Spiritual Survival Guide

[Purron]

Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Father Richard Rohr

Might have to give this a read. I'm not Catholic but found the article about this book very interesting. Father Rohr touches on some topics many of us have struggled with including how we defined ourselves by professional accomplishments before retirement.

Our society is dominated by a "first half of life" culture. How many of us have struggled with the "what do you do" question after retirement? Retirement is much more than giving up the commute and finding that perfect house by the lake.

Priest pens spiritual survival guide for recession – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

A few quotes from the article:

“Our culture is prone to imagine that growth takes place in a sort of constant, upward movement,” he says. “Even our religious culture tends to focus on success and stability as ideals for religious growth.”

He says he knows older people who struggled to rebuild their identities after they poured much of their earlier lives’ energies into professional and personal success.

“It is not that these professional or personal ideas were necessarily bad in themselves,” he said. “It is more that they proved inadequate. We invested way too much in them. We thought our identities could be formed by them.”

“The first half of life, you write the text,” he said. “The second half of your life is when you write the commentary. You have to process what it all meant.”

 

[grasshopper]

My take is if I believed I had to suffer through life I would be a Buddhist. Instead I create my life, through my thoughts. Yea don't worry, be happy. Who says what you experience is the real deal anyway, I make mine up as I go along.