Baby Boomer State of Mind

     Remember the old Billy Joel song, New York State of Mind, which he wrote while riding on a Greyhound bus, about returning to his hometown after having been away for a few years? "I know what I'm needing," he croons, "and I don't wanna waste more time ..."

     This week Baby Boomer bloggers also seem to know what they need -- to return to the basics and focus on the fundamental aspects of their lives. They "they don't wanna waste more time" on political or personal arguments, shallow everyday distractions, or the superficiality and wastefulness of crass consumerism.

     Carol Cassara of A Healing Spirit, for example, realizes that the world has turned into a snappy and sometimes ugly place to have a conversation, and sometimes we find ourselves behaving in ways that don't line up with our values. When this happened to her, as she tells us in Why Don't You Try Being Human? she turned to words from the sage Ram Dass to help her be patient with herself and understand that she is "still on her path."

     Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com delves into the idea that Baby Boomers who face challenges will do better and be happier if they learn how Being Adaptable Will Get You Through Life's Biggest Challenges. It's easy to become stuck in our ways, she says, especially when we're older. So she offers a number of practical tips on how navigate our way through the changes in our lives.

     Jennifer of Untold and Begin has similar concerns, and in How Do I Know My Vision Board Works she introduces us to the concept of the Vision Board which can help us set and meet our goals. And not coincidentally, she came out with a book on January 1 called Goal Planning and Vision Boards that might help us keep to our New Year's resolutions.

     Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting knows that most of us are concerned about staying mentally sharp as we age. We want to continue to be able reason, comprehend and remember even as the years tick by. So in Is Adult Conversation Possible? she recounts her experience, as she puts it, "in an interesting program that engages folks of all ages in spirited, educational conversation."

     (Spoiler alert: The program is Socrates Cafe, and I can second Meryl's recommendation since it's a course that B and I got involved with last year. We're hosting a new Socrates Cafe this spring at our local Center for Learning in Retirement.)

     Meanwhile, on The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Rita R. Robison turns to another kind of waste. The consumer and finance journalist reminds us of the importance of reducing our use of plastic containers. In Single-Use Food Packaging she points out that much of our packaging contains dangerous materials, and the way food packaging is made and how much we use and throw away produce massive environmental problems.

     Finally, Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles used to wonder if the old saying was true that we discover who we really are as we age. But as the years have crept by, she's discovered that some of her personality traits seem not only hardwired, but more pronounced. In As You Grow Older, Do You Become "More"? she analyzes seven ways that she has gotten worse (or better) in her 60s. We do change as we get older, she concludes. But do we also become more of what we were to begin with?

     So like Billy Joel, perhaps we've been out of touch, behaving in ways that don't line up with our values, so we're rediscovering who we really are. "It comes down to reality . . . a little give and take . . . " Cause we're in a Baby Boomer state of mind.