

Life
Optimism in the Face of Challenges
Boldly explore new ground and establish goals that might have seemed beyond your grasp at an earlier time
In mid-2020, President Trump promised that a COVID vaccine was on the near horizon, a contention relentlessly mocked by the mainstream press. Then President Trump, to the relief of the entire planet, delivered multiple times on his promise.
Dr. Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D, a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, nevertheless, has some significant finding.
Based on his studies, at 320,000+ different viruses currently infect mammals, and that doesn’t count other viruses that affect other vertebrate species. In all, the professor concludes that there are tens of millions of viruses in the world; a figure so large, it is unknowable.
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Starting today, and for decades thereafter, regardless of the breakthroughs in virus-related issues, other concerns will linger. Against this backdrop, optimism for oneself, for one’s family and friends, and indeed, for humanity, seems challenging.
Optimism: Now and Forever
A question for our era: In times of high uncertainty, is maintaining an optimistic outlook warranted or even possible? Yes. Research reveals that some people are apparently born optimistic; some individuals naturally exude optimism, often to the utter bewilderment of others.
Although it seems as if prevailing circumstances dictate how we will act and how we will feel, probing slightly deeper shows that that can be a false cause-effect relationship.
If you’ve passed a certain age and are thinking, “I have this big dream, but I’m too old,” take heart. If you’re in your thirties, forties, or fifties, mile-high goal achievement could still be in store for you – even if you’re past 60, 70, or 80! Why do I make such a statement?
Human longevity is increasing. Insurance actuaries indicate that you might live longer than you think you will. There’s no telling what you’re capable of two, three, or four decades hence. The legendary Grandma Moses became famous as a painter in her seventies and eighties and still was creating notable works of art past age 100.
Multiple Careers?
In Age Wave, Dr. Ken Dychtwald explains how it’s likely that you’ll have several careers within a lifetime, some totally unrelated to each other. After all, if you graduate college at age 22, you can work for 15 or 17 years in human resources or in training, not even hit your forties, work 25 years in another industry, and even receive your pension, and still work another 12 to 15 in another profession, and only be in your 70’s!
Some day soon, an octogenarian – an eighty year old – will be elected president of the United States.
As average life spans extend beyond eighty and ninety, and the health and well-being of the typical professional continues on at an advanced age, it’s not unrealistic to assume that you might achieve some spectacular goal in an arena of your life that is not even in consciousness for you at this moment.
Taking Root Long Ago
The seeds of what you might be doing twenty, thirty, and forty years from now are likely already in formation, if only at the cellular level! When I took the course Technologies for Creating, designed by Robert Fritz, author of The Path of Least Resistance, I encountered one of the most powerful affirmations of my life to this point.
Imagine, Fritz encourages, that everything that you’ve ever done is preparation for what’s coming next… All the successes, all the failures, everything that went well, all the things that went up in flames, and all of your experiences are learning to be applied for the highest good for what is coming in your life.
So, in a manner of speaking, you’ve incurred no down time – no wasted jobs, wasted years, or wasted efforts. Your life has been a laboratory of sorts, helping you to prepare for some grand good the likes of which might still not be clear to you.
To Boldly Go
As the philosophers say, the pattern of the universe (or, more specifically for your purposes, the pattern of your life) is right there, visible in everything you do. You have only to recognize how to work with your strengths and limitations, aptitudes and blind spots so as to transcend yourself.
Don’t live life as if looking through a rear view mirror. Boldly go where you’ve never gone before, and eventually set and reach goals that in an earlier time might have seemed beyond your essence, yet on some level, perhaps were within you all along.
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PolitiCrossing Founder Chris Widener talks with Dr. Steve Turley of Turley Talks to discuss a new study about happiness. Check out their interview and be sure to pick up Chris Widener’s new book they mention, Four Seasons. The purchase of the book gets you 20+ hours of personal develop audios to celebrate the launch of the book. Get Four Seasons by clicking HERE. Check out the discussion below:
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About Turley Talks:
Are we seeing the revitalization of Christian civilization?
For decades, the world has been dominated by a process known as globalization, a secularizing economic and political system that hollows out and erodes a culture’s traditions, customs, and religions, all the while conditioning populations to rely on the expertise of a tiny class of technocrats for every aspect of their social and economic lives.
Until now.
All over the world, there’s been a massive blowback against the anti-cultural processes of globalization and its secular aristocracy.
And it’s just the beginning.
I believe that the secular world is at its brink, and a new conservative age is rising.
Join me each week as we examine these worldwide trends, discover answers to today’s toughest challenges, and together learn to live in the present in light of even better things to come.
This is Turley Talks.
Life
The Four Horsemen of Aging Baby Boomers
The prospect of being cold, broke, and alone can haunt some baby boomers in their senior years
To be old, cold, broke, and alone are the four horsemen of aging baby boomers. Aging has been a fact of life since life itself appeared on the planet, and no one has ever doubted that they would age as time passed. It’s the combination of aging with the prospect of being cold, broke, and alone that’s terrifying for some boomers as they head into their senior years.
Out in the Cold
Miracle breakthroughs in energy production, foreseen in the 1970s and 80s, are clearly not here yet. Despite current price fluctuations, the long-term trend in heating, lighting, and relying upon energy to run one’s home can only point upward for the near future. Prices will be only climb as boomers face the ends of their careers, retirement, and years of living on a fixed income.
Going for Broke
With falling housing prices, fears of a retracted recession, and government debt rising to astronomical heights, the long-term savings of many a boomer has taken a big hit. Boomers close to retiring don’t have sufficient time to recover, and even those who are five, 10, and 15 years from retirement will face rocky roads. The prospects of going broke, or at least having to live out one’s days on far less than anticipated, are real and alarming.
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Home Alone
For several decades, one in two marriages in the U.S. has ended in divorce. This doesn’t mean that one out of two people get divorced, because first-time divorcees are unfortunately prone to being divorced again and perhaps again. In any case, the number of single adults above age 45 is at an all-time high and growing. More people heading into their “golden years” are alone than at any other time in U.S. history.
Finishing one’s life cold, broke, and alone is not a pretty picture. Yet, significant numbers of boomers face this prospect. While individually little can be done about macro-economics, the rising cost of energy, or declines in property and investment values, for aging boomers there are more potential partners today than ever before. Online dating services and a variety of local social groups all but ensure that those who don’t want to face their senior years alone, don’t have to.
Old, cold, broke and alone need not be your fate.
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