How many times do you think, Women Over 55: Choose to Look at the Moon! Let me explain… The other night I was lugging large, heavy bags to the trash. Taking out the trash is one of my least favorite household tasks, so I’d put it off longer than I should have. Head down, I struggled with the bags, muttering about how stupid they were and how stupid I was for waiting until they were so full to take them out.
I heaved the bags into the bins and turned around to go back inside. And there, right in front of me, was the biggest, brightest, most beautiful moon I had ever seen. It seemed to take up a third of the sky since it was so close to the horizon. WOW! I think I even said that out loud. And I stopped in my tracks and gazed at it in absolute awe, the woes of the moment utterly forgotten.
As I headed back to my apartment, here came a neighbor also lugging her trash bags to the bins, looking as if she was in about the same mood I had been in five minutes earlier. I said, “Maria, turn around!” She looked at me and said, “Why?” And I said, “Just turn around.” When she finally did, she burst out with a big “Wow!” just as I had done, and she immediately perked up, also just as I had.
Women Over 55: Choose to Look at the Moon
I keep thinking about that evening. I thought, how many things in my life do I miss because I don’t look around? How often have I decided that whatever was happening was just a drag, not noticing the remarkable possibilities I’d see if I kept an open mind and changed my focus? How many of us get stuck thinking we can’t do something or start something or end something because we’re too old or it’s too late?
Women of any age can get caught up in the negative thinking that arises out of everyday life. Then again, no matter how old you are, you can always pause to look at the moon. It just takes the decision to look around, to turn around, and to say no to what we may have been taught directly—or, more often, indirectly—about what our lives must be like.
What happens if we take a different view?
What happens when you look around at your women friends? When I look at mine, I see vital, beautiful, active, contributing, involved older women who are living full, happy lives and making important differences for others. All of them? Of course not, but that’s also true for some of my women friends who are much younger. Age doesn’t seem to be the determining factor any longer. Intention, attitude, and perspective now are the determiners.
I often see this change in perspective for some of the women I work with. They sometimes begin with a feeling like I had trudging to the trash bins. But when a woman is able to turn around and look at the moon, to refocus and see all the things that are possible now, all the skills and experience she brings with her to this point in her life, then the horizon opens up for her. Just like my surprise with the moon, this is a very exhilarating moment in our work together for both of us. Women Over 55: Choose to Look at the Moon!
What Are Your Dreams?
And so for you, what dream has been with you perhaps for many years that you would like to explore over the next several years? What are one or two of your special skills that not only are you good at but you love to use? In Playing Big, Tara Mohr refers to a “gift goal” as compared to a “should goal.” A should goal might be walking at least 10,000 steps a day. A gift goal might be feeling really healthy and fit by the end of the year.
What is a gift goal you could give to yourself? This is not something you think you should do; this is something you would love to do, that would give you joy in the doing of it, and that you may only realize you want when you make an effort to shift your perspective. It does not have to be a lofty goal, something good for humanity, although it certainly can be. All it needs to be is something that will bring you joy.
As women over 55, we are in the prime of our lives. At any moment, we can choose to change our perspective about who we are and what’s possible for us. No one and nothing outside of ourselves gets to say what is and what is not possible for us. We choose. We choose to turn around and see the moon in all its splendor, to see our lives as magnificent gifts that are ours to unwrap. Women Over 55: Choose to Look at the Moon!
Learn More…
The Prime Spark Membership Community is designed for women 55 (or close) and older to support one another, learn and grow together, and further the mission of Prime Spark. Membership currently is closed. If you’re interested in joining, please send an email to [email protected] and ask to be placed on the waitlist.
Sara Hart, PhD, is an author, speaker, and coach. She is leading the charge to change how older women are seen and treated in our society. She is the creator of Prime Spark, a movement to transform how women over 55 take responsibility for their futures. Sara is the author of three books. She also has over forty years’ experience in leadership development, coaching, and building thinking environments. She was director of training and development for a Fortune 100 company. Sara was also an executive director of the Institute for Women and Technology. To learn more about claiming your power as a senior woman, visit Prime Spark today!
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