WHAT THIS EPISODES ABOUT…
Hello to all my fabulous listeners. I’m Shauna Hoffman
Happy Birthday to all of the Leos out there! I’m one of them. Since my birthday is this week I thought I would have some fun talking about what it means to get older, whether you are in your 20’s or 80’s! Really, how do we do this in today’s society of “hot celebrity new looks” and “Cosmo’s perfect ten hairstyles for women over 30?” I may be a therapist speaking to all of you about how to be your genuine selves, how to love yourself for who you are! But I’m reading the same magazines as you are! And I am always being challenged by my own ego.
I love the idea that as we get older we are supposed to gain more wisdom. But even as a 17-year old I realized that wisdom is not gained easily. Often it’s gained from lessons given to us from an older wiser human, I could listen to my grandfather share his wisdom with me any day. But most often it is gained from surviving experiences in our lives. Surviving them, making sense of them, learning any and all lessons we can from them, and embracing them.
Ready? Let’s get started…
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CONTENT DISCUSSED…
• Guy Free Podcast: https://guyfree.com
• Guy Free Facebook Group: https://guyfreeworkingonme.com
• Shauna’s website: https://www.workingonme.com
WHEN DOES IT AIR…
August 08, 2020
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT…
Hello to all my fabulous listeners. I’m Shauna Hoffman
Happy Birthday to all of the Leos out there! I’m one of them. Since my birthday is this week I thought I would have some fun talking about what it means to get older, whether you are in your 20’s or 80’s! Really, how do we do this in today’s society of “hot celebrity new looks” and “Cosmo’s perfect ten hairstyles for women over 30?” I may be a therapist speaking to all of you about how to be your genuine selves, how to love yourself for who you are! But I’m reading the same magazines as you are! And I am always being challenged by my own ego.
I love the idea that as we get older we are supposed to gain more wisdom. But even as a 17-year old I realized that wisdom is not gained easily. Often it’s gained from lessons given to us from an older wiser human, I could listen to my grandfather share his wisdom with me any day. But most often it is gained from surviving experiences in our lives. Surviving them, making sense of them, learning any and all lessons we can from them, and embracing them.
One of the hardest lessons for women starts with our self-image. And that starts as we are children.
Were you the tallest in your class and got made fun of.
Were you overweight like I was and people made fun of you?
Were you handicapped in some way and felt different from others.
Were you the smartest one in the class and people called you a nerd?
Did you have a learning disability and you struggled to get through school.
Did your mom or dad criticize you for the way you did your hair, or the clothes you wanted to wear, or the friends you chose or the career that you wanted?
So much of our self-image starts when we are young. Then as we get older we have to navigate what that conditioning in our brain means to us. So often our own mind speak ends up with what others have programmed into us instead of what our own heart feels is true.
So getting older is as much shedding of old thoughts and old patterns of thinking as it is learning new ones. But it all starts with our own self-awareness! We have to become aware of the thoughts and judgments in our heads. We have to become aware of the wonderful choices that we have made in life that have taught us amazing lessons! And we have to embrace those hard as hell moments in our lives that have taken us through a firestorm… but we have survived them! We learned from them! And we became wiser because of them.
Aaahhhh wisdom.
Let’s breakdown the definition of wisdom. Google that fabulous word and here is one definition you will find from Mendira Mahadi that I love. Wisdom is a virtue that isn’t innate but can only be acquired through experience. Anyone who is interested in trying new things and reflecting on the process has the ability to gain wisdom. By learning as much as you can, analyzing your experiences, and putting your knowledge to the test, you can become a wiser person.
Fabulous right? Analyzing our experiences! Putting our knowledge to the test. In other words, our wisdom comes from truly looking at an experience, analyzing our piece of the experience, our hurt from it, our growth from it, and our lessons learned from it.
Then I love the line that says “and putting your knowledge to the test.” That means that if you really reflect on it, or go through a similar experience did you really learn from the last one, and are you coming into this one with better tools, better insight, better reactions … more WISDOM? Putting your wisdom to the test will you react differently?
But why is it that when it comes to aging we don’t see it as wisdom until we want to use it for the excuse as to why our bodies are no longer the same. We look at aging based on what our bodies now look like compared to a year ago. Or how many candles on a cake we have. But what if we could change this? Instead of counting our years on a calendar what if we could quantify our age in terms of wisdom? Imagine how fabulous we would feel about ourselves. Imagine how we would crave getting that next year tagged onto our lives and have those lessons learned!
I always say I have earned every wrinkle on my face and I never want to go back and learn those lessons again. And now I can see that even that statement is looking at my body first before I embrace my wisdom! What if we could see our age in terms of wisdom… like on a computer game where you rack up points for every moment of awareness or wisdom that you have achieved?
What if we could walk around with that being counted on our smartphones instead of the steps we took that day? Oh, look! I gained 10,322 wisdom points when I spoke up for myself today!
Or what if we could just change our own perception to start seeing that amazing growth flashing in giant numbers being quantified, instead of the number of years we have lived? What if on every doctor’s form or intake form we had to fill out we were asked what is your wisdom count today? And each time you filled out another form you could see your wisdom numbers grow exponentially! Wouldn’t that make you smile?
Now, look at your body. Maybe we already do have that in that scar from when we fell off our bike as a kid. Or that memory in our souls of our first heartbreak. Or the unbelievable smile we still get when we think of our accomplishments. The nights we stayed up late studying. The hours we spent in labor giving birth. The heartbreak and growth when we were left alone for the first time and we realized that I can survive! The joy we have in ourselves for all that we have worked so hard for.
What if we didn’t think of our bodies as getting old but as having to redirect all of our energy into our being ready for our next lesson in life? What if we saw every inhale as an energy that is manifested in our body to process and hold our wisdom until we could exhale it and share that wisdom with the world? Whether it is just with our partner or child, our best friend or classmate. Or what if every breath was truly meant for being where we are in that exact moment? And every exhale was a thank you?
What if we could take the EGO out of the thought of aging and replace it with gratitude? Not gratitude for things. But gratitude for our own self-awareness. Gratitude for our lessons learned. Gratitude for morals, ethics, and values we have acquired through so many mess-ups, so many heartaches. And most importantly for every achievement, success, moments where we have risen above! Moments that we have Survived! Grew! Embraced the “what is” instead of “what is not”. What if when we looked in the mirror we saw the beauty in our fricking fabulous survival?
What if we said…
Today is my birthday! Today is a celebration of all I have learned, all I have achieved, all that I have survived. It is another day closer to my next birthday where I will have gained even more wisdom, taken more steps up that ladder of self-awareness, sharpened my values, practiced my morals, shed unhealthy relationships, manifested amazing people in my life, honored my body, and now look at my smartphone flashing those GIANT numbers representing the wisdom that I have gained!
Beautiful beings, I offer you the opportunity to journal where your wisdom is today.
What were your biggest lessons in life until now?
Who were your biggest teachers, whether they taught you through love or heartbreak!
Today on this day on your smartphone filled with wisdom data… what do you want to program as a goal for tomorrow?
What amazing soul lesson do you know you still need to perfect?
What life lesson do you want to celebrate on your next wisdom birthday?
Age is wisdom only if you are wise enough to see that!
Here are my affirmations for my birthday that I share with you!
Today on my wisdom birthday I embrace all that still is waiting for me to learn. I know that on my next wisdom birthday I will be wiser than today only if I stay self-aware, egoless, and choose to look deeply at my self. I am a brilliant creative loving soul who thrives on helping humanity by sharing the wisdom I have gathered with every breath I have ever taken. I am a kind woman who embraces truth. And sometimes this truth is I have a helluva lot more to learn. Thank God for this next wisdom year to learn it. I am a happy healthy woman constantly striving to be in touch with my feelings and share them in the most healthy way. I am a beautiful growing always learning lover of life. Happy Wisdom Birthday to me!
Thank you ladies for helping me celebrate my wisdom day! Be gentle with yourselves as I promise myself to be today. Drink lotsa water, eat fabulous healthy foods, surround yourself with kind people, and most importantly listen to your heart. Thanks for letting me into your life for just these precious moments and I look forward to popping back into your life again next week!