Richard Eyre - Life in Full: Maximize Your Longevity and Legacy

Copyright 2015 by Richard and Linda Eyre

All rights reserved.

Published by Familius LLC, www.familius.com

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Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication Data

2015941210

Paperback ISBN 9781942672937

E-book ISBN 9781942934165

Hardcover ISBN 9781942934172

Edited by Bill Noble

Cover design by David Miles

Book design by Brooke Jorden

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

Definitions

Full: Having plenty of everything that really mattersespecially love

Maximizing: Making the most of somethingboth in quantity and in quality

Longevity: Your lifein its most extended and expanded version

Legacy: What you leave behindmuch of which you can also enjoy while youre still here

And Isaac gave up the ghost and died and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days...

Genesis 35:29

How full are each of your days?

And how many more days do you want to have?

Its sad to grow old, but nice to ripen.

Brigitte Bardot

The passage of time can make things ripe, or it can make them rotten.

Which will you choose?

Seven Decisions

M ore than any generation from any time and from any place, Baby Boomers have the opportunity to make seven personal destiny-determining decisions. You can leave all seven to chance and circumstance, or you can...

1. Decide how long you want to live (because the number of years you want will likely be a factor in how many you have).

2. Decide who you want to spend those years with (because the people who matter most should get the most time).

3. Decide how you want to look and how you want to feel (because you have more control over both than you think).

4. Decide how much money you will need (because though it is not an end, it is a means).

5. Decide what you want to keep and what you want to start doing (because that will determine what you discard and what you stop doing).

6. Decide which God you believe in and which Self you will be (because both will influence each of the other six decisions).

7. Decide what and, more importantly, who your legacy will be (because that choice will bring purpose and joy).

You may say that it is impossible to make these decisions, and even if you could make them, you may say that it is a waste of time since we have no real control over any of them.

We beg to differ...

Executive Summary

Why Just Over the Hill Is the Best Place to Be... And How to Make It Even Better

Redefining Our Generation and Rethinking What Aging Means

There has never been a better age in which to age.

Eighty million Baby Boomers cant be wrong, it seems, and the whole world is lining up to help us, serve us, and sell us.

Correcting the Bad Metaphors

Changing how we think about aging can change how we think about ourselves.

There are a stunning number of bad clichs about aging; however, most of them work just fine if we retool and update them a bit. Autumn can be awesome, the fourth quarter is always the most exciting, and life can be lived in crescendo!

Why Sixty-Five Is the New Forty-Five

Medical breakthroughs and electric bikes keep us in the game.

With a little higher handicap here and a health enhancement there, we can do everything now that we could do twenty years ago... and so much that we couldnt.

The Outer, the Inner, and the Inner-Inner

Its all about what you do, who you love, and who you become over the next twenty years.

Contribution matters now more than Accumulation, Relationships more than Achievements, and Character more than Recognition.

Why Everything Is Different Now... And How to Live Well in a Whole New Place

Begin with Ten Empty Folders

Autumn is something you can ease into graduallyand here is a way to start.

This book may stimulate you and give you some ideas, but what you really need is your own tailored, unique look at lifes next phase. Simply starting to collect some thoughts and possibilities that ring true to you is an easy and useful first step.

Creating Your Second Life

Segment, divide, and objectify your autumn season.

The who, what, and where of your current life-phase are all different, not just in degree, but in kind, from your earlier life-phases; and you can now be fully proactive rather than mostly reactive. It starts with deciding howand how longyou want to live.

Being Who You Want to Be

Whereas it used to be all about doing, now it is all about being.

Time after time, surveys show that we all want love, joy, and peace. There are five Double-R skills that can lead us there: (1) Relaxation and Rejuvenation, (2) Reflection and Recollection, (3) Relationships and Reconciliation, (4) Repentance and Restitution, and (5) Reinvention and Re-Creating.

Why Health, Wealth, and Faith Are Your Three Vulnerabilities... And How to Prevent Losing Any of Them (and Perhaps Even Increase All Three)

Maintaining Body and Brain

The secret is finding joy in the two things that will save and preserve your life.

It all boils down to diet and exercise.

Balancing Wants, Needs, and Resources

Think of money as a means and learn to embrace the concept of enough.

Discover new ways to think about financial independence... and then never think about it again.

The Second Way of Knowing

Belief, at this point, is a decision you make, and your choice will affect everything.

Open yourself more to mystery and magnificence than to criticism and cynicism.

If You Could Choose to Have a Bridge or a Child Named after You... Pick Family over Fame

Priority One

Forge a partnership of commitment and creativity.

In autumn, relationships between spouses become more complicated, but they can also become more rewarding, more fulfilling, more completing, and more synergistic.

Its a Whole New Ball Game

Parenting: a role you are never done with, and wouldnt want to be.

Just when you think you are finishing up with your parenting, it continues, and the main change is that the challenges are bigger and more expensive (and maybe more fun).

A Kingdom in the Making

Friends are important, but blood, it turns out, is thicker than water.

It is a warm and enlightening thing to realize that family is more than just your spouse and children.

What You Can Do That Parents Cant

Capitalize on the win-win synergy that can exist between generations one and three.

Leave a legacy of responsibility and reputation rather than ease and entitlement... and understand that, in the end, it all comes down to family.

Giving Them to Yourself and to Those You Love

The merger of being and giving can grace your autumn and build your legacy.