When women lead the way, other women notice.

That’s why it’s so important for us to light the way and lift each other up!

The following list includes awesome futurists, authors, educators, coaches & consultants, thought leaders, and more that have inspired me throughout my decades traversing these fields and specialties.

I invite you to explore this list and get inspired by these remarkable trailblazers!

I’m sure I’ve left out key categories and absolutely must-add women. If you have other women to suggest I add, let me know by commenting below!

Aging, Health & Wellness, & Longevity

Ana João Sepulveda President of Age Friendly Portugal

Anna A. Tavis, PhD Clinical Professor at NYU

Anna Pereira CEO of The Wellness Universe & the Chairwoman Soul Ventures

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox Gender expert & CEO at 20-First

Barbara Waxman MS, MPA, PCC Founder of Odyssey Group Coaching

BARBARA O’CONNOR Emeritus Professor at CSU, Sacramento

Bonnie Marcus Gendered Ageism experts & host of Badass Women At Any Age Podcast

Bernadette Melnyk VP for Health Promotion & University Chief Wellness Officer

Carin Upstill is a Business Consultant-Project Manager, CVS HEALTH

Debbie Marshall Managing Director of Silver Marketing Association, UK

Debra Gibson, N.D. Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine

Dr. Tracey Gendron Chair for the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Gerontology & the Executive Director of the Virginia Center on Aging

Elizabeth Isele Founder & CEO of Global Institute for Experienced Entrepreneurship

Esther (Semsei) Greenhouse, M.S. CEO of Silver To Gold Strategies, ​​Environmental Gerontologist & Longevity Economy Strategist

Heather Evanson Brooks is an aging specialist in Senior Housing & Aging inPlace Specialist

Helen Hirsh Spence keynote speaker, longevity literacy coach & trainer. Created Top Sixty Over Sixty, Greater Ottawa, Canada.

Jacynth Bassett anti-ageist activist, Founder of Ageism Is Never in Style & The Bias Cut, United Kingdom

Jacquelyn James Co-director, Center on Aging & Work at Boston College

Jane Silk CMO of Silver Marketing Association, UK

Janine Vanderburg Consultant on reframing aging & creating age-friendly workplaces

Jamie Gilbert Strategist in operations marketing & gerontology

Jean Galiana MASM Gerontologist

Jeanette Leardi Social Gerontologist, Public Speaker, Community Educator

Katy Fike Ph.D. Co-Founder of Aging 2.0

Maddy Dychtwald Autho, speaker on aging & the global economy

Nancy Griffin Founder of SeniorTrade

Paula Marie Usrey, M.S., CPRC Founder of Boomer Best U

Sharon Solomon Rose Social Gerontologist working to foster intergenerational companies & communities

Sheila Callaham is the founder of Age Equity Alliance, Braga, Portugal

Sky Bergman Photographer & filmmaker, showing people 75-100+ living their best lives

Stella Fosse Gendered ageism Author

Susan Flory Broadcast media consultant, creator of The Big Middle podcast

Susan Williams Author of Booming Encore

Wendy Green Host of Hey Boomer Live & Transition Coach

Wendy Mayhew Author and experienced entrepreneur advocating for and assisting entrepreneurs at any age with the knowledge and resources to help them become wise entrepreneurs.

Femme Futuristas

Here is my list of must-follow Femme Futuristas:

These are authors, speakers, educators, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and of course, Futurists, who are leading us into a greater future for ALL generations.

Amy Webb Quantitative Futurist & author

Anne Boysen Speaker & futurist

Amy Zalman Global Security Futurist | Deloitte | National War College | World Future Society

April Rinne Keynote speaker, futurist, & author

Ashley Mosaic Dickinson Executive Coach & Strategic Advisor focusing on Human Potential, Societal Shifts, & Emerging Tech.

Cindy Frewen, FAIA, PhD Architect, urban futurist, adjunct professor, & writer

Dr. Claire A. Nelson One of Forbes 50 Female Futurists, a sustainability engineer, consultant, & a White House Champion of Change

Duena Blomstrom  Author, keynote speaker, & the founder of CPO

Elatia Abate Forbes Female Futurist & a global keynote speaker

Emma Pezzack Co-Founder of the Femme Futurists Society

Erica Orange EVP & COO of The Future Hunters

Heather E. McGowan Futurist, keynote speaker, corporate strategist, author, & a partner at ImpactEleven

Joyce Gioia, MBA, CSP, CMC, FIMC Strategic business futurist

Julie Friedman Steele CEO and Board Chair of the World Future Society, an entrepreneur & investor

Mimi Stokes Futurist, with an emphasis on sustainability &the teachings of Greek Drama

Nancy Giordano Co-Founder of the Femme Futurists Society, futurist, keynote speaker, & author

Patricia Lustig CEO of LASA Insight & a board member of the Association of Professional Futurists

Riane Eisler President at Center for Partnership Systems, author, futurist, speaker, & consultant.

Robin Champ Chief of the Enterprise Strategy Division for the U.S. Secret Service & a Strategy and Foresight Leader

Sari Stenfors iFuturist & strategist who has founded over 20 new businesses

Wendy Schultz Director of Infinite Futures, CoFounder of Jigsaw Foresight and faculty at MS in Strategic Foresight, University of Houston

Future of Work

Below is my list of must-follow thought leaders in the fields of DEI, Executive Leadership, Professional Development, and the Transformation of People & Culture.

Adrienne Shoch is a consultant to leadership, teams & organizations with expertise in Presence Leadership and more.

Anna D. Banks, is CEO of THRIVE Leadership Institute, Inc. for entrepreneurship.

Annalisa Enrile, Ph.D (USC) is a game changer professor, program lead of the first Phd program focused on practitioners vs. academic tenure track graduates, and writer.

April Gorelik is a Human Resources Manager working side by side with executive leadership to push the business.

Betsey Upchurch is the Principal at P4 Consulting, LLC; Certified Presence Based Coach focused on creating successful, sustainable organizations that fully support the people in them.

Brigette Hyacinth is the author of Leading the Workforce of the Future and a keynote speaker.

Carol Gorelick Ed.D, MBA is a consultant, professor, author, practitioner, and mentor in creating learning communities of change and organizational transformation.

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. is a speaker on Leadership Presence and Body Language and an author.

Dr. Anastassia Lauterbach is the Managing Director for The ExCo Leadership Group, a writer, speaker, and leadership coach.

Elsie Maio is Founding Principal @ Humanity, Inc/SoulBranding℠ Institute | Strategic Foresight

Janice Gassam Asare, Ph.D. is an anti-racism educator, DEI consultant, speaker, trainer, workshop facilitator, and writer.

Kelly Swingler is psychologist, executive coach, speaker, and author.

Marti Konstant is a workplace futurist tracking emerging trends.

Marie Cini is a higher education leader and innovator, President of Univeristy of the People.

Maureen Metcalf is the CEO of the Innovative Leadership Institute, a speaker, author, and radio host.

Michele Gibbons-Carr, Ph.D is a psychologist, coach, professor, and organizational consultant.

Wendy White is Founder and CEO Continuum Consulting Services and specializes in the human component of making business and organizations successful.

Coaches & Leadership

Jennifer Germaine is a consultant teaching leaders and organizations how to be present, engaged & serve from a higher perspective around their impact.

Ursula Reeg is a corporate trainer.

Laura Goodrich is consultant on innovation & future of work.

Jennifer Hough is an author, speaker, and trainer on the subject of flow & fulfillment. Founder of TEDX Asheville

Barrie Barton is a Speaker’s coach & trainer; founder of Stand

Joanne Wright is a Team Building Coach

Career Trajectory & Job Search

 Hannah Morgan is a job search strategist, speaker, and trainer.

Helen Harkness PhD is a career consultant, coach, and owner of Career Design Associates, Inc.

Joan Learn is a career and job search consultant and retirement coach.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)

Deborah Levine is a Forbes D&I Trailblazer, award-winning author, founder/editor American Diversity Report, and Cognitive Diversity inventor.

Janice Gassam Asare, Ph.D. works to promote anti-racism in the workplace, is a DEI Consultant, TEDx Speaker, and Forbes Senior Contributor.

Neivia Justa is a Communication, Culture, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Leader.

Netta Jenkins, MBA (As Seen on Forbes) is a diversity and inclusion executive, author, and Co-Founder of Dipper.

Luminaries

Below is my list of must-follow philanthropists, journalists, and other luminaries who explore topics like Women & the Future and Transformational Psycho-Spiritual Development.

Philanthropists

Barbara (Hessekiel) Waxman MS, MPA, PCC Leadership coach, gerontologist, speaker, author, and an aging & longevity angel investor

Melinda French Gates Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the founder of Pivotal Ventures, & author of The Moment of Lift

Media & Journalists

Arianna Huffington Co-founder of The Huffington Post, the founder and CEO of Thrive Global

Dorie Clark Strategy consultant, executive coach, & keynote speaker

Katie Couric Journalist, presenter, producer, & author

Michelle Goldberg Journalist, & op-ed columnist for The New York Times

Mika Brzezinski Journalist, talk show host, political commentator, author, & co-hosts MSNBC’s show, Morning Joe

Rachel Maddow Host of the Rachel Maddow Show

Women & The Future

Carole Hyatt Founder and president at Mission: Getting to Next & multiple book author

Gloria Feldt Leadership speaker, author, co-founder/president of Take The Lead, & a gender parity and diversity/inclusion expert

Gloria Steinem American journalist & social-political activist. Nationally recognized leader of the second-wave feminism.

Suzanne (Braun) Levine author and editor, who writes about women and their place at the table.

Diana (Dunbar) Place founder of the 333 Collective & Quest conference for Women 50+

Transformational Psycho-Spiritual Exploration/Development

Anna Ivara Facilitator and teacher, specializing in Personal Development and Alternative Therapy

Carolyn Conger, PhD Owner of Conger Seminars. She is a consultant and teacher, focusing on psychological growth and spirituality

Marion Woodman (deceased) was an author, poet, analytical psychologist, and women’s movement figure

Sidra Stone is co-founder with her husband, Hal Stone (deceased) of Voice Dialogue International and an independent professional training and coaching professional. She has co-authored and authored multiple titles. My favorite is Shadow King—a must read for all teen girls and women.

Visionaries in Leadership & The Future of Work

Frances Hesselbein (deceased) is the former CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, the president and CEO of the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum, and was my dear friend and long-time mentor.

Give them a follow and let me know:

Who’s on your list?

Feel free to drop them in the comments!

Everyone wants long term success. But it is elusive for most.

Long term success is dependent on knowing where you are now and where you are headed. Then closing the gap. Frequently. Continuously.  Whether it’s your business, your career or your life at home., it’s easy to get off track, lose touch or get buried under. Without a true sense of where you are in the moment, it is impossible to realize your dreams or be a leader in your field.

Re-calibrate your profound knowledge

The only way we can take 100% responsibility for sustaining our success is to keep re-calibrating-in every aspect of our lives and organizations.

Key to successful recalibration is to acquire what my dear departed mentor, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, coined as Profound Knowledge. This umbrella phrase emphasizes understanding change and how to measure it, being aware of emerging trends and shifts, and learning how to apply this knowledge to leading and sustaining long term success.

Bottom line: If we don’t acquire Profound Knowledge we cannot know how to prepare for and leverage coming change, thus how to sustain our success long term.

Understanding change means understanding shifts in our personal world as well as tracking trends that capsize us, overtake us, or cause us to flounder.

Learning the Hard Way

Unfortunately one of my Gen X male clients learned this the hard way. A rising star in his field and recently married, he was planning far a great future for his kids, tons of time for fun and all the trappings of success. As if out of the blue, the rug got pulled out from under him. His “Happy Homemaker” wife fled, saying I’m out of here!

Somewhere along the way there was a breakdown or perhaps many small fissures below the surface. Had they been recalibrating an checking in with each other, communicating the truth of what was so for each of them…perhaps they could have saved their marriage…or at least ended it with love, grace, and forgiveness.

Even in the most secure relationships, unexpected change happens to ruffle our plans. A recently returned to work mother of teenage kids reported that her new career is now going gangbusters and she no longer worries about the empty-nest . But, the new ripple in her life is that her once very successful husband, in his late 40’s, now faces an unknown future. Surprised by the shifts in his industry, “suddenly” he and his business partner are facing the probability of closing their doors. What once appeared to be the sure path to their dreams, is no crumbling beneath them.

Change is inevitable. If you can learn what Profound Knowledge is and apply it you can avoid these same pitfalls and NOT LEARN THE HARD WAY!

What steps are you going to take to future cast your long term success?

I’ve talked before about the ongoing trend of women leaving the corporate world to start their own businesses. This is no surprise considering the glass ceiling is still unbreakable in many companies throughout Corporate America.

Many women, especially women over 50, who have spent their working lives climbing the corporate ladder are faced with the difficult choice between leaving to start their own businesses or staying with their company and striving to be one of the exceptions, perhaps fighting to change the system from the inside, like such notable women as Virginia M. Rometty, IBM’s next chief executive, or Anne Mulcahy at Xerox, Indra Nooyi at Pepsi, Peggy Foran at Pfizer, and Sarah Teslik at Apache Corporation, who led their companies to sign the Aspen Principles, by which companies, investors, and corporate governance professionals agreed to commit to long-term value creation over short-term profits.

The question is, with the Great Recession and the worldwide Occupy protests against corporate greed, fraud, and environmental destruction, will we soon see a shift? Will we collectively force the hand of Corporate America to recognize that transformation begins with visionary leaders who understand how to do good while doing well? Are we on the verge of seeing the collapse of the old corporate culture, and if so, will we also see fragments of that glass ceiling among the debris?

Some would say only time will tell, but that view discounts the power we have to change our own future. Time may tell us what has worked, and what hasn’t, in the past. (For a fascinating and timely look at the past and present of corporations, I highly recommend the film The Corporation). Time may tell us when we are repeating history, and what we can learn from how we have reacted or responded to epochal change in the past—conservative and restrictive, wild and revolutionary, consciously evolutionary, or downright transformative.

But time doesn’t tell us everything. Time doesn’t have a voice. We do. We can’t predict the future, but we can lead the way toward creating alternative futures that transform the world as we know it.

Whether you are a career professional or a new or seasoned entrepreneur, you cannot afford to ignore the opportunity we have right now to step up amid the chaos and lead the way to a greater future—not just for women, but for the world. Protesting is powerful, but it’s not enough. We can’t just decry the problem. We have to step in with solutions.

Now is the time to listen to that visionary voice inside you. No doubt the world chaos has stirred her. The world is literally crying out for creative disruption of the status quo, for new ideas to change business so that it reflects our values, honors our responsibility to each other and to our planet, and capitalizes and strengthens the interconnected global society we have become.

How do you want to see the future of business, big and small? When you envision the ideal marketplace, what do you see specifically? What are you going to do today to start making that vision a reality?

Always Add Value is one of my 52 Quintessential Principles of Greatness codified to keep us moving from great to greatness.

I forget to apply this principle myself every once in a while. In fact, just last week I was asked to by a really sharp associate leader, “what value will you bring to my membership?” What caught me most off guard was that the Value Added editorial thrust of this issue was already in the works.  Here I was being confronted with having lost sight of this very principle.  Will the learning ever stop?  Nope.  I sure hope not.

These on-target questions inspired me to re-think how I add value by what I do.  I responded that her high achieving and accomplishing members match the profile of my clients.  They are successful in their chosen field; they want to expand their referral network and are seeking to improve the results.  Coaching entrepreneurs, family firms, executives and professionals, I appreciate their business challenges and professional concerns.

All of these movers n’ shakers want to improve the performance of their firms, attracted new and maintain current revenues and customers. But that’s not all.  What I’ve learned is that these truly accomplished folks relish the opportunity to fine-tune and to stretch. Even more so, they know that becoming a better communicator and a leader ensures that they will thrive in these challenging times.

I also added that we all aim to keep our personal and professional lives in balance.  It’s just such a struggle when buffeted constantly with destabilizing sound bites and constant emails announcing disruptive shifts in our world and demands on the personal front. Add that to having to deal with the pressure of invigorating a work life, keeping the home fires burning and just having fun. Whew! That’s why powerful people look for coaches who add value by moving them to greatness and to building legacies that are unforgettable.

I could have kept riding my dead horse, not “hearing” what I was being asked. Instead, I took in the question and changed my language so that I could add greater value, On the other hand , if my response fell on deaf ears, then I would need to change horses by seeking out another grouping of people who would be more in sync.

In the process of re-stating my value added, I was reminded that more and more of us are wanting to realize our vision for a better and sustainable futures for ourselves, our loved ones, our workplace, community and our planet.

What I’ve found is that today’s vanguard leaders are seeking to make meaning as well as money, and build legacies as well as bank accounts.

What’s become paramount is that if we are to reach our greatness, we are must take a good look at our lives, our leadership and our relationship asking the probing questions:

Am I in the right tribe?  Am I adding value in all do?

A New York Times article on “mompreneurs” caught my attention once. The article featured moms who searched everywhere for a product to solve a particular problem or fill a need only to realize that there was nothing out there—so they invented it. Realizing that they can’t be the only ones searching for a solution to the same problem, these moms created successful businesses from their inventions.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, statistics show that people age 50 and beyond are twice as likely to be successful as younger people with their entrepreneurial start-ups. Much of this has to do with the qualities and values shared by many in this change- making cohort, e.g.,  knowledge, know-how, and experience, all qualities that lead to wisdom, a characteristic of visionaries.

Now imagine combining the lessons learned from the mompreneur phenonemon with your life and work experience, or your company’s unique niche brand. What need or problem do you have that does not have a solution in the marketplace? Where does this intersect with your experience, your gifts, and what matters most to you? What skills would you need to learn, hire in or find a J.V. partner to provide, in order to have the most success creating a solution? If you are already at the helm of a business, what about your existing business model would you need to reinvent. What strengths could you capitalize on, or add, to create new revenue streams. Be sure to make fulfilling or better addressing what your clients and prospects really need your top priority.

Now let’s take this to the next level, the visionary plane: What need or problem does your community, your country, the world have for which there is no adequate solution? Where does this intersect with what matters most to you? With your experience, your gifts, your interests? With where your business is strongest? Are there any connections between the need you identified in your own life or business and the larger-scale need you see in your world? Do you need to invent new niche services or products, or do you need to reinvent your existing offerings for a new customer mindset and new needs?

The years ahead, 2019 onward, may just be the years of the Grannypreneur and the Boomerprenuer. Collectively we are reinventing work after 50, which is turning stereotypes about aging and retirement on their head. Not only will more and more people age 40 and beyond be looking to start or grow their own businesses, or continue leading their organizations, they will also represent the largest market segment for these same businesses, which is one of the reasons it makes so much sense to start off thinking about solutions for your own needs and problems. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but in these times, the grandmother of invention is reinvention—of yourself, your future, your business, your world.

What area will you start?

Amazon #1 Best Seller Author of 11 books including The Ageless Way, Gray is the New Green, Visionaries Have Wrinkles, The Greatness Challenge and more.

I’ve talked before about presence, what it is and why it’s important to develop, (see “Unwrapping Your Presence”). The first steps in developing this presence are asking the right questions, then opening yourself up to listening to the answers from the visionary voice inside you. These answers (or more and better questions) might come from within, but they can also come from messengers and symbols in your outer world that resonate with that voice. The important thing is that you open up as many conduits for that voice, for these messengers and symbols, as you possibly can, preferably with guidance from other visionaries. (Read more about this in “Stop, Look, and Listen.”)

This process is holistic, bringing together your body, soul, and mind in synchronicity. Presence is itself visceral. It isn’t a head trip but a physical embodiment of your Soul Speak. Even the visionary within resides in your body, connecting soul with its vessel. When you start hearing that voice and seeing messengers and symbols all around you, don’t be surprised if you feel the truth of what you’re receiving deep in your belly. There’s a reason for the saying “I feel it in my gut.”

That’s the inner feminine rising within you, the intuitive wisdom that your visionary voice embodies. Women and men have this aspect, but in women, it’s closer to the surface and often easier to access. But the inner masculine plays a role in this process as well, supporting the inner feminine, again for both women and men. (For more information about these aspects and archetypes, see Carl Jung.) As you work on asking the right questions and opening your soul and body to the answers, to that visionary voice, you can take the next step and start opening up your mind, gathering the knowledge that will feed the insight you gain.

Begin doing your homework, the research in the outer world that your inner world needs to process for you to ultimately make your vision reality. If you are focusing on your career or business, research the market, emerging trends, new business models and practices, technology, visionary leaders and companies, and gaps in what the world needs that business has yet to fulfill, or fulfill adequately.

If you are focusing on reinventing retirement, research what others are doing and where, flexible arrangements with companies or nonprofits that enable you to focus your energy and time the way you want, or entrepreneurial opportunities that would enable you to fulfill your soul’s purpose and make a difference, while still making a profit.

If you are seeking to make changes in your personal life—a move, a renewed focus on relationships, more travel, or more time and energy devoted to new or neglected meaningful pursuits—research places, social opportunities, logistics, and personal growth resources (such as this blog!). For all of the above and more, consider what skills you will need to learn and develop to make the most of whatever opportunities you will eventually pursue.

Now is not the time to draw definite conclusions or make decisions. Not just yet. The purpose of this information gathering is to give your visionary something to work with and to fine-tune the messengers and symbols you receive. Continue the inner work of asking questions and developing conduits for your visionary voice. By consciously getting your inner feminine and inner masculine to work together, you are on the path to creating a future that works—for yourself, your community, your world.

What knowledge do you need to gather to feed your visionary voice?

We expect retirement to bring various freedoms, like the financial freedom to do everything you had to put aside raising children and working all those years. But, do our expectations always paint a clear picture of reality?

Depending on your freedom of time and financial planning, retiring can be an enjoyable and fulfilling time of your life, but for many people it is filled with financial uncertainty along with feeling purposeless and lost.

What are the Pros to Retiring?

As mentioned above, retiring can be a wonderful time in your life. You need to make sure that you plan for years in advance. Neglecting your long-term financial status could leave you in a tough spot when it comes time to retire.

If you’re married, this can be a great opportunity to grow with your spouse. Being able to reconnect with your spouse and invest in your relationship in a way that was not always possible when you were busy working.

Retirement can also be a time to develop a sense of purpose. You can invest time in things you had long wanted to. Whether that is taking up a new hobby, writing that book you always wanted to write, or learning a new skill. For many people retiring can be a new chapter in life to learn and explore yourself.

What are the Cons of Retiring?

For some, retirement can be filled with grief and lack of purpose. Many adults feel retirement marks the beginning of old age and redundancy. This can lead to feelings of stagnation and depression.

You are susceptible to loss of drive and motivation for productivity. This lack of productivity can lead to boredom or restlessness. People who are used to having a fast-paced job and lifestyle can feel frustrated at the slow pace of retirement, making it difficult to relax.

Dealing with a Lack of Purpose During Retirement

It can be tough to navigate life once retirement comes around. You may start feeling uneasy and don’t know what to do with yourself. There are many options that can help people figure out what to do with their retirement.

This could mean joining a painting class or going to a book club. It is important to stay active and to engage your brain by doing things that require you to be creative and problem solve.

Some options for staying active could include tennis, yoga, swimming, or daily walks. If you’re prone to restlessness and need to relax, meditation is an excellent option that also engaging your brain.

Retirement is an adjustment, but if viewed with the right attitude it can be a great chapter in your life. You may even find yourself being more productive than when you were working full time.

A Guest Post by Alexis Schaffer

Alexis Schaffer is a former ballet instructor and aspiring nurse. In her free time she teaches yoga and writes for various online publications. She’s also the proud dog mom of a beagle named Dobby.

The new reality is that our employees and leaders will be working until we die. A report by the British trends consultancy The Future Laboratory, supports my view that in time more and more employees will want to age in place, but in the workplace. Let’s face the facts. It’s not just Baby Boomers who have another good twenty to thirty years of being productive and adding value; our current 40-somethings have the option of working at least another thirty to forty years more if they choose to do so.

The Future Laboratory’s findings point to a growing trend in which most of us will continue to work into old age; thus, our workplaces will morph into a new form, an Ageless Workplace! Clearly it’s time to retread forced retirement into voluntary “returnment.”

The future of the marketplace (and the world) lies in the rapidly growing values-based business model. People are now spending their money consciously, choosing to buy from companies that are making a difference in the world over those that aren’t. More often than not, these are small, women-led businesses, the emerging new “Boomer Women Mean Business” story. Increasing numbers of these Boomer led enterprises are supported by Ageless Women of all ages.

To delve more into this concept check out my Amazon Bestseller Gray is the New Green.

I have to admit it. I am one who likes the familiarity of my comfort zone. After all, its called a “comfort zone” for a reason – it’s comfortable there. However, it can also be a deceptive trap that turns “living” into mere “existence.”

Comfort zones are full of routine; you know – the same-old, same-old. Comfort zones develop slowly – almost imperceptibly. Soon, the air in the comfort zone gets stale, the “flow” of life begins to stagnate, and personal growth comes to a gradual halt. In some cases, personal growth can even shift into reverse.

So, if you’re stuck in a comfort zone, ignore that inner voice that vibrates within every fiber of your being saying, “Stop! Danger beyond this point!” Try these eight “steps” to start really living and moving forward again:

1.  Step inward. Reconnect with your spiritual side of life in whatever way you find fulfilling. Go back to your place of worship if you’ve been away for a while. Learn how to meditate and practice it every day whether that be before you start your day or at its end. Your spiritual life is there waiting to be developed into a spiritual muscle that will serve you and others in times of need and, of course, in times of thanksgiving.

2. Step forward. Volunteer to help your favorite charity or cause. There are many nonprofit organizations that rely heavily on volunteer support to provide badly needed services. Find that new job you dream of and quit the one you hate. Move from survival to significance.

3. Step more. Get physical and feel stronger. Make it a point to get that 30 minutes of exercise a day, five days a week – even if it’s in 10-minute increments. Move! Feel your body come alive in its movement. Dance! Feel the grace and exquisite motion that your body is capable of. Stretch like a cat and wake your body up from head to toe.

4. Step outward. “The best way to make a friend is to be a friend.” – anonymous. Be a friend! Do things together and for each other. Go places and share memories. Learn about the variety of personalities and the ones you “click” with and those you don’t. As for the ones you don’t, Abraham Lincoln said, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”

5. Step outside. That’s right. Open your door and go outside. Smell the fragrances in the air. Close your eyes and listen to the sounds of nature. Fill your lungs with fresh air and use your outside voice. See the colors of nature from brilliant sunrises and sunsets to the deep purples and greens of the forest. Wonder at the nighttime sky. Awaken your senses in the world outside. It awaits just outside your door.

6. Step deeper. Listen to your feelings. Share them with a trusted friend or relative. Life has its ups and downs and having someone to share them with helps us work through the emotions that are involved. Talk to a professional if you’ve been feeling down. Emotions cannot be ignored any more than pain in your chest.

7. Step upward. Stretch that intellectual muscle by learning something new. Take a class at your local college or through community education, usually connected with the school system. Read! Find a mentor who can teach you something new.

8. Step gracefully. Let your innate creativity flow out of your calling. Paint beautiful paintings, write inspirational words, dance the dance of your life. Enjoy the talents of others. Remember healthy family traditions and values and teach them to your children. Venture into the cultures of others different from you. Enjoy their food, learn about their values and traditions. Appreciate the diversity in life and celebrate it in all its glory.

If you try any of these eight steps to break out of your comfort zone, you are awakening the seven dimensions of wellness in your life and becoming refined by age. Go on. Get out of that puddle of a comfort zone and into the fast flowing river of life and wellness.

Reprinted with permission from refinedbyage.com

A Guest Post by Kathy Sporre

I have worked in the aging field for over 28 years, serving on initiatives at the national and international level. I want to help people become Refined by Age by encouraging them to age intentionally through developing the Seven Dimensions of Wellness in their lives: spiritual, emotional, physical, intellectual, social/cultural, environmental, vocational. I also want to help people become aware of age discrimination – a form of discrimination that is entrenched in society.

Perhaps we should drop the label “senior” or redefine it. Clearly this term has helped to embed ageist stereotypes into our societal psyche. It used to be, as David Wolfe, author of the pioneering books Serving the Ageless Market (1990) and Ageless Marketing (2003), wrote,

“Senior is not an inherently negative term…Being a senior used to connote a superior standing in every context but aging.”

Sure, many don’t mind enjoying the “senior” discounts. And for those who do retire—fully or partially—the advantages of having more free time, fewer demands, and less stress overall are additional perks.

But of course we don’t have to wait until we retire to create this kind of lifestyle. We don’t have to retire at all.

In fact, many characteristics of the stereotypical senior citizen don’t really have much to do with age at all. Or at least they don’t have to be related to age, even if we as a society have somewhat arbitrarily decided they

One of the most important tasks we have together, all generations, is to change the story we tell one another and ourselves about aging.

These characteristics can include retirement, volunteer work, adapting our lifestyle to physical changes, having more control over our time and environment. All of these are choices we might make at any age.

So if we strip away other people’s definitions of what it means to age, what it means to be over 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100…where does that leave us? How do we define ourselves as protagonists in our own aging story?

We all have different comfort levels with various terms. Some shy away from “elderly” but don’t mind being seen as an “Elder.” Some don’t mind being called “older” but feel uncomfortable being called simply “old.” Yet another person might get fed up with euphemisms and actually demand to be called “old,” dammit!

I’ve always relished the term “Crone,” the idea of taking back its original meaning of wise old woman. Some, including those who have chosen not to have children, prefer to be seen as grandmother. In ancient times, the Crone was valued and revered as a wise and prophetic goddess in her own right. Traced back to pre-history, societies that are thought to have been the first “partnerships” between women and men lasted for about 20,000 years. Then as Riane Eisler describes in her underground classic, The Chalice and the Blade (1988), these early societies “veered off on ‘a bloody 5,000-year detour’ of male domination.” Along with these partnership societies, the Crone and all images of the positive feminine were devalued, leaving only the Divine Feminine (e.g., Mother Mary) as the preferred universal Mother image to survive intact into our modern day.

Fortunately, today’s twenty-first century women are resuscitating the whole panoply of feminine archetypal goddesses, like those we have buried way below our consciousness carrying the powerful energy of the Black Madonna, the flip side of Mother Mary (e.g., Mary Magdalene, Sophia, Kali Ma, Kuan Yin, and more), so that we can reclaim our fullness by embodying the whole range of our womanhood.

I’ll tell you a secret. Every time I write—for my blog, for a workshop or keynote, for a book or article—I have to stop yet again and consider this issue: What do we call ourselves? Elders? Do I avoid the word “old” or use it unabashedly? Do I refer to us as aging or stick to euphemisms or numbers, like post-50? Maybe the over-sixties? But what about including 40-plus? Boomers…and older? Matures? How do we distinguish between the early and late Boomers, who are as different as the Brat Pack is from the Beatles? At what point do generational labels lose their usefulness?

Amazon #1 Best Seller Author of 11 books including The Ageless Way, Gray is the New Green, Visionaries Have Wrinkles, The Greatness Challenge and more.