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Have you taken a “Zen
Nona” lately?
One of my favorite quotes by Helen Keller is: “Life is either a daring adventure or
nothing at all.”
Last October I began a new chapter in my life which I call
my “Zen Nona”. It’s a term I created that means my: “Zen - Now or Never Adventure”! This term got created because unfortunately,
or shall I say fortunately, after almost
20 years with my client, I was informed they could no longer afford my
services! I was not completely surprised, since I was their accountant, and
they needed to restructure their business for eventual retirement. Needless to
say I was at a crossroads in my life, and I could either make lemonade out of
the lemons, or become bitter as a lemon peel! I took the Zen Attitude and spiked my lemonade with rum!
I came to the conclusion while enjoying my spiked lemonade;
I would take some time off, before networking for new clients. Considering my
age of 64 years old, I decided to collect my Social Security pittance and use a small portion of my savings to subsidize a 6+ month
sabbatical of sorts. Like a Gap Year for kids, this is my Gap
(nonna=grandmother!) period of time to create, dream, learn, travel, volunteer,
network, maybe start a new business venture, and possibly reinvent myself in this
3rd act of life. Another favorite quote that inspired my decision
was by Wayne Dyer: “Go for it now. The
Future is promised to no one.”
Unfortunately, I am in the same boat as many Baby Boomers
who have not saved nearly enough for retirement. As a single woman, never
married, without children (other than the 4 legged furry ones), and the high
cost of living these days just for a roof over your head, it leaves very little
to save for ones future. I know after my Zen Nona comes to an end, I will have
to find employment, and continue to work until the day I die, unless I win the
lottery!
We all want to earn a living doing what we love. We all have
things that we are passionate about, and I believe we live and breathe every
moment attempting to find and fulfil our purpose in life. There are so many
wonderful words and phrases in all languages that mean: to find our Purpose. My
most favorite of these words is Ikigai,
the Japanese concept that means: “a reason for being”. In French the phrase is raison d'êtres, meaning: “the most important reason or purpose for
someone or something’s existence”. In
Italian the phrase is ragione di vita,
meaning: “reason for living”.
We need to follow and listen to our inner guidance “GPS – Gratitude, Purpose, Soul” system!
Our Zen Intuition will always lead
us along the divine path, but we need to listen and have faith that we are in
the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. Several years
ago I created an acronym for the word FAITH:
Fearless Attitude in Thy Heart, and also wrote a piano song; “Fearless Attitude-FAITH”, here are a
few lines:
I’ve got a fearless
attitude
In thy heart
Every day in every way
I live my life
Fearlessly
Every day in every way
I live my life
Fearlessly
In thy heart
I call it FAITH
Also I have been writing lyrics about
finding my purpose for years! Here are a few lyrics to “My Purpose”:
Seeking the purpose in my lifetime
Seeking the purpose in my lifetime
Show me
the way to make a difference
Seeing the Beauty all around me
Show
me the way to find the meaning
The advice I give to myself, and offer to you, is to take
life one Zenful Moment at a time.
Each moment we have the choice between love and fear. Fear is not living in the
moment; it is “false evidence appearing
real” in the future or the past. I like the quote by Sonia Ricotti : "Surrender to what is, let go
of what was, have faith in what will be.” I like to think of it as keeping your Zen On, which means to always
be grateful, be calm, and don’t worry about things we cannot change.
It's not easy to keep a Zen
Attitude all the time, but if we just take life one moment at a time, it makes it a lot easier. I
continue to work on this practice doing the best I can, which is all any of us
can do. With my double Gemini “monkey- mind”, I may need a Zen Miracle to
keep it focused in the moment! If we can be grateful, optimistic, and have FAITH, we will be on the right
path.
If you haven’t noticed by now, I love
the word ZEN! It’s a very
enlightening word, and its only 3 letters! Don’t worry about things you cannot
change, relax, turn on your inner GPS, be grateful, and enjoy your Spiked
Lemonade! You can enjoy a “Zen Nona” every day, taking a walk
along a labyrinth, enjoying a lovely nature hike, taking a moment to smell the
roses, or do whatever your heart desires! Remember: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all!”
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