Watching my favorite NBA team in playoff games in two different cities last week demonstrated that the second half is often quite different than the first half. The same applies to life. Your perspective, priorities and needs are likely to be different in your second half. Our guest today, James Hazelwood, offers a point of view on the second half of life and the role of wisdom.

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James Hazelwood currently serves as Bishop of the New England Synod of the Lutheran Church (ELCA). His varied life experience as a pastor in congregations, a professional photographer, environmental education instructor, a disc jockey and ice cream scooper are all part of the mix that informs his work. He is the author of Weird Wisdom for the Second Half of Life, and Everyday Spirituality. He writes regularly at www.jameshazelwood.net

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For More on James Hazelwood

Website 

Weird Wisdom for the Second Half of Life

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Taking Stock – Dr. Jordan Grumet

From Role to Soul – Connie Zweig

Retirement Planning Includes Getting Good at Getting Older – Rabbi Laura Geller

From the NBA Hardwood to the Altar – Steve Javie

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Wise Quotes

On The Shift

“But something shifts at the midpoint. It’s typically in our forties, sometimes in our fifties. We just start to ask different questions.What’s all this that I’ve achieved for? What does it mean? One author (Wayne Dyer – The Shift:Taking Your Life from Ambition to Meaning) talked about it as the shift from success to significance. So the second half of life is really a turn inward. That doesn’t mean we stop working or raising a family. It just means that our priorities shift. Now, most everyone thinking about retirement is well into this second phase, and we’re just wondering about meaning and purpose. So for me, the second half of life is really defined by the search for soul.”

On Getting Unstuck

“I hear the word stuck from a lot of people in this phase. And what I say to them, That’s okay, now you’re ready to learn. So once you face your stuckness, it means it’s time to ask a new set of questions. Is my life connected to something larger than the day-to-day? Or Have I remembered to love and serve those around me? Or, There’s a lot of suffering, but how is my suffering a doorway into meaning? It’s these big deeper questions in the second half of life that we face. And so I’m just suggesting that we be intentional about looking at these questions, and I think if we do, we will find out that the second half of life is really the best half.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

Planning for retirement goes well beyond your 401k or IRA. How will you invest your time after your full-time working years?

You’ll need a different portfolio.

I help people create a multipurpose retirement, with the right mix of interests, activities and pursuits to invest your time wisely. And for many it includes a new version of work in some form– redefined on your own terms with more flexibility and meaning.

Schedule a call to see how the Designing Your New Life program can give you an edge in your next chapter.

Visit retirementwisdom.com for tools and resources to help you retire smarter.

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About Your Podcast Host

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career. He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking.