Identifying Your Midlife Passion

What is it that keeps midlifers from
premature aging and unnecessary
illnesses? What keeps us from becoming
sour, dependent, fearful, resentful,
disparaging, sarcastic, and isolated? "A
midlife passion," says author Mildred
Witkin.
Do you have a life passion? How can
you identify this all-consuming desire that
midlife authority Gail Sheehy says is the
source for continuing aliveness in one's
second adulthood? Following are some
tests that will help.
The Pleasure Test
Sheehy calls it the "Time Flies Test."
"What activity do you do where time
goes by without your even knowing it?"
she asks. Sheehy quotes a 50-year-old
grandmother who adds, "Passion is
allowing yourself to get lost in
something."
What is it that gives you so much
pleasure that you are oblivious to
everything else?
Some people will not find the question
easy to answer. Having spent the first
half of life trying only to live up to the
expectations of others--a parent,
spouse, children, or boss--they have no
idea what really gives them pleasure.
So reflect and experiment. What were
the day-dreams of your youth? What
have you always wanted to do but were
afraid to try? So what's stopping you?
The Transcendence Test
Some authors see a midlife passion as a
physical activity like bicycling, playing
music, or mountain climbing. But a true
passion is more than that; it transcends
our activities.
The question is "why do we create music
or climb mountains?" Herein lies our true
passion. If you learn the answer to this
question, you can pursue your passion
even if you temporarily lose the ability or
opportunity for your activity.
A life passion should also transcend
mere personal pleasure. It should do
something for others too. It should make
the world a better place.
I love communication. Both writing and
speaking are activities I can get lost in.
But I don't write just for me.
Probably it's because I have always
struggled with disappointment myself,
but my passion in life is to bring hope to
people, especially those who feel most
discouraged.
Similarly, a musician might have the
passion to inspire others by bringing
beauty and joy into the world; a
mountain climber might desire to
motivate others to reach for their
dreams, and a cyclist might love the
camaraderie of friends on the road.
The Meaning Test
Author Ross Goldstein says that our
midlife passion will energize and
motivate us and "serve as a guiding force
around which to organize our lives."
This is probably the most practically
helpful aspect of our passion. Identifying
our midlife passion will help us make the
big decisions facing us.
What career should you pursue in your
second half of life? What will you do
with your leisure time? Where will you
live?
All of these questions can be answered
best in light of your passion. What
career will best allow you to follow your
heart's desire? What leisure will fuel this
same fire? What location will best
facilitate it?
Do you have a passion in life? If you're
not sure, take time today to begin
identifying it. Then, pursue it with a
whole heart and experience a midlife
robustness unknown to your youth.

Excerpted from Mike Bellah - Midlife's Moments
Mike can be reached at: mike@bestyears.com (Mike Bellah)

For more information try: 
The Midlife Crisis 
Forum




Do you own your own employability?

Several years ago , if you had walked up to me and asked, what 
do you do and what would you like to do in few years, I would 
have had an easy set of answers. I would have said, well, 
I'm a manager of course.  In a few years, I want to be a 
bigger manager!! Looking back, I was quite serious. 
My selfimage and entire world was rolled up into a title. 
After much internal work and self reflection, several years 
later, I have a much different answer. Well, I'm a dad, 
husband, coach, author, speaker, teacher, community
volunteer, doctoral student, aspiring philanthropist, 
(My wife laughs at this), and the list goes on. You see,
this list is one that can't be taken away, unlike a 
job title. You can take away the job title though. 
How empowering it was to in fact think about what I do 
in terms of skills or activities.Aligning these skills
or activities under one's most important values is indeed 
the nesting effect. I won't cover this process in this article
but it is one that is equally powerful. 		 	

Employability in your future As companies grow bigger and 
sometimes more complex, I believe defining what one does 
in terms of their specific skill set will be of use both 
to the company as well as to the individual. This applies
to those who work for themselves as well. 

Excerpted from Craig Nathanson's article -
to see the full article, go to 
Weekly Article 
Craig Nathanson has many roles. He is a PH.D candidate at 
the Fielding Institute Researching how to develop places in 
cyberspace that give value, warmth and a sense of purpose. 
Craig is a husband, father of two, masters distance runner 
and the on line marketing manager for Intel Corporation.
Craig’s writing can be found at his web site 
"MAKING A DIFFERENCE" at:
http://www.craignathanson.com

Are there any lessons that to be learned from the 554 points 
drop for DOW JONES (7%) and from other Stock Exchanges around 
the world on Monday 27 October?  

World stock markets got on a roller coaster, and the ride was 
made even worse because they had the Hong Kong flu.

The New York Stock Exchange had its biggest single loss in 
history. The next day it had the biggest gain. The Hong Kong 
market did the same, in reverse. 

One of the lessons we can teach ourselves from this experience 
is that WE have to become more aware of the whole World and 
not just what happened here in the USA.  
In Bangkok, where the Stock Exchange of Thailand was also 
down, and the SET is at an eight-year low.  

We have to learn to have a Global Prespective.  We should become 
more aware of Systems Thinking and Systems Prespective. 
In the new world "Everything connected to everything else".  

Financial and political problems started earlier this year in 
a small country in South East Asia (Thailand).  The problems
exasperated and triggered the Heng Seng stock index to drop 
in Hong Kong on Thursday, October 23rd.  That drop 
also triggered down to Japan, Singapore and in Europe by
Friday. In the US, American New York Stock Exchange and 
NASDEQ had HUGH trading LOSSES on the following Monday. 

Why do we have to be concerned?  Even if you do not own or 
invest in stocks personally, you are investing in the Exchange
if you have any 401K deducted from your weekly paychecks.
Many of the IRA accounts and Money Market Funds are invested
heavily in Stocks market. 

Jieranai T. Maier is a Systems Analyst, currently 
living in Silicon Valley, Ca.
Jeri received her BS in Applied Economics from University 
of San Francisco and MS in Systems Management from 
College of Norte Dame in Belmont, Ca.  



 MISCELLANEOUS

HELLO there ... Winter Season!

Gardening chores for nature lovers:  
Herb harvesting, seed gathering, vegetable picking, bed
mulching, birdbath cleaning ..  The weather is chilly and 
the work exhausting, but we have to prepare our garden 
for the next glorious season.

Congratulations to : Mike Bellah
Check out about Mike at http://boomersint.org/boomotm.htm

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