Creating a Spiritual Retirement: A Guide to the Unseen Possibilities in Our Lives

by Molly Srode

Overview

Discover how retirement can lead to new spiritual possibilities.

What now? Where do I go from here?

In many parts of the world, retirement from the daily workforce is a door you walk through in order to discover your soul. In the last third of life, it is an opportunity to focus on the goals that are most important to you.

Creating a Spiritual Retirement invites you to examine your spiritual life and explore ways of making it more meaningful, from three different perspectives:

• "The Individual Spirit"—Contemplate the possibilities for spiritual growth that come with retirement from the daily workplace
• "The Great Spirit"—Discover how to look for the sacred in this life, in both ordinary and extraordinary ways
• "Practical Spirituality"—Create your path to more fully develop a spiritual practice that will provide support, strength, challenge, and comfort in the later years of life.With creative exercises and warm, practical advice, this book is a helpful tool for anyone on their retirement journey.

This unusual "guidebook" helps you deepen your relationship with the unseen but no less real presence of spirit in your life. Each chapter focuses on a particular idea for consideration from a spiritual point of view, and concludes with a reflection and questions designed to help you explore your thoughts during this important time in life.

"Retirement can be a time rich in understanding of ourselves and others. It is a time to gather the wisdom we have gained through the years and make it our own. It is a time to take care of unfinished business. It is a time to look beyond the surface of our lives to the deeper inner meaning that is a part of each of us. It is truly a time to connect with our own inner spirit or soul and with the Great Spirit that animates all life."
—from the Introduction

Supportive, insightful and inspiring, Creating a Spiritual Retirement will help you make the next stage in your life a meaningful one.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594730504
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	07/01/2004
Pages:	177
Product dimensions:	2.36(w) x 3.54(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Molly Srode is a retired hospital chaplain in her early 60s. A spiritual seeker, Molly shares details of her own spiritual journey (she was once a Catholic nun and educator) with readers of all faith traditions with ease. She and her husband, Bernie Srode, a former priest, have been actively pursuing their spiritual lives together over the past twenty-five years. They are publishers of the Senior Spirituality Newsletter and coauthors of Keeping Spiritual Balance As We Grow Older: More than 65 Creative Ways to Use Purpose, Prayer, and the Power of Spirit to Build a Meaningful Retirement (SkyLight Paths). When they are not traveling, they make their home in Columbus, Ohio.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi

Part One The Individual Spirit
1• Taking the First Step 3
2• Letting Go of Who We Were 9
3• Finding Out Who We Really Are 13
4• The Round House 17
5• Gone Where? 21
6• Soul Purpose 25
7• Taking the Plunge 29
8• Connecting with Spirit 33
9• Finding the Voice of Spirit 39
10• Attuning to the Voice of Spirit 43
11• Fruits of the Spirit 47

Part Two The Great Spirit
12• Preface to God 53
13• Strange Gods 57
14• The Journey Continues 63
15• A Bend in the Road 67
16• Will the Real God Please Stand Up? 73
17• Creation Speaks 79
18• The Presence 83
19• The Other 87
20• What about Religion? 93

Part Three Practical Spirituality
21• Where Do We Go from Here? 99
22 • Compassion 101: Loving Yourself 103
23• Compassion 102: Loving Others 109
24• Judge Not Lest . . . 113
25• When Bad Things Happen 119
26 • Sitting with the Feelings 125
27• Four A.M. Darkness 131
28• Measuring the Distance 137
29• Keeping in Step 143
30• Getting the Job Done 149
31• Unfinished Business 153
32• Four Steps to a Better Day 157
33• Going Home 163
34• Now Is the Time 169

Editorial Reviews

As Molly Strode observes, 'A ... retirement is a life-altering event for each person who goes through it. It is a new stage in life that touches every phase of a person's existence. It has physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences." Because this last phase of life is so imporlant, a book of spiritual advice for the transition u'ould be welcome not only to people contemplating retirement, but also for retirees who are having a hard time.

Unfortunately, this is not the book. Although Molly Strode is a former Roman Catholic nun, her advice for retirees depends on a number of New Age beliefs like reincarnation that will be unhelpful to mainstream Episcopalians. Maybe the Church Pension Fund and its clergy wellness experts will produce a guide to spiritual retirement.

The Living Church - Doug Ousley

"Creating a Spiritual Retirement will serve as a valuable model for many who have arrived at a spiritual milestone, and who want to learn how to plan the rest of their journey. Strode is an excellent guide who knows how to point out important things on the side of the road that we might otherwise not notice, and she knows how to keep the real goals of our lives clearly in mind."
—Rabbi Jack Reimer, co-editor, So That Your Values Live On: Ethical Wills and How to Prepare Them

“A spiritual gem for retired persons. A hopeful, helpful guide.... If every retiree would take Molly Srode's insights and suggestions to heart, we would have a lot more wisdom and happiness in this world.”
—Joyce Rupp, author, The Cosmic Dance and many other best-selling books

“This is a powerful book…. A must-read for those wishing to enrich their 'later years’ and a highly recommended book for all ages. One of the best books I have read in a long, long time.”
—Barbara Russell Chesser, PhD, co-author, Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul

From the Publisher

When it came time to retire, Molly Strode noticed that something was conspicuously missing from the loads of books and magazines on the subject. She couldn't find anything about the spiritual aspect of retirement. Strode, 65, and a former nun, decided she was destined to fill that gap with her first book, Creating a Spiritual Retirement: A Guide to the Unseen Possibilities in Our Lives (Skylight Paths Publishing, $19.95). Strode says retirement can be a productive time for soul-searching, taking care of unfinished business, fulfilling old dreams and creating new ones.

The Modesto-Bee

Creating a Spiritual Retirement: A Guide to the Unseen Possibilities in Our Lives by Molly Strode (Skylight Paths, 2003, $19.95) helps individuals understand the opportunities afforded by retirement, including retirement as a time for spiritual growth

The Mennonite