Having a Purpose is Vital in the Second Half of Life...

People have a desire to feel and know that their lives make a difference. In the second half of life, this desire becomes even more pronounced. At the first of each year, there is often a focus on having resolutions for the New Year. The majority of New Year’s resolutions quickly go by the wayside, often because they are not connected to something that has a deeper meaning, and that really connect to their purpose in life. Research has shown that having purpose helps you live longer, healthier, and happier, and even help brain functioning in the later years. Some people are aware from a young age what it is that they uniquely offer this world, and are able to pursue it throughout their lifetime. For others, this may begin to evolve in their thirties or forties, and may even become a deep longing in their career choices. In the second half of life we want to know we are effectively supportive to others in our lives. We have a deep desire to make sense of our lives. If this is something you want to gain clarity about, there are ways to explore this. The well-known developmental psychologist and Pulitzer Prize winner Erik Erikson described the eight stages of human development in his book Identity and the Life Cycle (1959). The last stages are ones that concern us in the second half of life. According to Erikson, in adulthood, if a person has adequately matured through the earlier stages, the seventh stage of development is that of either being ‘generative’ in one’s life or ‘stagnating’. Generative is the ability to be supportive of others. Often it can be of a younger family member and others of the younger generations. It...

Life in Review: Writing Down Your Legacy...

 life review as a naturally occurring, universal mental process characterized by the progressive return to consciousness of past experiences, and, particularly, the resurgence of unresolved conflicts; simultaneously, and normally, these revived experiences and conflicts can be surveyed and reintegrated.” – Robert N. Butler, PhD (1963)“I conceive of Many people enter into a transitional time or the second half of their life with the desire to look back on past moments, the challenging and the rewarding. By examining your personal history you can often change the way you see things now. You can come to terms with the turmoil of your past, and bring joy into the present moment. The concept of collecting your memories and writing them down as thoughtful retrospective was pioneered by Robert N. Butler, PhD, in the 1960’s, who summed up the process as a “life review”. In the last 50 years, there have been many studies done on the positive effects of writing on the human brain. The benefits of writing down your thoughts and feelings are innumerable. Not only can it help you with emotional pain, but it has been shown that it can help heal physical wounds as well. Many people chose to write expressively, journal about their daily lives, or keep gratitude journals. As you begin to get older, it may benefit you to review your life, and create a written account of your legacy. Here are some different ways you can tell your story. Traditional Autobiography Style Begin by mapping out your timeline. Your story doesn’t have to begin with your birth, you can include stories of your ancestors, your family history – anything that you feel is a part of who you are. This is the brainstorming part of the...