in the fresh air. I've taken my physical health for granted until something bizarre happened at the beginning of December.

We'd just returned from a lovely week of vacationing on the beach - bike riding, walking, and relaxing without a care in the world. Then, on my return home I bent down to pick up a box and as I straightened and turned, I heard a "POP" in the back of my left calf - I'm sure it was an audible pop, or maybe it was internally audible? Whatever, there was a "POP" and I knew that wasn't good.
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IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO BUY A SCOOTER

Me on my scooter - it's never too late to find a new passion

JOY IN THE LITTLE THINGS

I read an interesting article recently about allowing yourself the pleasure of small joys. To let yourself feel excited about something - even if it seems a little bit ridiculous . When it comes to joy, Leslie Ralph says:

To begin, start by saying yes to yourself a little more. Yes to that little spark of curiosity, yes to that little smile that you shrug off, and definitely yes to that burning feeling inside your chest that screams, “Listen to this. This is joy.”

It doesn’t matter if it feels ridiculous, it doesn’t matter if it’s “wasting time,” and it sure doesn’t matter if you’re any good at it. What matters is the feeling you get when you do it.

 Those words sparked something in me - the new "Me" who is willing to cultivate experiences and ideas that enrich my life - and there was one "ridiculous" thing that had been sitting in the back of my mind for years - something I'd thought about and discarded many times. But with 60 looming on the horizon towards the end of this year, I had to ask myself "if not now, then when?"
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