Are you ready to transform your life?
Posted by Michelle Moquin on June 22nd, 2011
Good morning!
This article is dedicated to my readers, and especially for those over age 50. Here’s a write to inspire you from thinking you’re aging…to becoming ageless.
How I Transformed My Life After 50
“Fascinating!” said a group of TV executives on a flight from New York who recognized me as the “Queen of Jeans” with over one million loyal “Boomer Consumers” on HSN. For the next few hours we volleyed around the idea of my own reality show about the unique advantages of being a Baby Boomer. And why not? Reviewing the last four decades, I’m more at peace than when I was 20, more focused than when I was in my 30′s, more glamorous than when I turned 40, and absolutely more “at the top of my game” than when I was in my 50′s. The thought of inspiring millions of new viewers thrilled me. “We love it!” one TV exec said. “But does anyone want to watch old people on TV?” “Old people?” I corrected them. “Who said anything about old people?”
Don’t get me wrong — I live with the aches and pains that come with schlepping around a body for six-plus decades. And I’ve endured what felt like endless grief and exhaustion when I was my husband’s caregiver through seven years of battling cancer. When he passed, I immediately felt a life of love, intimacy, and partnership had abandoned me, too. In my mid-50′s, feeling defeated, I was alone and barely recognized myself. I couldn’t even fit into a pair of jeans. So squeezing back into the dating world was definitely out of the question. I felt lost.
Then it got worse!
Suddenly I realized the women in my family live well into their nineties. Thirty more years of hopeless loneliness? No way! That was my “Rosa Parks” moment. It was then I made the decision: “Diane, stop going to the back of the bus! You don’t need permission from anyone to live life on your terms. Just stop the clock. Age agelessly!”
Our perception of growing old is not a by-product of aging — only a by-product of ageism. Stand-up for yourself if your contribution has gone from innovative to irrelevant in your profession. Scream, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it!” if you’ve gone from admired to undesired in your romantic life. This revolution will be televised (and tweeted, texted, and immortalized on YouTube!) but it has to start withyou.
5 Easy Ways to Shift Your Thinking from Aging to Ageless
Make the List: Five years ago I made a list of everything about myself I didn’t like and wanted to change. On the same page I made a list of all things feminine I wanted to embrace or achieve. No different from a general attacking the enemy on a battlefield, I turned around each area of my life. Overnight my life went from Bucket List to Boundless!
Play in Today: In my twenties, designing for Jimi Hendrix and other rockers from San Francisco to London, “living in the moment” was easy. Throughout the years, evolving into “The Jean Queen” on HSN, I’m confronted with staying relevant in fashion and television- – two industries driven by youth and beauty. My secret? Every morning I look myself in the mirror and say, “Today is the youngest you will ever be. What are you going to do with it?” Don’t just stay in today… make it a point to play in today!
Break Through the Age Barrier: Recently I was asked, “When are you going to stop making jeans for old ladies?” I had to laugh. “Honey,” I replied, “there is nothing old about making ladies feel sexy at any age.” Challenge yourself to break through the preconceived ideas handed down to us as women. As if you’re in your fifth, sixth, or seventh decade, you must be “an old lady.” Forget it! Just like Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, my mission is to break through the age barrier by redefining what’s sexy for Baby Boomer women now.
Picture This: Every moment of my life I imagine myself as a camera, with my heart as the aperture. I capture it all: the sights, smells, words, feelings. When you feel shut down, ask yourself, “Can I open my heart to new possibilities?” I’m living proof that when you do, more opportunities, productivity, fun and love are just waiting to come through. Remember, even a little light creates a big picture.
Think Tapestry, Not Atrophy: My work enables me to travel the world, crossing paths with women of all lifestyles, ethnicities and ages. It’s human nature to compare how we feel on the inside with how others appear on the outside. When that happens, think tapestry, not atrophy. Every woman’s journey is a vibrant thread weaving its own unique path through the fabric of life. Turn a walk down the grocery aisle into a celebration of yourself. Make the ordinary extraordinary!
If you had told me going from aging to ageless was this easy, I never would have believed you. So along with everything else, I learned the hard way: on my own. Now that these five simple shifts in my thinking have created the five most successful, romantic and surprising years of my life, I want to share them with all my Baby Boomer sisters. It’s never too late to make life better and make your dreams come true. So turn it around! Plant the seed that you, too, can age agelessly. Tend to the garden of your life by taking simple actions. And watch yourself blossom bigger than ever into the best Baby Bloomer you can be!
***********
Readers: I just love this little article. I’m not 50 yet, but like all of us, I will get there eventually. And although I am not feeling hopeless and lonely, like everyone, we all have our moments. These little seeds of wisdom are great tools for those times that you might need a little boost to shift your way of thinking, and make some huge changes.
Mark: Obama will always have his work cut out for him as long as the republicans are around and the dems lack the balls to do something. We too have our work cut out for us. We need to win in 2012 or this country will go to shit in the proverbial hand basket. (sigh) That term is so trite but so true.
Ym: What a beautiful thing to feel about your girl. I think whoever she is, your girl is a lucky girl.
That’s it for me – I thought I had more to say but I am done for the day. Your turn. Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
June 22nd, 2011 at 9:18 am
How to Complain to the Airlines
Peter Greenberg
Your flight was canceled… the airline lost your luggage… or you got hit with an undisclosed extra fee.
Complaints about airlines have risen to record levels — most airlines receive hundreds of complaint letters every day.
As a travel writer who travels more than 400,000 air miles a year, I have learned what works and what doesn’t when it comes to getting airline complaints resolved.
How to increase your odds…
Be your own devil’s advocate. Ask yourself whether your complaint is justified. Did you really arrive at the airport in sufficient time to make your plane and check your bags?
Was your plane delayed because of airline incompetence… or weather, over which the airline had no control? Did the airline really fail to disclose important information to you… or did you simply fail to read all the fare rules ahead of time?
If you can’t honestly say that your complaint is justified, don’t waste your time complaining.
Deal with the situation quickly. As soon as a problem occurs, seek out the airline official with the highest seniority at your location.
My never-fail rule: Never take a “no” from someone who is not empowered to give you a “yes.” Always ask to speak to the supervisor.
When you speak with him/her, calmly explain your problem and ask for his help in solving it.
Write a letter. If talking with a supervisor fails to get you an immediate solution to your problem, then it’s letter-writing time.
Send your letter certified mail, return receipt requested, to the chairman of the airline.
Always send a copy to the Consumer Affairs Office at Aviation Consumer Protection Division, C-75, US Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20590.
Be a good reporter. Writing a letter that simply expresses your displeasure with an airline or an individual incident isn’t enough. It’s the details that you include that often can make the difference.
Include specific dates, flight numbers and times. It’s also important to get first and last names of the airline representatives with whom you interacted and, if appropriate, the names of any witnesses. Keep the letter short, and stick to the facts.
Be nice. Let the airline know that you intend to fly on its planes again and that you hope things will be better next time. If you’re a frequent-flier, be sure to include your account number — it stands to reason that the more you fly a particular airline, the more the airline wants to keep you happy.
Never say the word “never.” Threatening never to fly the airline again sends the message to that airline that it has already lost you as a customer, therefore it has no incentive to be nice to you.
Don’t send originals. Send photocopies, but make sure that you send everything that has a bearing on your complaint — boarding passes, ticket receipts, purchase receipts for lost items and, where appropriate, photos.
Understand the rules. For example, if an airline lost your bag, you can’t claim damages for lost jewelry, furs and negotiable financial documents (or cash).
Each airline has a specific list of excluded items. If the airline lost your bag for more than 24 hours, there’s a reasonable expectation (if you’re not at your home airport) that you would need to buy some replacement clothes.
But purchasing a $2,000 designer suit as “replacement” clothing won’t get you a reimbursement check for that amount from the airlines.
Keep in mind that airlines have limited liability and compensate for lost items in luggage at their depreciated value, not what it would cost to buy them new.
Ask for what you want — but be realistic. If your plane was delayed, that probably doesn’t qualify you for a first class seat to Hong Kong.
Don’t be surprised if the airline doesn’t send you a check, but instead offers you vouchers for your “inconvenience,” usually dollar-value coupons that are good for discounts on a future flight on that airline. Read these vouchers carefully. Many have restrictions and expiration dates.
Write again. If you don’t hear back after three weeks or you get a form letter that doesn’t address your complaint, write to the chairman again — and again copy the Department of Transportation.
As before, enclose copies of your tickets, boarding passes and any other written or photographic evidence you have to support your claim.
Last resort — Go to small-claims court. This is a lot easier than it might seem. You don’t need to hire a lawyer, and many states have increased the claim limits for filing cases in small-claims court (some states have increased the limit to $10,000 or more).
Keep in mind that an airline ticket is a contract for service and that your argument probably will need to center around the airline’s failure to live up to that contract.
Personal interviewed Peter Greenberg, known as the “Travel Detective.” He is travel editor for CBS News and editor of the travel Web site PeterGreenberg.com. His latest book is The Complete Travel Detective Bible (Rodale).
June 22nd, 2011 at 9:21 am
Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular – but one must take it because it’s right.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
June 22nd, 2011 at 9:43 am
It works so well for republicans to simply say they are religious to be accepted as such by their constituents. The reason is because most of those constituents live their lives in that hypocritical way.
They claim to be so pious while discriminating at every opportunity. So of course they accept the same of their politicians. Their voting record isn’t as important as what they say they believe in.
HYPOCRISY is their true religion. Here’s Gingrich at his best. Scaring the pious with a lost of religious freedom, quoting Alexander Hamilton hypocritically since the right’s supreme court “bought and paid for five” regularly interpret the Constitution according to their own ideological purposes or who is paying them.
===============================
Anti-Religious Speech Police in America
by Newt Gingrich
Can you imagine high school administrators being threatened with jail if their students said any of the following words? “Prayer,” “stand,” “bow your heads,” or “amen”?
Can you imagine a graduation ceremony in which the word “invocation” was replaced with “opening remarks” and “benediction” was replaced with “closing remarks”—by order of a federal judge? Or a judge declaring that such an order would be “enforced by incarceration or other sanctions for contempt of Court if not obeyed?”
This sounds like a scenario that might occur under a dictatorship, but it happened earlier this month in the Medina Valley Independent School District near San Antonio, Texas. It is just one recent example of how anti-religious many on the Left have become.
It is bad enough that NBC revealed its anti-religious bias by editing out “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance last weekend.
It is bad enough that President Obama has skipped the phrase “our Creator” at least four times when citing the Declaration of Independence, even when the teleprompter read that we are “endowed by our Creator.”
At least neither NBC nor President Obama threatened to put anyone in jail.
Federal District Judge Fred Biery issued the order to stop the school’s valedictorian from saying a prayer as part of her graduation speech. He did so in the name of the First Amendment, which is supposed to prevent government prohibitions of the free exercise of religion and protect the freedom of speech.
Judge Biery’s decision clearly is not about defending the Constitution. It is the anti-religious judicial speech police at work here in America.
It is time for Americans who are fed up with this kind of repression by an anti-religious judiciary to act decisively. Judge Biery’s decision is so outrageous that the American people should not accept his continued employment on the federal bench.
The Federalist Papers and
a Limited Judicial Branch
The Founders never intended for judges to have free reign to interpret the Constitution according to their own ideological purposes. In fact, Alexander Hamilton is quite clear in the Federalist No. 78 that judges who conduct themselves like Biery will have short tenures.
“The judiciary,” Hamilton writes, “…will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution, because it will be least in capacity to annoy or injure them.” Among the three co-equal branches of government (each of which is charged with interpreting and upholding the Constitution), he writes that the judiciary “can never attack with success either of the other two.”
Hamilton’s description of a judiciary subordinate in power to the president and the Congress is a long way from the modern doctrine of judicial supremacy, by which the judiciary has asserted itself as the supreme authority for Constitutional interpretation.
============================
This guy argues out of both sides of his mouth. Of course he is counting on the fact that most Americans are ignorant of the fact that the three branches of government are supposed to check and balances on each other.
As such the legislature has the power to rewrite any law the constitution has. It just needs a two thirds ratification of the 50 States.
But I didn’t hear the right complain when that same Supreme Court okayed locking up Japanese Americans because, oh yeah, they were Japanese.
Mark
June 22nd, 2011 at 9:55 am
Mark, most often the right’s complaint is based on the law refusing to assist them in forcing their religious beliefs on others. It they want to believe in their version of god, I’m don’t care. But I take issue with them forcing me to do so in a public arena. Especially one that my taxes go to assist.
Larry
June 22nd, 2011 at 9:57 am
Thanks Mark for bringing up that point about the incarceration of my parents. I am a third generation Japanese, Sansei.
My parents and grandparents were carted away with one suitcase to concentration camps. They called them relocation centers. I’m certain the Nazi’s had cute names for theirs too.
My chief complaint is that my parents seldom bring up what happened to them. They act like they are ashamed it happened as if somehow it was their fault.
My aunt claims they were put in “protected camps” to keep white americans from being mean and violent to them.
The fact that she actually could believe that is what hurts me the most and the fact that white americans don’t seem to think what they did to us should matter most.
Mark, you got it right. Most of them are hypocrites. The only time the Constitution matters is if it is supporting something they want.
If it doesn’t they want the judge to knock it out. Abortion, civil rights, racial equality, sexual equality, and separation of church and state come to mind.
Charles
June 22nd, 2011 at 10:15 am
What do you say about the fact that those of us who inhabit earth’s oceans are aware that if we allow it the humans will deprive more than 50% of their ocean of the ability to provide oxygen to its inhabitants.
The death zones in the oceans are expanding at a rate that can only lead to mass extinctions of oceanic life forms. I say we take control of these beasts before they take the planet to the brink of extinction.
Why are we debating the right of animals to spoil their breeding pens?
June 22nd, 2011 at 10:21 am
Gosh, iola, why are you so harsh on us humans. Not all of us are so bad. Guam is trying to save the Sharks in our area.
+++++++++++++++++++
Pew applauds APIL resolution to protect threatened species
WASHINGTON, June, 22 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Association of Pacific Island Legislatures (APIL) issued a resolution last week stressing the need for additional actions to protect sharks.
The resolution, reached at APIL’s general assembly conference in Palau, states that the association agrees with “protective legislation in Palau, Hawaii, CNMI [Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands] and Guam.”
The approved language asks “all member legislative assemblies of APIL to adopt similar legislation for a unified regional ban prohibiting the possession, selling, offering for sale, trading or distribution of shark fins, rays and ray parts.”
“Pacific islanders are again taking the global lead in initiatives to safeguard sharks from overfishing,” said Matt Rand, director of Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Environment Group.
“The decision reached in Palau, home of the first Pacific shark sanctuary, underscores the growing momentum for conserving these animals across the region and sends another signal to the rest of the world that more needs to be done.”
Trade in shark fins has been banned by APIL members from Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Marianas, and it has been suspended by the Marshall Islands.
“The shark fin ban in the CNMI was the most important legislation I introduced in my 20-year career as a public servant,” said Representative Diego T. Benavente, the commonwealth’s former House speaker and lieutenant governor.
“It is imperative that this movement to protect sharks spread from island to island, nation to nation.”
Sharks, which grow slowly, mature late and produce few young during their lifetimes, have difficulty recovering from overfishing and depletion.
These apex predators, living at the top of the food web, are key to maintaining the health of ocean ecosystems. Yet up to 73 million are killed every year, primarily for their fins.
“We applaud all members of APIL for responding to the plight of the region’s sharks,” Rand said. “We support their efforts and hope that their leadership continues to inspire other coastal nations to protect these important animals.”
The member states of APIL are the Northern Marianas, Guam, Palau, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, American Samoa, Nauru and Hawaii.
The exclusive economic zones of all APIL member nations total an area larger than the land masses of the continental United States and European Union countries combined.
The Pew Environment Group is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nongovernmental organization that works globally to establish pragmatic, science-based policies that protect our oceans, preserve our wildlands and promote clean energy.
http://www.PewEnvironment.org/Sharks
Contact: Dan Klotz, +1 202-887-8855 / dklotz@pewtrusts.org
SOURCE Pew Environment Group
====================
Why not offer assistance? Many humans are trying to stop the pollution of our oceans as well as our food supply, and air.
Hafa Adai
Anna
June 22nd, 2011 at 4:27 pm
AH or Adam, or Bita
I am a scientist. I work in the field of Causality and the General Theory of Relativity. I have given many lectures on the possibility of time travel. I believe it to be impossible because Special Relativity implements Causality and makes time travel impossible.
My daughter is a very respected and well published psychologist. She was a child prodigy and is a genius and I respect her opinions in all areas except her opinions about this blog. She believes in aliens that converse here. Thank God she can do it anonymously, or she could risk all she has build up the last two decades.
My challenge to you is to explain to this 63 year old scientist how time travel is possible. How do you do it without revealing any trade secrets, but so I can debate the issue, I leave up to you.
I realize that this may be an insult to one so much more intelligent than I am. But if you could humor an old scientist, I would appreciate it. My daughter has encouraged me to peruse this blog with an open mind. I entreat you to encourage me with a bit of discourse on time travel as to how you accomplish it.
Thank you
Jim
June 22nd, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Jim:
Time travel requires being able to travel faster than the speed of light in a continuous circle in spaceTime while moving along a straight line in the direction of the time you are interested in.
How did we accomplish this you ask?
First I should note that we have only attempted time travel into the past because we have a vessel at the point of origin that exists at a point in spaceTime continuously. In it we set the coordinates for the time and place we wish to travel to, the points are clearly labeled. We can step off into the light as it approaches us via our teleporter (duc). It will never reach us on its on because it is traveling at the speed of light while we are accelerating away from it at the speed of light.
Details, details.
Our time travel machine is three vessels in one. The Time Machine © is the largest of the three vessels. It is designed to travel in a continuous circle within a spaceTime.
Vessels A and B are smaller ships that also travel in circles within the Time Machine. The first gives us the temporal(time) and spacial coordinates(length, width, and height) to pin point the temporal coordinate (time) we wish to travel to.
The second(B) provides an area in which time repeats itself through its spaceTime continuously. It continues to go back to the same moments in time and the same locations in space within the parameters programed from the first vessel. Its circular path in spaceTime is almost always in two places at the same time.
The space between vessels A and B exist in the Time Machine as “intervals.” The time machine enabled by a certain device(duc) allows the entities to walk from one time and moment in space into a particular time and moment in space.
The time machine itself allows us to exit along the fixed place at a time we picked as the past approaches us in slower and slower “intervals” depending on the speed we need to reach it at an almost idle. The “intervals” are a series of spacial distances between two events. The distances between the two events become shorter and shorter as our speed exceeds the speed of light until the distance becomes a point in time. The would be our destination, the time and moment in space that that time is occurring in.
One simply steps from the vessel accelerating faster that the speed of light into the desired time. Time itself slows up as we accelerate faster than the speed of light until it reverses itself and speeds up to continue the circle in spaceTime. The specific time we choose to enter appears as a step up to an increase in speed if we are coming from a time previously visited in its past. But as a step down in all other times.
We are reluctant to attempt traveling to the future because it would require stepping up into the unknown. And we would have the added problem of not having a vessel already stationary in the future which would enable us to pinpoint out return to our point of origin which would from the future be our past.
Adam
June 22nd, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Interesting time travel dialogue and I was just going to state the obvious…
It’s possible to reinvent yourself at any age over – say, 35 (under 35 you are still inventing, although I hate to give hard numbers) and the more you reinvent the more fun it is.
It is very much transitioning into a bit of the unknown, it can be very uncomfortable for some, I dig it though : )
…and I tend to redo every decade or so – just because…and it isn’t always about employment opportunities either.
Luv, Zen Lill
June 23rd, 2011 at 8:24 am
I hate our supreme court, today they voted in favor of big Parma, surprise surprise…why are these people in for life? I want my size 9 up their asses. – ZL
June 24th, 2011 at 4:32 am
Life begins at 50. :) After working and laboring hard, 50 is the time to start enjoying life and doing things that we missed doing when we were younger. :)