Oh Crap, I'm A Baby Boomer!

I have one resolution for 2011….No More" New Years Resolutions" because they  don't work……at least not for me.  What does  work for me is to affirm daily the areas in my life that I've made a commitment  to change and continue that process, whatever it takes.

 One of the most important revelations  I've learned about me, after doing a major self- inventory recently is, I'm simply not goal oriented.  After looking back over my life, I saw that every year that I made new years resolutions, or set goals to change some aspect of my life, I was just setting myself up for failure because of how I had viewed myself for so many years. All of the negative messages I had believed about myself gave me the excuse not to change.  So the goals I set out to accomplish were always doomed to fail because I saw myself as a failure,  I didn't attract love because I did not see myself worthy of being loved.  I was not successful because I never saw myself achieving success.  I had no faith.

I became serious about marketing online in January of last year and over the last 12 months, I have had a radical mindset change. Last year, I was introduced to Tony Robbins(through his books and tapes) and the most profound thing that I learned from him was this statement; "Success Leaves Clues"  So I started seeking successful people. I began reading and listening to people like Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnigie, James Allen, W. Clement Stone, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Og Mandino, Jack Canfield, Les Brown and others The common thread that they all spoke of was believing in yourself, having faith that God really was on your side,  making daily affirmations and to use them as a vehicle for change.

 When I began affirming and believing that I actually had the power to change the outcome of my life as well as access that power on a daily basis, change started happening.  My life had been in the toilet for so long and I had become comfortable right where I was.  But over the years, accumulated garbage began piling up in my mind and my thoughts just stunk.  There came a time when I could no longer recognize the person I had become.  I was in so much  bondage.  I can honestly say, I hated myself.   But when I made the decision to get up out of the pit that had become my life, that's when God showed up. Today I realize, He was with me all the time but I had become so self-centered and spiritually blind, I could not see or feel  His presence.  My life has experienced a drastic transformation and today I thank Him for sustaining me all of my dark years, but most of all I adore Him  for loving me when I did not have the ability to love myself.

 I have grown personally by leaps and bounds and that growth has been accelerated since I began using  daily affirmations.  My life is exactly where it is right now because of my past and present behaviors and  I take full responsibility for the good and the bad.  I have created everything that has happened in my life by how I have viewed myself and others.  But the most amazing thing that I have learned during this whole process is, I have  always had the power to make radical changes to be better and do better.  I just had to believe and have faith.

This past year was when the pieces started falling into place and I  marvel at the fact that I am 60, a baby boomer  and more  excited about  life than I've ever been in a very long time.  Now I didn't make any new years resolutions, nor did I set any goals. I just make the decision on a daily basis to continue being committed to  the process of   change.  It has not always been easy and there have been so many times that I wanted to give up. But every struggle and stumbling block has been worth it to finally become the person I was intended  to be. To live a my life with purpose  to pursue my passion, and to love… that's success!

Finally, in the words of my good friend, Lynn Rios;

May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts

May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills!

May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!

May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be those of joy!

May the problems you had, forget your home address!

In simple words …

May 2011 be the best year of your life!!!

Related articles

• Affirm Your Worth With Affirmations (everydayhealth.com)
• Happy New Year 2011 (psychcentral.com)
• You Are Wonderful and I Love You (christophersmark.wordpress.com)

Tagged with: Jack Canfield • Jim Rohn • Les Brown • Napoleon Hill • New Year • Tony Robbins • W. Clement Stone • Zig Ziglar

Filed under: Baby Boomer Life Style • Motivation

Oh Crap, I’m a Baby Boomer!…My God, am I really 60 plus years old? I sat here in front of my computer a couple of weeks ago becoming more and more distraught as the minutes ticked by because something had triggered me and I began to think some very stinky stuff. (Sometimes your thoughts can become very a dangerous thing.) I’m over 60 and I began to look at the condition of my life and the picture was not very pretty. I’m a doggone senior citizen!  Lord help me, I’m old and my life is in the toilet. I held my breath for a minute, unable to breath as my screwed past and my current baby boomer status collided.  A profound and deep sadness began to envelope me like a thick fog on a cold morning rolling in from the San Francisco Bay.

After I exhaled, I just sat here like a zombie, staring at my computer screen for what seemed like forever. The realization of my life and how I had lived it to this point surfaced from the deepest part of my soul and at that moment, I wanted to crawl back into bed, cover my head, and stay there for the rest of my life. I actually thought about typing the question into Google “What happened to Azar’s life?”, but then I got a hold of myself, and thought, “You may be getting old, but you’re not crazy. ” Yet, I couldn’t stop thinking “Lord, how did I get here.  How did I get to be 60 something so quickly, it just seemed like yesterday I was in my 40′s and had felt that I still had time to do something worthwhile with my life, make things right.. What happened?”  I became angry because I didn't want to accept the truth. There had to be somebody or something to blame my quickly aging “this is certainly not what I expected my life to be at this point” situation on.   Isn’t that typical though for those of us who have taken life for granted and who have made the same dumb mistakes over and over and over again.

It’s always someone else’s fault.  And for some unknown reason, we never want focus on the real culprit…ourselves. We always want to first blame God, our families, the jobs that we thought would last until we retired. The men who we let abuse us for years, or did not fulfill our dreams of happily ever after and until death do us part. The negative messages we allowed ourselves to believe.  The economy, the dog, the weather….  Who else was there to blame? Certainly not us!….yeah right.

If you have ever been emotionally where I was a couple of weeks ago, then you have more than likely said the exact same following statements. “I'll get my life together soon, I'll write that letter tomorrow, I'll go back to school next year, I'll start my diet in January..I will, I will, I will”. How many times have you allowed those “I will's” turn into “I didn't”, year after year after year? Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, nor is  our youth.

Oh Sweet Jesus, why did I decide to take this journey?” I began to look back over the years that I had lived on this earth and realized I had so many unfulfilled dreams that drifted away, so many hopes and aspirations that I had let die a slow death. Inspiring and brilliant ideas and projects that I had started, with all the best intentions of completing, but I never did. So many promises I had made to myself, others and God, that were never kept, relationships that I had destroyed or just neglected. So many seeds that had been planted in my life which would have brought forth so much "good fruit" but I had flushed them down the toilet.

My mind at that point had boarded a run away freight train that was headed into a dark tunnel with only one destination. It was slow coming but finally I recognized it.. Fear.  I had been on that ill fated fear trip so many times before and I had always ended up at the same destructive place trying to numb the pain because there is so much stuff  I regret.  My life surfaced before me like a mind movie and fear had gripped my thoughts in a vice and would not let go.

I was afraid because I told myself that I was an old baby boomer (and rapidly getting older by the minute) who had made so many bad and destructive life choices.  In what seemed like a few moments, I had taken on the identify of an old, elderly, over the hill, senior citizen, baby boomer with no hope.  I was living alone, divorced with nobody waiting in the wings. No savings in the bank, (or under the mattress,) still working, living from paycheck to paycheck because I couldn’t afford to retire. Word to the wise, never allow yourself to get on that train because I guarantee you, your traveling companions will be the worst enemy’s of your mind…. Defeat, Depression and Hopelessness

I had to get off of this train of thought.  I quickly stopped dwelling in my past mistakes and all the “shoulda, coulda woulda” thoughts.  I couldn’t change one thing about my life good or bad, but I could change my attitude so I began to thank God again for being alive. I praised Him for my faith in Jesus and all blessings.  But most of all, I thanked Him for His grace, and the willingness to accept things exactly as they without resorting to my old stinkin, destructive behavior.

Well, sadness is gone and I’m feeling just fine. My dreams are intact,  just redefined.  Fear and his buddies have hit the road for the the moment.  I smile because I have joined the ranks of other Baby Boomers around the world born between the years of 1943 and 1964  and if God says the same,  I live to see another tomorrow.  I will  hold on to my faith that tells me I will not leave this world without having done something worthwhile with my life.  I may have been living in the toilet at one point in time but now, I’m just  excited to see to see what comes out of it (smile).  From where I’m standing, Life Looks Good!

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By Azar Colter

Tagged with: Baby Boom Generation • Baby boomer • Positive Affirmations

Filed under: Baby Boomer Life Style