Let’s say you have retired – willingly or unwillingly – and you now find yourself with a lot of time on your hands that you never had when you were working and raising a family.

After the initial feeling of “being on holiday” has passed, you feel like the days start dragging by, each day the same as the next, your life becoming unstructured and without direction.

This is not unusual for those older adults who stop what they have been doing for years.

The sense of self vanishes and you begin to struggle with who you now are.

But all the sudden extra time can have a silver lining if you are prepared to do what we might call inner work.

In other words, you can discover another side of yourself – or maybe discover your whole self for the first time – and begin to create something brand new in your life.

It all depends on what you think life is - what it appears to be through your eyes or what you want it to be in your mind’s eye.

Our guest this week on The Art 2 Aging is Dr. Paula Petry, PhD, a cognitive psychologist and trained shaman.

She has created a program called Divine Design Activation which is meant to reconnect an individual with their inner self and allow greater clarity of purpose to open up.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that ageism shows up in gyms and fitness classes.

Why wouldn’t it?

Ageism is a prejudice carried in the minds of people. So, if a fitness instructor leans that way, then his or her classes will reflect that in the workout.

“You shouldn’t pick up that big dumbbell. Try the little one, dear.”

Our guest this week on The Art 2 Aging is Erin Eleu, a functional aging specialist, whose mission is to highlight ageism in the fitness world.

But more than that, Erin walks her talk; her own fitness classes for older adults are designed to intentionally challenge internalized ageism, as well.

If you are a regular listener to The Art 2 Aging, then you likely grew up in the 60s, an astonishing time to be young and alive.

First, there was the massive transition in music. Then came the drugs. Alongside the negative aspects of the drug culture, emerged something that we can call New Consciousness, for lack of a better term.

New Consciousness meant exploring the inner depths of one’s self. Transcendental meditation burst into the culture as one popular method and the exploration of the soul was underway.

It was the “dawning of the Age of Aquarius,” as sung by the Fifth Dimension in 1969.

Transcendental meditation (TM, for short) did not disappear like many of the musical acts from the 60s did; it is still with us along with several other types of meditation.

What this amounts to today is this: a revitalized, even stronger search for the connection between man and God, Source, All That Is – whatever you choose to call it.

TM established scientifically that meditation has profound positive effects on our bodies and minds. The same can be said of all types of meditation.

Our guest this week is James Adams. James is a former broadcast journalist, former Bill Clinton campaign worker and the former V.P. of Marketing for Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Today, James follows a different path and in an open, honest, and forthright way, he explains his past struggles with life and his newfound inner journey with meditation as his companion.