Joan’s Boomer Blog

Lots of women have wanted to buy Avon or sell Avon at one time or another. My first experience with Avon was as a kid growing up in the 50’s and 60’s. My aunt could always be relied on to give me Avon jewelry or perfume for Christmas. Those fragrances, Imari, Sweet Honesty and Timeless are still around after all these years and they’ve been joined by dozens of new fragrances as well.

I’ve been an Avon Representative off and on three times over the past 20 years and usually only quit when we relocated. I always seem to gravitate back to Avon as a home based business. Nowadays, with Avon websites available, it’s possible to reach even more customers than it was back then.

In the current economy, everybody is looking for a good home based business to make some extra income and Avon offers the added bonus of having products you and your family can use too - products you can purchase at at great discount, depending on the size of your order.

These days, everybody can use more income and an Avon home-based business can provide full or part time income for retirees, working or stay at home moms, or just about anyone.

As a home based business idea, selling Avon has lots of advantages:

1.  Low sign up fee - It only costs $20 to become an Avon Representative, which includes your first 2 campaigns brochures.

2. Low Cost or Free Website - These days a home based business needs a website and Avon offers each representative a personalized website at very low cost - the website is even free if your customers place at least a $25 order through your site.

3.  Products have name recognition. Avon is known for its Skin So Soft line, quality make-up, jewelry, wellness products and more. Their Anew line of anti-aging products has expanded in recent years to provide a great selling opportunity for Representative.

4.  Avon brochures offer something for everyone. Some people like Anew products, some like Avon make up or Skin So Soft. Holidays are a great time to sell Avon. There are dozens of quality, budget conscious gift ideas for all those people on your list. Need little gifts for teachers, grandchildren or Great Aunt Sarah? Avon has it all.

5.  As a Representative, since you sell Avon, you can also buy Avon at great discount prices. The amount of your discount depends on the size of your order so even if you only sell enough to pay for your own purchases, you can save your family quite a bit of money by shopping Avon.

6.  Sales! Buy Avon by shopping the sales and save money. Every Avon brochure has great sales and you can usually get whatever you want at a discount on an already low price. You and your customers can order from the current brochure or the past one so you can compare prices too.

7.  For a Representative, Avon offers lots of local or online training and support.

8.  There is only a small minimum order required each 2 week cycle to stay qualified as an Avon Representative. Orders can be placed online to save time and effort too.

9. When you sell Avon, you have an enjoyable business. You get to know and like your customers and since Avon has a total money back guarantee, you can always keep your customers happy.

Click here to Buy or Sell Avon

As a retirement income, Avon is a natural because many retirees have grown up using or knowing about Avon products and they like them. Buy or sell Avon to make money and save money too!

If you love reading blogs, you may already have a blog of your own. If you don’t have a personal or business blog, but you’d like to, it’s easy to get started witht his simple guide “Create Your Own Blog.”

There are many, many books on blogging out there and I own many of them! When you’re starting out, it’s a good idea to have one or two blogging reference books to help you get through the initial process of setting up and publicizing your blog, helping you avoid beginner’s mistakes. A good book on the basics, like Create Your Own Blog, really simplifies the process for you and from then on, it’s simply a matter of creating useful content and doing some social marketing to reach a wider audience.

I’ve been reading many retirement blogs lately which are entertaining and give me lots to think about as far as retirement issues. Whatever your stage of life or whatever your interest, there is an opportunity to share what you know and what you think with a ready made audience.

Author Tris Hussy is a long-time professional blogger and gives many workshops and classes on blogging. His book guides you through every step, from getting started to building a worldwide audience. No matter what your purpose in blogging, whether you want a personal blog or a business blog, you want it to look professional and meet your goals. Hussy’s book got 39 four and five star reviews on Amazon, out of 44 total reviews.

Create Your Own Blog covers:

• How to find free or low cost blogging tools
• Portfolio blogs for artists and hobbiests
• Blogs for podcasting
• Video Blogs
• How to make money with your blog
• How to build an audience and publicize your blog
• Lots More!

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Blogging for Dummies is on the best-selling books on how to blog for money. The Internet in general and blogging in particular, is always changing and evolving. This updated version of Blogging for Dummies explains these latest tools and techniques.

There are many things to learn about blogging, from choosing a hosting service to how to monetize your blog and write engaging articles. All of the “for Dummies” books are informative and fun to read. I have them on several different topics, including knitting, building a home business, Real Estate Investment for Dummies and a few others, and always find them full of comprehensive, easy to understand information.

Blogging for Dummies covers:

• Choosing a topic and finding your niche
• Setting up your blog from A to Z
• Widgets, plug-ins and themes to customize your blog
• How to build a readership and connect with readers
• How to make money with your blog and track your success

One part of this book I got a lot out of was the section on using social marketing to promote your blog and how to do videos and podcasts, which I’m planning to delve into in the near future.

If you’ve always wanted to start a blog for profit or for fun, or if you already have a blog of your own and want to take it to the next level, Blogging for Dummies is a great addition to your home business library.

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Book Review Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a 6 Figure Income

Recently I saw this list of bloggers’ salaries which is topped by Markus Frind with over $3,600,000! Never heard of him? Markus Frind owns a free dating website called PlentyofFish.com. I think every blogger dreams of making a six figure salary, just like nearly every actor dreams of winning an Oscar - But how do you begin?

There are millions of bloggers out there today, writing away, wondering why the big bucks eluded them. What are they doing wrong and what could they do better?

What is your level of blogging expertise? Are you:

• blogging as a hobby and not making a dime
• Are you facing retirement and looking for supplemental income?
• Are you unemployed and really need to start generating income?
• Are you in a job you don’t care for and would like to start a blog as a part or full time venture?
• Do you already have a blog that generates income but you would like that blog to make more?

Wherever you are in your blogging career, ProBlogger can help guide you to a higher level.

Authors Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett cover:

• How to choose a (profitable) subject for your blog
• How to handle the technical parts of blogging
• Different ways to generate income with your blog
• How to evaluate your blog’s success
• How to keep your content fresh and interesting to readers
• How to use your blog to generate income indirectly

ProBlogger offers a complete how-to on blogging from from two top-performing bloggers. If you’re one of thousands of aspiring bloggers who launch new blogs every day hoping to boost their income or someone who already has a blog, you can benefit from ProBlogger’s advice. Without solid advice from experts, most will fail. This best-selling guide, (more…)

Review of How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free

Retirement should be a time to enjoy life to the fullest and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free offers inspirational advice on just the way to do that.  A creative and fulfilling retirement is about more than just money, and author Ernie Zelinski covers how to put money into its proper perspective so you don’t need millions to retire.

How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free also offers advice on other retirement topics, such as:

• How to get up the courage to retire early.
• Find purpose and fulfillment in your retirement - That sounds easy but it takes some thought.
• How to follow your dreams and not get sidetracked by what others think you should do.
• How to take charge of your mental, physical, and spiritual health.
• Setting retirement goals — including whether or not you should relocate.

When you’re thinking about the retirement years ahead, making them the best of your life probably seems like a no-brainer. Actually, though, the earlier you begin planning for the many different aspect of retirement and setting some goals, the more prepared you will be to take advantage these years.

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When you retire, you may need some extra retirement income and what better way to make it than doing

One of my most recent beaded creations.

what you love? Turning a hobby into retirement income may seem like a good way to go and there are many ways you can go about it.

Retirement gives us lots of time, hopefully, to pursue those hobbies we’ve picked up over the years. But after you’ve knitted a dozen scarves, made a bunch of woodworking do-dads or turned your beautiful photos into posters, what do you do with all of them? Everybody in my family now has a knitted scarf and hat so turning my passion for knitting into profit might be the next step.

Keep in Mind:

1.  If you want to turn a hobby into a business, once your hobby becomes “work” it may not seem like as much fun.

I used to have a passion for bead work and created some beautiful (if I do say so) pieces. I worked in a bead store and taught classes and soon I was sitting at a booth at a craft fair selling my wares. Production work isn’t like beadiing, or doing any craft, for fun. If you’re going to do a craft fair, for instance, you need a certain amount of stock. Your wrists and hands begin to hurt, your shoulders have knots in them and your eyes are burning. Not so much fun.

2.  If you are going to rely in any way on the money you make from your hobby, realize that you still have to spend money for supplies, entries into craft fairs, etc, so your profit margin may not be that big.

I spent more than I ever made, I think, on beads, yarn, etc, for any hobby I tried to turn into a business. If you have a real passion for your hobby, you’re likely to spend more. The flip side of this, of course, is that if you want a real business and you make some money, you can deduct many of your supplies on your taxes.

If you’re still sure you want to turn your hobby into an income producing business. Here are some steps to take.

Start by Assessing:

1. What is your skill level? – Whatever your hobby, can you make them quickly, in quantities and make your product look professional?

2. How much time do you want to devote? Making enough items for a craft fair, for instance, is very time-consuming. If you decide to create a website or online store, you also have to devote time to that as well.

Next:

1. Find a Niche market – Rather than trying to be all things to all people, it’s easier to make a profit if you cater to one niche, or group of people, and be specific. Take knitting, for instance. You could make your pieces from organic yarn. You could stick to baby clothes or blankets. You could specialize in prayer shawls or knit only with hand painted, hand dyed yarns.

Specialize in knitted baby hats

Knitting examples are easy for me because that’s what I love doing but if you are a photographer you could specialize in nature photography, scenery, animals, cute puppies, whatever. If you do woodworking, you could specialize in wooden toys, fancy shelves or cradles.If you make candles, you could make only soy or natural fragrances.

4. Research your market – Who is your competition and how do they manage their businesses? Visit some craft fairs and see if you can spot a niche that needs to be filled and talk to others who are doing what you want to do. Crafters are generally very helpful and nice people. Try to find a  niche that is popular but where the competition is less.

5.  Decide HOW you will sell your product. Are you willing and able to spend your weekends holding down the fort at your craft fair table? Are you willing to travel to get to craft fairs? You can also sell with a website such as Etsy.com or Artfire.com. Setting up an online store is free on these sites which feature only handcrafted items. They just take a small percentage on what you sell. Keep in mind too that people are paying through pay pal usually and pay pal also takes a percentage of your profits so price accordingly.

6. Once you decide on just what you will make, set up a plan and choose some goals - How much money would you like to make? Just enough to pay for your own materials? Enough to pay for one of the household bills or give you some money for that extra trip? It’s important to know the purpose for your hobby business.

Other Ways to Profit from Your Hobby

Write about Your Hobby

Even if you don’t get into production, you can still profit from your hobby. One way is to create a blog or website and put some affiliate ads on it. You can talk about books or products you like or don’t like and if giving a good recommendation, sell it via the Amazon.com affiliate program or a google adsense account, or find your own companies to represent.

If you would like to create a for profit blog, I can highly recommend the program The Niche Blogger. The Niche Blogger is a subscription site so you can set up your blog, or blogs, and then cancel anytime. The Niche Blogger takes you from step one, day one, through the entire process of creating a self-hosted wordpress blog. A blog like this will only cost you about $10 a year to keep online.

The Niche Blogger can help you choose a niche topic for your hobby as well so it is most likely to be profitable.

Write an ebook About Your Hobby

If you’ve been doing your hobby for a while, or you’ve gotten into a good niche, you probably have a lot of expertise in that area. Consider writing an ebook that will help others enjoy the same passion for the hobby that you do. The Niche Blogger program does into exactly how to create an ebook and market it, I think around month 4-5 of the program.

Teach Classes

If you’d like interacting with others and sharing your hobby, contact your local craft store, like Michaels or Joanns, or your local hobby store. Find out if they have a need for a teacher or there is a special technique that they don’t currently offer, that you could teach.

You can also create podcasts and teach online (again, this is covered in The Niche Blogger Program)

Other Resources for Starting a Craft Business

How to Create an Etsy Store to sell your knitting online

How to Create An Artfire Store to make money knitting.

If you’re interested in knitting for profit, Liz Raad has written a terrific ebook on Knitting for Profit. Liz also has a helpful newsletter for those wanting to learn how to make a living from knitting and sign up is free.

The Savvy Crafters Guide To Success: Turn Your Crafts Into A Career

Another good resource for turning any type of hobby into income is Complete Idiot’s Guide to Making Money with Your Hobby which takes you from A to Z.

If you want to turn your hobby into retirement income, realize that there will be work involved in making it successful. However, the fact that you are able to spend your days focusing on your passion, makes it different than any other “job.” You’ll have fun and probably make a lot of new friends along the way.

I always laugh when I hear about people who have a million dollars saved for retirement and want to know if that’s enough! I suppose there are people out there who have millions saved, but I don’t know any personally. Money is undoubtedly important in planning for retirement, especially for us non-millionaires, but retirement is also a time for reassessing your life and deciding what things are most important to you in the second half of life.

Some questions to ask yourself when you’re facing retirement in the coming years:

1.  How do I see myself spending my days?

If you are working and choose a retirement date, what do you see yourself doing on day 1 or day 2 of retirement? How about day 352? If you retire with no plan in mind for how you will spend your time, you may just end up being one of those old guys or gals who sits on the front porch in a rocking chair. There’s nothing wrong with relaxing but you’ll soon get bored if that’s all you do.

Chances are, if you are working still, your days are busy and purposeful, even if the purpose is collecting a paycheck so you can put some away for the long-awaited retirement. To be successful in retirement, you will still need a purpose for getting out of bed. What will your purpose be?

When your days stretch endlessly before you, it’s important to have a plan for how you will use them.

2.  Ask yourself what your interests and hobbies are right now.

Do you have interests and hobbies beyond working and paying bills. I have to tell you, these aren’t really classified in the hobby section. If you don’t have any interests that excite you and are fun to do, maybe you should acquire some before retiring to help you pass the time later on.

If money is an issue it might be better not to take up a hobby like knitting (you should see my yarn stash!), collecting old cars or golf. These type of hobbies and interests can get expensive. If you are interested in these things anyway, figure out how to turn a profit from your hobby. Teach classes, write a blog or ebook to support your hobby.

Some interests don’t have to cost money, or at least not much. Interested in Civil War history? Visit Civil War battlefields, research battles on the internet or volunteer at a local museum. Do you love miniature railroads? Find a miniature railroad museum which needs help. Volunteering is a wonderful way to share your interest or hobby with others and still feel you are giving a valuable service.

Some hobbies or interests are free to do and might make you a buck or two. Write that great American novel you’ve always wanted to write or take up hiking, which is great exercise too.

3. Am I healthy and if not, what can I do about it?

The pursuit of good Health can be very time-consuming and retirement is a great place to put your mind to being healthier. Take up walking daily or join the local Y and take classes. You can make friends or join social groups at the Y or at Senior centers too.

Grow a garden so you have plenty of fresh veggies to eat. I have a friend who gets free cuttings for berry plants and other perrenials for his garden. You can also trade seeds or get heirloom seeds so you can save them from year to year if money is an issue. If you life in the city, you can still grow lots of food in containers.

In retirement you can spend some time reading about any health issues you may have and what you can do about them. Many doctors shove a pill at you and head out the door, partly because they don’t feel that patients will follow their advice anyway about what else they can do to improve the situation.

if you need to lose weight, retirement is a great time to put your mind to this health issue. You now have time to keep a food journal, get out and exercise and read up on healthy eating.

4.  Have I made time to cultivate friendships to last through retirement?

When you retire, it’s important to have friends to spend your time with. If you don’t have a few good friends now to have lunch or coffee with, plan on where you’ll look for some when you are retired. Joining a hobby or volunteer group, seeking out the local senior center or Y, or taking a class are good places to begin.

5.  What do I still want to accomplish in my life, now that I have some time?

Maybe at one time in your life, you thought when you retired you’d read every Shakespeare play ever written but do you still want to do that? Goals change over time and when you’re facing retirement it’s a good time to reassess goals. What is important is that you have goals! Choose a top 10 list of things you want to do in retirement - and I don’t mean fixing that hinge that’s been squeaking for the past year. Think bigger. What have you always wanted to do but never had time for?

I used to do a lot of beadwork and when I didn’t have time for it anymore, I thought of just selling my bead stash, books, etc. My mom talked me out of it because she said, “You never know if you might want to take it up again when you have time.” So I kept everything and “when I have time” beadwork is there if I want to do it.

My mom used to sew for us as we grew up and when she retired and had time, she took up quilting. She turned out the most beautiful quilts and we were all able to benefit from her hobby.

I’m sure there are many more important questions you can ask yourself when preparing to retire that have nothing to do with money. What are some of the things you’ve considered?

Many seniors suffer from chronic lung diseases like COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), chronic bronchitis, emphysema or asthma. It’s important to work with your doctor and follow prescribed treatments for these lung problems but there are many natural remedies which boost lung health, increase lung capacity and ease symptoms. Following a good lung health program can keep these debilitating health issues from getting worse and in many cases, help them improve.

Recently I had a case of bronchitis, something I haven’t had in many years. An xray showed “chronic bronchitis” or emphysema, probably a hold over from my time as a smoker many years ago. I quit smoking for good when I became pregnant with my daughter 25 years ago but some damage was done.

I spent 10 years as a hospital corpsman in the Navy and I saw people of all ages dragging oxygen bottles around behind them, barely able to breathe. The thought of that always scared me, but not enough to make me stop smoking at the time.

With visions of oxygen tanks dancing in my head, I had some decisions to make. At this point, the doctor was not telling me I needed inhalers or medications, only that if I got a bad cold or bronchitis again, I’d have to start treatments right away to avoid it making this lung condition worse. I’m very glad now that the health program I’ve been on for the past 15 years was aimed at increasing my immune system so I only rarely even get colds, much less bronchitis.

I’ve always been very proactive when it comes to health and finding alternative remedies for any health condition that comes up. Lung problems and breathing conditions have many alternative therapies to improve the quality of life and slow the progression.

The first thing I did was purchase a POWERbreathe Plus 2 Fitness Model Lung Muscle Trainer - A couple of years ago, our daughter, who played softball in college, was having breathing problems due to allergies and I got her one of these to work with. She said using the Powerbreathe twice a day really expanded her lung capacity and made it easier to breathe. I thought this would be just the thing to help me improve my breathing and open my airways. I’ve worked with it almost daily for a couple months and I’ve really noticed the improvement. The Powerbreathe has really helped my lungs feel clearer and I can breathe deeper since using it. It’s easy to use and easy to keep clean as well.

Foods for Lung Health

We drink green smoothies so it’s easy to incorporate foods for lung health but even if you aren’t a green smoothie fan, you can eat some of these foods daily:

Increase the antioxidants in your diet by eating lots of fruits and veggies, especially those containing carotenes:

• carrots
• sweet potatoes
• yellow squash
• leafy green vegetables

As a natural remedy for serious lung conditions such as COPD, be sure you get at least 9 servings of fruits and veggies daily. Eat lots of blueberries, broccoli, spinach and other healthy foods packed with antioxidants.

Drink lots of green tea and white tea - These drinks are loaded with antioxidants and nutrients which boost the immune system.

Eat Flax seeds or chia seeds - great sources of Omega 3 Fatty Acids and other lung healthy nutrients.

Improve Your Immune System with Supplements for Lung Health

• Astragalus -a Chinese tonic herb that enhances immune function. You can find it at your local health food store in a a tincture or capsule form. Look for standardized astragalus and follow dosing instructions.
• Co-Enzyme Q10 or CoQ10 improves the use of oxygen at the cellular level. Take at least 60 mg twice a day of the softgel form. CoQ10 works best when taken with a meal containing some fat.
• Vitamin D not only increases immunity to colds and flu but it also helps improve lung function in those with asthma, COPD and other lung diseases. Many, if not most, patients with lung illnesses test deficient in Vitamin D. The best source of Vitamin D is D3. Dr. Andrew Weil recommends 2,000 IU daily.
• Omega3 Fatty acids are healthy fats which improve heart function but are also great for the lungs. The American Heart Association recommends 2 to 4 grams per day, either from supplements or from sources like fish, chia seeds or flax seeds.

More Information on boosting your immune system naturally.

Gentle Exercise Improves COPD, Emphysema and Asthma

Exercise increases lung capacity and stamina, both of which are lost in chronic lung conditions. Start by walking, increasing speed and distance or take a water aerobics class, which is good for building your body but easy on your joints.

Try yoga - Yoga is a gentle stretching exercise that focuses on deep breathing. Yoga can build your body, your lungs and your immune system.

Tai Chi is another gentle form of flowing exercise that focuses on breathing.

Functional Fitness for COPD and Asthma - an on demand rental from Amazon which you can use for 7 days for just $1.99. If you decide you like the exercises in the video, you can also purchase it. These exercises require no special equipment and can help reduce the symptoms of asthma and COPD, plus there is some explanation of these conditions.

Practice Deep Breathing Exercises to increase lung capacity.

Other Natural Remedies for Health

Try the Healing Code by Alex Lloyd. This simple 6 minute process has helped thousands heal naturally from any health problem.

Brush and floss your teeth - Bacteria from gum disease can worsen conditions like chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Read Dr. Mercola’s article on this topic.

Stay tuned for more natural remedies for COPD, Emphysema and Asthma. Tomorrow’s posting will be about yoga breathing techniques to improve lung capacity. If you’re a baby boomer approaching retirement, you want to enjoy the second half of life and not be side-lined by chronic lung diseases.

About a month ago, my husband and I started taking a Tai Chi class for beginners. For baby boomers Tai Chi is the perfect form of exercise because it builds muscles, keeps joints flexible, reduces stress, helps you sleep soundly at night and improves balance - all through breathing and a series of slow, smooth flowing movements that are easy on your body.

Tai chi is an ancient art, often described as meditation in motion. The focus is on practicing the precise movements which flow one into another without pause, in coordination with the breath. Besides these postures or forms, there are also many exercises to help move the chi, or life force energy, throughout your body, creating good physical and mental health.

I’ve always wanted to try tai chi and our first series of classes was in the Qigong, which, I think is less precise in the movements than other forms of Tai Chi. We learned some wonderful meditations in this class too, which focus on clearing chakras, or energy centers in the body, and bringing chi to the various organs of the body.

I found another Tai chi class for beginners at the local Y where I also take yoga. This is Tai Chi in the Yang style which is extremely precise and really makes you feel like a klutz at first. I can do the arm movements and the foot movements pretty well but do them at the same time will take some practice!

What I’ve found in learning tai chi is that this is a journey which has no ending. Many spend months on just one movement to perfect it. One of the important benefits of Tai Chi is that besides being a physical journey, it’s also a spiritual journey and you learn some surprising things about yourself along the way.

If you haven’t tried Tai Chi, or you are a beginner, you may see it being performed and think “How could Tai Chi really be good exercise?” Let me tell you, you definitely feel it in every muscle but the body moves as one piece so there is never strain put on any one muscle or joint. Along the way, you also focus on deep breathing.

After a few classes, you find you’re standing straighter, breathing deeper, feeling stronger and more energetic. I’ve been sleeping better than I have in years.

Besides taking a Tai Chi class for beginners, you can also learn the basics of Tai Chi and receive the benefits from Tai Chi DVD’s. Here are some that we’ve collected and use daily:

Qigong Beginning Practice -A 2 cd set featuring instructors Francesco and Daisy Lee-Garripoli. One cd is a PBS special on Francesco’s journey to China and his discovery of the QiGong exercises in his video. Done with voice over before a beautiful lake, the exercises are easy to follow and perform. You definitely feel the benefits of this Qugong work out. We’ve been doing this one twice a week but you could certainly do it daily for more benefits.

We have two Tai Chi dvd’s by David Dorian Ross:

A.M. and P.M. T’ai Chi With David-Dorian Ross and CJ McPhee

T’ai Chi Beginning Practice

David Dorian Ross is a wonderful instructor and between these two Dvd’s we have several practices for daily use. The AM/PM dvd also has a great option for morning when your body needs waking up, and evening, when you need calming for good sleep.

We don’t yet own Energy Boost for Seniors With Chi but it’s next on our shopping list.

One thing about Tai Chi for beginners is that your practice becomes about perfecting the moves and making them second nature so you never really get tired of any one dvd or workout.

Tai Chi is one form of exercise that you could do well into your elder years.

Read more about how lack of sleep can make you obese and forgetful!

Read more about the benefits of Tai Chi for stress management.

Do you know what you’re really passionate about in life? Have you found your purpose? Are you working at a job you love? Maybe you’ve been laid off recently and need some guidance in setting some goals to finding a new career. If you’re a boomer, you probably want the second half of life to be more fulfilling than the years that went before.

According to the law of attraction, or just plain old-fashioned goal setting, what we focus on will grow in our lives. I believe that but my issue has always been trying to figure out what I should be focusing on. What goals do I really want to achieve? Especially as we near our retirement years, we think of all the things we still want to do. Which goals are most important? Many of us would like some retirement income so how can finding our purpose help us make money?

I’ve been thinking about goal setting and finding my life’s purpose more lately because a couple of weeks ago, I got an email newsletter about how to find my passions in life and the opening paragraph really stuck in my mind:

Suppose you asked yourself, “If I focus on one thing, what could I be like in a year? What could my whole life look like?”

If I focused on one thing for a year, set one goal, and dedicated myself to making that one thing happen, what would my life look like? There are a lot of important parts to that question, the first being, what is important enough to me to dedicate myself to it for one year? What one thing would make the biggest difference to my life?

If you’re like me, you’ve had many goals in the course of your life - finding a new job, losing weight, starting an exercise program, being a nicer, more patient person, sticking to a budget or focusing on attracting more money. Probably most of us have set these goals in our life - over and over and over. Are we thinner now? Do we all have lean, muscular bodies now? Are we rich? Probably not.

Right now you may be in your 50’s or even your 60’s and struggling with a job loss or facing retirement. It’s hard to set positive goals with our bank account nearing zero.

In order to discover your true passion in life, what one thing could you do to make a difference? Forget being thin and rich for a moment. These are outward trappings anyway, not things that really make a difference to the kind of person you are.

I love this quote about the law of attraction - “We don’t attract what we want, we attract who we are.” If you worry about money all the time or fight being overweight, that becomes who you are so, although you want to be rich and slim, your life becomes about wanting, not being.

I have decided to go back to square one and begin by connecting with my inner being to see what my subconscious wants me to know about myself. My goal for finding the purpose for the second half of my life is to meditate every day. I’ll start with 15 minutes and try to build on that but I’ll get at least 15 minutes.

I plan to start a meditation journal on here so if anyone is interested in joining me, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you need help purpose in life and setting goals, here’s some great books that may help:

Create A Life That Tickles Your Soul : Finding Peace, Passion, & Purpose (Tickle Your Soul Series). This book by Suzanne Zoglio got terrific reviews on Amazon and boomers, you especially will love the idea of re-inventing yourself in the second phase of life. Find your true purpose and passions in life and carry that into a whole new career!

Finding Your Passion: The Easy Guide to Your Dream Career by Marcy Morrison. If you are currently unemployed and seeking a new direction, looking for a way to live your purpose in retirement or in a new job, this is a great book for you.

Work with Passion in Midlife and Beyond: Reach Your Full Potential and Make the Money You Need by Nancy Anderson. Making money is great but wouldn’t it be nice to make money doing something you are passionate about? Many baby boomers have spent years working at jobs they didn’t like just to make a living. Now in the second half of life, maybe it’s time to do something you love doing.

The Purpose Driven® Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren is one of the most famous books about finding your purpose in life. The premise of the book is that there are no accidents, that God plans everything, or if you’re into the law of attraction, the Universe has a plan for you. You just have to figure out what it is. The Purpose Driven Life can help you do that.

Have you discovered the passion and purpose in your life? I’d love to hear about either your new purpose of your struggle to find it. Visit my Meditation Challenge journal and share your thoughts.