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Aging Like a Guru - Who Me? is a fun and inspiring show about the process we're all stuck dealing with-AGING! Dr. Rosie Kuhn shares a perspective that will empower you to age gracefully + mindfully, and with a smile on your face. You will find yourself laughing, and relieved, as you find pieces of yourself revealed in every episode. Come laugh along with us!
Episodes
Wednesday Jun 26, 2019
Wednesday Jun 26, 2019
A New Lease on Life at 70 - Who Me?
Harriet and Daniel met while working in the financial industry. They’ve been married 20 years. Both in their 70’s now, they clearly state that who they are now is so different than who they were 20 years ago.
Harriet shares that she was all business - saying that that is what the banking world is - all business and very little heart.
About eight years ago, they came across a particular network marketing company, which they initially took on as a business, with the mindset of serious business people. And over a very short period of time, the experience they were having with the company and the people they were serving opened their hearts. Harriet shares that Daniel isn’t the person he used to be. He would never hug anyone before, and didn’t really smile much. Now he is incredibly happy getting out of bed and seeing what the day brings.
How I came to meet Harriet and Daniel is through this network marketing organization that they are passionate about. When I met Harriet almost two years ago, her eyes sparkled and her whole being vibrated with love and generosity. And she still does today. She is very clear this isn’t who she was in her previous life as a banker. Harriet remarks that she had no idea she had such a capacity for love and connection.
Harriet and Daniel weren’t looking for a new lease on life. They weren’t interested in changing their attitudes, or participating in any self-discovery programs. But here they are, thrilled with their lives and going strong. Harriet shares, “I wake up every morning feeling younger than I did the day before. I’m so excited to see what life has in store for me today!"
So why am I sharing this story about Harriet and Daniel? It’s not to suggest you quit your job and join a network marking company. I’m sharing this story in support of saying that there are so many people who are happier later in their lives than they ever expected to be. They found themselves. Is that really possible?
Are Harriet and Daniel lucky? Are Harriet and Daniel Blessed? Or, did they somehow make choices later in their lives that brought about this possibility of discovery and living into happiness? I believe it’s the later!
My belief is that luck and blessedness are available to every one of us. What allows for what we call luck or blessedness to show itself in all the ways it does, is the attitudes that empower luck to be perceived and acknowledged.
If I don’t believe luck exists, if I don’t believe blessings rain down on us all the time, then I will never recognize its expression in the world.
I hear quite often from clients, “Oh, I believe luck exists, just not for me.” So when good thing happen to them - which is so much more often than they can acknowledge, they are blinded by their belief: “It doesn’t exist for me.”
Our Guru within would probably see it differently!
A few years ago, when I was on the Mainland, there was a barrage of experiences in which I experienced a sense of blessedness. Little things like traffic lights turning green instantly, getting the perfect parking spot, getting an unexpected super deal on what I was buying, and even seeing a traffic jam on the highway and somehow finding my way through it all effortlessly. This happened a number of times, so I came to the conclusion that, when I went off Island I was blessed!
Well, my curious mind said, “well if I’m blessed when I go off Island, am I not blessed when I am on the Island?” At first the response was, “well I have no evidence that I’m blessed when I’m on the Island, when I’m home.” Then my guru within asked: "Well, it sounds as though you assume you aren’t blessed on the Island. Could that keep you from experiencing the blessings that are present?” Hmmmm!
So I decided to practice anticipating the presence of blessings and luck. I chose to see anything out of the ordinary as a blessing, - an eagle in the sky, seeing a friend at the store. I opened myself up to seeing beauty and delight where before I was closed. Even when things didn’t go the way I anticipated, I chose to see this as a blessing - that somehow something great would come about! And inevitably, something good came out of what seemed to be impossibly not good!
Harriet and Daniel are blessed and lucky because they chose to be open to the possibility that luck and blessings are always and everywhere. They were open to exploring potential abundance, and found an abundance of love and joy to exist within their hearts. I think that is pretty cool!
Leaning into the possibility that joy, fun, and abundance are available for each of us, regardless of our age, allows us to begin to look into our world for what is good, what is joyful, and what is a blessing or a lucky coincidence.
A newfound lease on life is then available to you. Who me? Yes You!!!
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For more blogs, books, videos, or if you are interested in coaching or training with Dr. Rosie, check out her website: www.theparadigmshifts.com
Monday Jun 24, 2019
Monday Jun 24, 2019
The Unexpected Retirement Psychosis
So many of us look forward to retirement, but we are not necessarily prepared for meeting the unexpected unfolding that greets us. Few have prepared themselves for the big event. Most don't give it much thought until they find themselves at loose ends wondering what the Hell life is all about!
As Gurus who are going through an aging process, it may be wise to create time to consider what it is that will be showing up when that eventful day is presented to you!
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For more blogs, books, videos, or if you are interested in coaching or training with Dr. Rosie, check out her website: www.theparadigmshifts.com
Friday Jun 21, 2019
Friday Jun 21, 2019
Not By the Hairs on My Chinny-Chin-Chin!
Hormones are magical! They can make us feel powerful and sexy, and they can make us feel old and decrepit. I've got so many hairs on my Chiny-chin-chin, that I sometimes feel like a billygoat!
Hormones are essential to our physical life cycle, to our mental capacities, and so much more. And, how we be with all of the ups and downs of the evolution of us in this life cycle can truly challenge one's sanity!
Tune in to hear how to appreciate your hormones as they change with aging.
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For more blogs, books and videos, or if you are interesting in coaching or training with Dr. Rosie, check out her website: www.theparadigmshifts.com
Wednesday Jun 19, 2019
Wednesday Jun 19, 2019
Who's Driving This Bus?
Few of us see ourselves as our vehicles - as our cars, for instance. We know we are an individual being who gets into our cars, or buses, to get to where we want to go. If our car has a flat tire, we don't think "I have a flat tire." We can separate ourselves from our vehicles.
But yet it is so common for most of us to think that we are our bodies. Fascinating! Tune in to hear more about who is driving your "bus."
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For more blogs, books and videos, or if you're interested in coaching or training with Dr. Rosie, check out her website: www.theparadigmshifts.com
Monday Jun 17, 2019
Monday Jun 17, 2019
I'm Only 40! Is This Me Aging?
Hailey turned 40 years old eight months ago. Today in our coaching session, she's grappling with choices regarding career changes and what that will mean in terms of her body potentially getting more round and saggy if she is less active.
"Is this me aging?" She asks. "Am I going to turn into a frumpy, dumpy, menopausal woman, with hair on my chin and all? Is that what I've got to look forward to?"
Hailey has a lot to look forward to. So much more than her fears tell her. Tune in, and discover what's available for Hailey and for you!
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For more blogs, books, videos and more, or to find out more about coaching or training with Dr. Rosie, check out her website: www.theparadigmshifts.com.
Friday Jun 14, 2019
Friday Jun 14, 2019
We are Never Too Old To....
We are never too old to put our big-people's panties on! We are never too old to grow ourselves into our fullest potential. We are never too old to bring honor and dignity to our own lives. We are never too old!
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For more blogs, books and videos, or if you are interested in coaching or training with Dr. Rosie, visit her website: www.theparadigmshifts.com
Wednesday Jun 12, 2019
Wednesday Jun 12, 2019
Sexy in My Sixties - Who Me?
As our bodies shift and change, especially as our hormones shift and change, our perspectives and perhaps identification as a sexual being also shifts and changes. Or do they?
Read the rest of this entry »
Monday Jun 10, 2019
Monday Jun 10, 2019
My Life is Going to Hell in a Hand-Basket
“Many sensations come, many thoughts or images arise,
but they are just waves of your own mind.
Nothing comes from outside your mind.
To realize pure mind in your delusion is practice.
If you try to expel the delusion it will
only persist the more.
Just say, 'Oh, this is just delusion.'
And do not be bothered by it.”
– Shunryu Suzuki
My friend Daisy, who worked in hospice for many years, shared with me that most people make the greatest spiritual advancement in the last few weeks of their lives. I find that fascinating!
In the book Oneness, I recently read...
Many feel a reluctance to step into uncharted territory, when the reality of what is transpiring becomes obvious. And after all the work has been done and the destination is in view, it is easy to suddenly question all of it! For it is one thing to have intellectually grasped the concepts that have been presented and to have gone through the motions of putting them into practice. It is quite another thing to begin to embody the heightened energies and to experience the quickening that accompanies it. (Pg. 363)
Though this paragraph is referring to nothing specific, it resonated for me with the process of aging. We are journeying through life on a trajectory of completion. However, as we near the end stages we feel reluctance, resistance and a great desire to avoid that whole arena of living and dying. It’s like dropping out of college just months before graduation.
The Transformational Process Called Aging
One is often unprepared to anticipate the feelings that accompany this stage of transformational process called aging. As we approach the threshold that appears to separate us from life on this planet - we call this 'death' - we are at choice as to how we want to prepare ourselves for this phase of the journey.
Most of us are thoroughly unprepared for the potentiality of what awaits us in the Golden Years of our lives. I remember complaining to my chiropractor years ago - probably when I was in my 50’s - that I wasn’t as excited about long hikes as I had been in earlier years. That I was afraid that I was getting weak and flabby. She responded with, “You aren’t supposed to be as physically strong as you have been. That’s what this next phase of life is about. Stop worrying about it!” I got what she was saying, but I didn't like it yet!
In this next phase of life, we are on more of an inward journey. It’s less about being of service to the world through productivity, and more about being of service to the world through stillness, contentment, serenity, and peace.
Of course it’s important to maintain health and well-being; and, as our abilities decline, we have greater awareness and access to our human spirit-self. We have an opportunity to experience compassion for who we are, what we’ve gone through, and all the perceptions that brought us into this specific condition of aging. We can witness the journey of becoming. We can review our regrets, our resentments, and accept that perhaps in the physical world, this is as good as it gets. Yes, grief is part of the process - a huge part in fact. And, all of it is essential to the unfolding of You through this process of living.
Cultivating awareness of who we are inside this physical vehicle grows our capacity to be at choice about what we want to focus on in life.
As an analogy, we enter college, or careers, preparing ourselves throughout for the completion - graduation or retirement. We consciously choose the focus of our attention so that in the end we have fulfilled what we’ve come here to learn and do.
Though many of you may consider yourself a spiritual being in a human experience, I would say the majority of you have yet to be clear about what you are actually here to learn in this Earth University. You have yet to declare your major and devote yourself to the tasks of learning what is yours to learn.
Aging, for me, is a spiritual practice. Just like parenting, creativity, mediation and yoga, service, and all forms of partnerships. Here is one area of life where the heat is turned up - the intensity of learning opportunities arise and are inevitable. Mortality must be faced, or not. The acceptance of impermanence stares you squarely in the face. This, like the aforementioned, is the playground for Gurus in the making!
Though not speaking specifically about aging, yet certainly relevant to the process, Ram Dass, an American Spiritual Teachers says:
“One way to handle extraordinary experiences is to be neither horrified nor intrigued by them. The Tibetan Book of the Dead refers to the ten thousand horrible and the ten thousand beautiful visions. In the course of meditation [Aging for example] you may meet them all: powers, great beauty, deaths, grotesqueries, angels, demons, all of it. These are just forms, the stuff of the universe. You confront them on the path just as you meet all manner of people when you walk a busy street. Notice them, acknowledge them – don’t deny them – and then let them go. To cling to these heavens and hells, no matter how beautiful, slows your progress. Not to acknowledge them, or to push them away, is just a more subtle form of clinging. Follow the middle way. As stuff arises in your mind, let it arise, notice it, let it go. No clinging.”
Aging like a guru brings you to yourself and allows you to choose how present you can be with what is.
There is no right, wrong, good or bad. Just embracing the truth of You existing now, is a great leap in faith. A leap that most of us won’t dare to consider. Who thought aging could be such an amazing adventure? Who Me?
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To see more blogs, books and videos from Dr. Rosie, or to sign up for coaching, explore her website: www.theparadigmshifts.com
Friday Jun 07, 2019
Friday Jun 07, 2019
What Does It Take to Age Like a Guru?
Whether we are aware of it or not, within every one of us resides Buddha nature - every Buddhist will tell you this. Every guru recognizes the truth of this statement, and with great devotion, reveals and lives into their own personal Buddha nature.
Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday Jun 05, 2019
Wednesday Jun 05, 2019
Hating Yourself Through Aging - Who Me?
Even though every single being on the planet is aging, we are all having a very unique experience of the world and our reality while we age.
As I mentioned in the previous podcast, there is a part of us that doesn't experience aging at all. We feel ourselves to be eternally youthful, vibrant, energized. And then we look in the mirror, or down at our arms, and we see our bodies looking wrinkled, sagging, and just not how it used to be. These moments confront and contradict our sense of truth of who we are.
Wait a minute! What's going on?! This is where most of us begin to feel frustration, anger, despair, and even powerlessness.
What if we could say, "In this moment I am me! And, in this moment my body is informing me that change is occurring, and I'm powerless to do anything about it." This dilemma, this powerlessness, this existential moment is what Aging Like a Guru will address.
Though it sounds depressing, scary, and anxiety-provoking, we are all experiencing these dilemmas daily. How we choose to be with these thoughts, how we distract ourselves, how we avoid the truth of our aging, how we deny or ignore the reality of this human process, is very personal and very precious. Yes, precious!
We can hate ourselves for aging - though we really aren't in control of the whole unfolding of the physical process.
We can experience hopelessness, powerlessness and despair - these are all very natural human qualities that are part and parcel to existing within this Earth-suit.
Or.... we can choose to experience curiosity about who you really are + the full potential of the You in this bag of bones, and, well, now you have the makings for an adventurous life - one that you can empower yourself to be in, consciously. This is the beginning of your journey of aging like a Guru.
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To see more blogs, books and videos from Dr. Rosie, or to sign up for coaching, explore her website: www.theparadigmshifts.com