Category: Love Your Life Blog

“You make a living by what you earn, you make a life by what you give.” Winston Churchill

Do what you love in this fourth quarter of your life.

What makes your heart sing?
(Staying at our favorite condo on the beach in Maui.)

Think about how that can serve others.

Flying to Maui, we met a couple that love to golf and travel. They added a unique twist to
what they love – make it more meaningful to their life. They volunteer at golf tournaments
all over the U.S. to give back and expand what is possible for them. They were heading to
Honolulu to work the Senior Golf Tournament after enjoying a week in Maui.

Make a gift of your life.

Let this time of year, with resolutions and new beginnings, allow you to reflect on what
matters to you. Not what you think you are supposed to do, but what you really, really want
to do.

Michael Hyatt recently posted “The most searched New Year’s resolutions on Google
(thanks to a data company called iQuanti) were:

1. Get Healthy – over 62 million searches
2. Get Organized – over 33 million searches
3. Live Life to the Fullest – nearly 19 million searches
4. Learn New Hobbies – over 17 million searches
5. Spend Less/Save More nearly 16 million searches
6. Travel – nearly 6 million searches

Do any of these make you come alive? Did you feel excited or drawn to one of these areas?

Take time to ask yourself what that might means to you or for you. For example, think
about what being healthy looks like for you. I love yoga. Yoga is great for balancing and
stretching. Extra important now that I’m aging.

Your gifts, talents and interests can help others while enhancing your life.

I know that for many Boomers and Retirees, they want to be healthy, live life to the fullest
and travel. They know time is running out.

How can you take what you love and make it into something meaningful? I love to teach
and show people possibilities. I want people to Thrive in Retirement.

It doesn’t matter whether that is sharing ways to be healthy, live life to the fullest or travel.

I am on it – sharing, teaching and helping others live their best life – no matter their age.

I love it!

Let’s walk our talk so others can see what’s possible for their lives too.

I dare you to take the time to discover what matters to you and to think about how you can
use that to help others.

Share with me on my Facebook page so we can get a movement going on how to make a
gift of your life.

How can you get “outside your box” and step into the best version of you this year?

2017 brings a new year, new beginnings for you — if you allow it.

What excites you?

PLAY, enjoy the magic and imagination.  Think about the possibilities of what can happen for you this year.

Let your future be bright and fun.  So what if others think you are crazy.  They are missing out on some fun.

Look at others living life like you want.  I just read about a 91-year old lady taking up running in her nursing home.  She’s running down the hall and up some stairs.

She has chosen to move, defy what others tell her can happen at this age.

How are you stepping outside the box and doing what you love?

Did you take time to revel in the wonderful things that happened for you in 2016?

Remember, what you focus on, you receive more of.  Savor those highlights, those moments or events that you cherish and enjoy and were important to you.

Or, did you let January move on in without gratitude and appreciation for what life offered you?

And, not even consider the parts of your past you liked to create the best version of yourself for 2017.

You create your reality, your life.

Your past is the greatest predictor of your future UNLESS you choose daily to live something different.

How do you get started with creating what you want?

Decide what you want.  What does the 2017 best year ever look like for you?  For me, my business takes off exponentially with the numbers of people I am serving.  I’m going to check another spot off my bucket list.  We are going to take an African Safari with Backroads Biking and Hiking.  I get to play with the big 5.  I am out of this world excited.

I heard too many of my friends and family say, “I wish we would have done that when our health would have let us.”  I’m not waiting anymore.

I’m planning for what I want.  I am making choices each day to ensure I can have the life I want.

Imagine yourself as your superhero or like people you admire. Make a list of the specific qualities and characteristics you find attractive.  Then, think about what you need to do to be that superhero this year or have those qualities in your life.

What baggage are you still carrying forth in your life that makes you feel like you can’t have or do what you want in 2017?

What needs to be gone?  What is no longer serving you?

The biggest limitations are the thoughts in your mind.

If 2016 was a challenging year for you, how can you use that to help you go deeper in what life is offering you?  What messages are there for you? If you are like me, sometimes I get three (3) bongs because I don’t pay attention.

As I have shared before, this year was really hard for me with some health issues with people near and dear to me – my sister receiving the diagnosis of ALS, my son-in-law having thyroid cancer, a good friend having glioblastoma and then right before Christmas losing one of my good girlfriends to a heart attack.

I definitely had a wake-up call about how blessed I am with my health.

These painful opportunities have taken me deeper into gratitude and appreciation.

Wondering, how I can use what I have learned and felt to contribute to the world?  How can I be a beacon of light for others to have an easier way beyond my pain, hurt, and fears?

Time is limited.

Realizing, today is the day I am given, it’s a present.

How can I make the most of what life has given me to help others have the best life possible?

 How can I inspire you to live your 2017 to the fullest?  Quit worrying about the time’s not right or what others might say.  Do it anyway. 

 How can I encourage you to take great care of your body and mind? 

Don’t have to be the perfect weight but one that makes you feel alive.  Don’t have to strive for flat abs, but feel great and healthy. Don’t have to go to school but learn new things to keep your mind sharp.

 How can I remind you to start a practice of gratitude and appreciation?

I used to tell people to write out 5-10 things they were grateful for.  But, recently I went to a Rule One Investing conference where Phil Town told us about a Japanese billionaire who uses “MARU”.  MARU is a practice of sharing 1000 ways a day you are grateful and how you appreciate life.

What are you deciding to do so you can be the best version of yourself in 2017? 

Share on Facebook one step you are taking today – even if it is writing 5-10 things you are grateful.  (or go for the MARU, 1000).

What you do today, creates your tomorrow.

Step outside your box.

What’s your vision for 2017 for you?

I KNOW life is waiting to give you anything you want if you are ready to receive it and believe it is possible.

I know when you do your part and get in action, the Universe conspires to bring your dreams to you, often bigger than you can imagine.

The game for me is to get in alignment and allow it to come. I think I know what’s best or how to do it in a certain way which creates lots of resistance and blockages.

What are you desiring for 2017?

Writing down your goals, desires or dreams means that you are 42% more than likely to achieve them.

• The purpose behind writing your goals out is to stay focused on what you want so you can reach them. What you focus on, you receive.
• Writing helps you gain clarity.

Jon Gordon came up with a simple Goal Setting Process, choose One Word that could serve you this year. (He has a book by that name that can give you more details.)  His research showed people were more likely to achieve their goals with this one word process than typical resolutions. The Journal of Psychology stated that 33% of people who set resolutions give up by February 1st and only 8% achieve them.

Choose ONE WORD that could help you achieve what you’d like in each area of your life this year.

For instance, if you want to be healthier this year and haven’t done much moving, then MOVEMENT might be a good word for you.

• Movement could be exercising in your physical world, like getting your 10,000 steps. Get a Fitbit or other tool to track it.
• In your financial world, movement could mean adding another income stream. Creating a business, teaching a course, buying some rental properties, becoming an author.
• In your spiritual world, movement could mean you begin a new morning ritual of connecting with your inner wisdom. Create your sacred space. Create a routine. What does that look like for you? Start with 10 minutes. Is it meditation, spiritual readings, journaling?

Retirement is an opportunity to live big. Make a plan to ensure that it happens the way you want.

• You have your career behind you.
• You know what success looks and feels like.
• You know what matters to you.

Use your past experiences, passions and wisdom to bring your unique gifts to the world.

This time of year can be difficult for many or it can be a joyful time.  Or, at times all over the spectrum.

For instance for me, Christmas was always a great time for our family to get together.  All my sisters and their families came to my parents’ house in Arizona.  I loved it.  It was busy crazy with so many people but fun to connect and be close.  It was our tradition, and often the only time we all saw each other since we lived in different states.

So, that’s how I frame this time of year.  That’s my tradition.  Having family together. Celebrating together – the best we can.

But, for many, it’s a reminder of all the baggage that is brought to the gatherings.

There are usually “triggers” during this season.  What are they for you?

Also, life happens that can change the way the season is perceived.  Whether temporarily or permanently – like, my husband lost his mother this year.  It will be sad that she’s not here to celebrate with us.  Feel the sadness. Honor those people and how they added to your life.

Too often people stay stuck in this pain and the past hurts, and not allow themselves to move forward.

Remember, you are the creator of your life and the vibe you want for it.

Decide today how you want this season to go for you.  Winter is a time to go within.

Let this be a time of year for self-revelation.

As you see the lights go up, notice what happens for you.

• Do you feel overwhelmed?
• Does it bring up uncomfortable feelings?
• Is it a reminder of the birth of Christ?
• Does it get you excited to be with family, grandkids and children, or is it a painful feeling for you?

If this season, sends you in overwhelm, then the goal would be to find a way to create more peace no matter what is going on.  Decide what peace is for you now so you can create a different vibe for you this holiday season.

Is it getting in nature, reading a book, or have alone time?

Honor what you feel.

Add more of what you love about this time of year.

• Is it driving around and seeing how creative people are with decorating their homes?
• Is it volunteering by ringing the bell or helping other families?
• Is it sharing time with those you love?

Find the peace and joy you want.  How does that show up for YOU?

Realize the VIBE you want.

In order to create that feeling or life you want:

• Become aware of what is happening for you. What is no longer working for you?  What is holding you down? What needs to change?
• Next, let go of those things that no longer are working for you. Like limit the number of social gatherings you attend if you feel uncomfortable with them.
• Then, make a plan for the new you want. Take steps to change it in the direction you want. BUT, take ACTION.

Let this season be a reminder you can create a life of more peace and joy.

If this is a time in your life that covers up your peace and joy, life is calling you forward to make another choice.  I’d love to support you to add this greater light to your life.

Sign up for a FREE Discovery Session to gain the clarity and focus you need to have the peace and joy in your life, no matter the outer circumstances.

I received my September, 2016 AARP Bulletin, and saw this article that spoke loudly to me, Getting Rich After 50, Harnessing your entrepreneurial spirit can lead to wealth.

I like the thought of that because that is what I am engaged with.  Trying something I’ve never done before. Creating an online business. I am crazy in love with the fun and possibilities.  And challenges.  

I want to share what’s possible.  Too often you have a limited perspective of what can be. And, the media most often shows models of  barely getting by and losing value as you age.

My mission is to have more positive models of aging and retirement.

My business is all about helping people be their best, no matter their age.

With my Thriving in unRetirement program just out, I’m always looking for examples of what Boomers and Retirees are doing with this time of their life.

This article highlights seven (7) people who found their fortune after 50. Each person is capitalizing on something that matters to them. It shows how they did it.

One example was Carol Gardner, 70, who turned her English bull dog into a licensing empire.  She turned her obstacle of a divorce, into best-seller of Hallmark cards – The Zelda Wisdom product line.

It can be possible for you too!

Find resources that talk to you.  Find things that you are passionate about.  Find ways that promote living healthy, vibrant and fulfilled.  Here are some resources that you can sign up for:

1. livingbetter50.com

For women with spirit.  They have articles like:

Why Exercise Is Good For You At Any Age

                        Live in a Place That Promotes a Healthy Lifestyle

2. Life Reimagined https://lifereimagined.aarp.org Is a website to help you become     more of who you are.  They offer on line classes on a variety of topics to keep   you engaged and your mind sharp.

3. http://www.aarp.org/ Disrupt Aging

The CEO of AARP, Jo Ann Jenkins, is focused on changing what happens to the Boomer population too.  She wrote this book and has organized groups around the topic to help Boomers thrive in this time of their lives.

Join the movement. 

You are still here because you have something greater to give. 

Use my work.  Contact me. dottiehager.com and my Thriving in unRetirement work. Sign up for a complimentary session to help you get started.

• I help you find your uniqueness and turn it into your legacy.
• You have gifts and talents.
• You have your experiences – the peaks and valleys that you can use to help others live a better life as well as you.

What’s calling you?

Dare to be greater today than yesterday. 

Do you sometimes feel like life is a tangled web?

Like you are never getting ahead or don’t know what to do?

Life is about Starting Again

Whether that is:

• When your day has started off badly.
• You just blew your diet for the 497th time, or,
• You are dealing with some transition in life.

It is about giving yourself grace, love and forgiveness.

It is about having a plan of how to get yourself back on track.

It’s about getting yourself the tools, structures and support you need to keep moving forward.  To move in the direction of the life you want.

Life is about the zigs and the zags, the peaks and valleys.

It is not about what happens to you but HOW YOU HANDLE IT.

Yesterday, I was doing my second Periscope.  I was so excited because I thought I had the steps down on how to scope.   But of course since my conversation was about “Starting Again.” I had the opportunity to start again – twice.  As I hit broadcast, I couldn’t figure out how to turn my screen so it was facing me. Then I couldn’t figure out how to delete those episodes until later. The universe was checking in to see if I am walking the talk.  It was nice on the third try, I did get the screen right but still couldn’t figure out how to see the messages from my followers.  But, what I was so pleased with is the way I handled myself.  I kept trying because it is a tool I plan to use.  I need the practice with the technology as well as giving myself grace when things don’t go exactly as I think they should.  Forgive myself for not being perfect, allowing myself to be vulnerable.  Afterwards, I got support and guidance from a colleague who knows how to scope.  So for my next one, I’m more confident and knowledgeable.  I’m proud of myself for trying something new.  I’m celebrating that.  I am reaching more people. (Join me.  Download the periscope app.  Watch live or search for Dottie Hager at periscope.tv/dottiehager).

Where in your life are you starting again?

(Or, where do you need to start again?)

Is it retirement?

Is it to get up and move daily?

Is it eating healthier?

Here are some tips to make it easier:

1. Get CLEAR about your WHY. Why is it important to you that you do, have or be what you are doing?  Like me with my Periscope. I want to reach more people, I want people to have the best life possible.
2. Celebrate what has gone well. That you are back on track.
3. Give yourself grace. Be kind rather than beating yourself up that you have fallen off track.
4. Forgive your transgressions and release that which you no longer want. (like the items full of sugar in the pantry)
5. Make a plan of what you need to help you move forward. Decide what tools can help you.   What type of structure do you need for success?  A coach for accountability, support, reminding you of your goal or dream?

Start Again.  Take one (1) step in the direction of what you want.  Just like me, practicing again, getting help from someone that knows more about Periscope than I do.  I written out an outline for my next scope.

What is your first step to start again?

Use this as an opportunity to begin again with a stronger why as to the importance in your life, or let it go.

Realize life gives you the freedom and grace to go after whatever you want.

Let you FAITH be greater than your fear when you stumble or fall.

Find a support system to help make life, transitions, and peaks and valleys easier.

Check out my periscope to remind you how you can Start Again no matter the circumstances in your life.  Sign up for a complimentary discovery session at dottiehager.com to help you Start Again, and fulfill your dreams.

I’m on a mission to change the models of what’s possible once you retire.

I’m sick of feeling like life is over with the advertisements and messages the public gives about retirement and aging.

What if:

• By realizing the potential and value of your experience, passion and wisdom, you can use your uniqueness to make a difference in the world?
• By thinking about what matters to you and what’s important to you, you could design a new image of your retirement and aging years?

YOU CAN! 

You can create your legacy!!!

How about:

Hall Duncan, 92, is helping to end sex slavery in Haiti because someone close to him was abused by a sexual predator.  He is a cartoonist and created a book to explain his mission and give facts about child slavery.

OR

Ernie Andrus, 90 in August, 2013 and a veteran, ran coast to coast. (Super Senior Coast to Coast Run). He started by touching the Pacific Ocean near San Diego CA., on October 7th, 2013 and will touch the Atlantic Ocean near Brunswick, GA. in August of 2016 (He’ll be 93 then). His feat was to raise money for the LST 325 SHIP MEMORIAL, INC. The LST 325 is a World War II-era naval landing ship used by the US Navy and Greek Navy.

You are not too old. 

Do you still have music in your heart?

Do you have a nagging voice that keeps telling you that you have something greater to give?

I do, and I am on a band wagon to get Boomers to create a life that matters to them.

The beliefs you hold about retirement and aging can either be empowering or detrimental to the way you live this next chapter of your life. 

• Imagine becoming crystal clear about how to make your retirement meaningful.
• Imagine choosing activities that delight and excite you based on what you value and the lifestyle you want to live for these next decades. Freedom, Travel and Grandkids.
• Imagine creating your legacy – a book, a foundation, paintings or a lifestyle business.

How can you use this time of your life to empower you and others?

Find out.   www.live.thrivinginunretirement.com

What if your life became a new model of what’s possible in aging and retirement, just like Hal and Ernie?

SIGN UP for my FREE video series, LIVE, Healthy, Vibrant and Fulfilled in Retirement by Creating Your Legacy.

www.live.thrivinginunretirement.com

In my work with The Course of Miracles there is a saying that everything is “love or a call for love.” 

As you think of the last FEW weeks and the national headlines:

• Gorilla killed after handling 3-year-old boy who got into enclosure
• Orlando Massacre
• Police ID man who killed singer Christina Grimmie
• Divers Find Body of Toddler Snatched by Alligator at Disney Resort

What do you do when darkness happens?

• Do you find it an opportunity to rise above and find compassion?
• Do you find it an opportunity to help others?

What role have you been taking? The critic or the compassionate heart, the hater or the one to look for solutions.

Just like my Louse Hay calendar, “I remind myself that if I want to be accepted as I am, then I need to be willing to accept others as they are.”

I am not saying we not proceed with justice for the shooters, but that you and I reach higher and seek to understand why this is happening? What’s at the core?

See it as a CALL TO LOVE.

How can the love in you find a way to take a stand to help out? Let the anger, sadness and unfathomable of these situations move you to positive action.

How about showing more compassion to the parents who are facing their worst nightmare of losing their child rather than being the critic of how poorly they were parenting?

These parents have lost their loved one. These parents are struggling to understand how this could have happened.

Nothing can ever make sense of any of these horrendous events.

How can you be part of the solution rather than blame? How can you see these opportunities as calls for love?

Seek first to understand. Parenting is one of the hardest jobs, if not the hardest job. Parents need support, guidance and compassion especially in a tragedy. Think about your life as a parent, and how many times you skirted a situation that your child could have been just like one of these. Children are adventurous and curious. Kids make choices you don’t like as parents, even our adult children.

You can help.

How can you shift that critic of how could they have… to one that seeks understanding of who they are, help to make these environments safer or just send love to them?

What’s your solution?

I’m not condoning the behavior that happened. I’m saying things happened in those shooters life that builds up hurt, resentment and rage. It builds up. It’s why unthinkable events can happen in your life and others. Look at just one area of your life. Who do you need to forgive? Who hurt you, betrayed you, embarrassed you? Forgiveness is not about them, it’s about the hold they have on you.

Or, where can this be a call for love to you and your life?

You can begin where you are in your life. Look at your own personal life, how loving are you to yourself, to your family – immediate and extended. Are you compassionate or judging? Look at the little things in your life and how you handle them. Do you seek first to understand? Where are you blaming others?

Everyone’s journey includes the dark nights of the soul.

You have gremlins you are facing. How deep are they disguised? The deeper and more covered up, the stronger the force they will ignite in a way that’s not pretty.

Most people try to cover them up rather than seek guidance and help to release the stronghold they have on their life. Most people aren’t even conscious that they can get the help they need to work through what’s pulling them down into pain, judgment and hatred.

Once again, I’m not saying the situation does not need to be dealt with, but what can you do to deal with what’s underneath creating this.

It is time to rise above. Our world is hurting. People are fed up.

Use these situations as an opportunity, a call for love, to bring more love and acceptance to the world.

What can YOU do?

Find ways to be more loving to yourself and others, to be more accepting of yourself and others.  Find ways you can teach others to seek first to understand, develop empathy, walk a mile in someone’s shoes. 

Get the help you need.

Help change the hatred, the discrimination.  Find peace within yourself.  You don’t have to agree with other’s choices but you don’t have to let it rage and destroy others and you.  It will if you don’t find what lies beneath.

What action can you take today to help brighten our world?  Is it to find the places where you don’t  have peace within yourself?  Is it finding help to deal with your anger and rage?  Is it learning more about mental illness, love, acceptance, gays, Muslims?  Is it about ways to lead more support groups for parents who have lost children? 

What can you do to make a positive difference in these uncertain times?

If you need some guidance or support to deal with your dark nights of the soul, sign up for a FREE discovery session at dottiehager.com.