Purpose – Life Reinspired

Hope Is Essential To Living

Sabrina Roblin — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 02:34:51 +0000

I was thinking the other day about what is one thing that we need most amidst the cultural increase of anger, uncertainty, and despair. I thought of the essential nature of hope, and the lack of it in today’s cultural narratives. The lyrics of this month’s song by Carrie Newcomer say it well, “The shadows of this world will say, there’s no hope why try anyway?”

What is hope and why is it essential to living? Hope is a desire for a certain thing to happen, or a feeling of trust in a positive outcome even when things are difficult. Hope is essential to dreaming of a better future and creative problem solving. It is a flame in the heart that gives us the fuel to dream and move forward even in the face of uncertainty.

Without hope we no longer extend the energy to imagine something better and take action to make it real. Hopelessness engenders despair and inaction. And if you take a daily dose of the 24/7 news cycle, there is plenty of information to engender despair. Life circumstances can also engender despair – a health or financial crisis, the loss of a job, home, or loved one.

We must have hope to dream and create a compelling future for ourselves and others.

Hope is a spiritual practice and something we can develop to lift our spirits and inspire our creativity. Hope opens up possibility. Research has shown that it decreases stress and improves our health and quality of life. It opens and lifts the heart which fuels love and generosity, improving relationships.

So, feed yourself a daily dose of hope and optimism. Here are a few ways:

Have a daily gratitude practice. Write down at least three things you’re grateful for on a daily basis. It could be simple things like a loved one, a meal, clean running water and sunshine.
Read articles daily on one of the many good news websites like the Daily Optimist, the Good News Network, or Daily Good.
Listen to upbeat music and dance around your kitchen in the morning or sing in the shower.
Create a vision of your compelling future and take one action each day to make it real.

What we focus on grows. With daily practice your hope muscle will strengthen which will make a positive difference in your outlook, sense of well-being and life experience.

Sabrina Roblin, CPCC, a former executive and co-founder of Life Reinspired, is happily enjoying her best chapter of life. She now helps others do the same. Schedule a free Life Reinspired Strategy Session or email info@lifereinspired.com to learn more.

The Real vs. The Ideal

Sabrina Roblin — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 16:27:08 +0000

There is always a gap between the life we’re living and the life we want to create. It’s what inspires us to change, grow, and make New Year’s resolutions. Did you know that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fall away by February? How are the resolutions you made at the beginning of the month going for you? Are you still engaged in them?

If your answer is no, you’re in good company and there are at least two good reasons why.

First is, with the best of intentions, we make resolutions without addressing our internal landscape – what we believe, our perspectives. We fail to address these and create a compelling vision to inspire our action.

The second is that we try to do it alone. We fail to create the support and accountability we need to be successful.

I’m sure you probably know that successful athletes not only have a compelling vision, but they also have a coach as well as other support team members. It’s what we need to be successful in our own lives as well. Without them we fall back into our old habits, and nothing changes.

Hiring a good coach is one of the best things you can do to move forward on your New Year’s resolutions and be supported in narrowing that gap on the real vs. the ideal in your life.

Persist in your resolutions. Create your compelling vision and be held accountable to it. Get started, by scheduling a free Life Reinspired strategy session to experience the benefits of coaching and learn more.

The Wonder of the Season

Sabrina Roblin — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 17:35:41 +0000

One Christmas morning when I was a little girl, I woke up excited, ran downstairs and found the Christmas stockings empty. I was devastated. I ran back upstairs to my parent’s room and burst in crying that Santa had forgotten us. In my mother’s sleepy state, she must have been thinking fast. She asked me to go back downstairs and check again, just to make sure. I ran downstairs, checked in and around the stockings, found them empty, and ran back to my parent’s room, still crying that Santa had forgotten us. My mother suggested that I check on the roof outside their bedroom window, that the stocking stuffers may have fallen out of Santa’s sack. I ran to the window, opened it, and there on the roof, were small toys and candies meant for the stockings. I squealed in delight, with tears of happiness.

I learned many years later that after coming home from a Christmas Eve party with friends, my parents had forgotten to stuff the stockings before retiring for the night. When my mother sent me back downstairs to check again, she jumped out of bed, threw all the stocking stuffers out on the roof and returned to bed so I wouldn’t know what she’d done. Forgetting turned out to be the best mistake they could have made. Finding the stuffers on the roof enhanced and made real the mystery, wonder and delight of Christmas for me in a way I remember in detail to this day.

Whatever your holiday traditions and beliefs are, it is a time to embrace the wonder and mystery of the unseen, and to bring light to the dark places within and without, through decorations, kind words, and the sharing of good food and laughter. It can be a blue time for many who are especially in need of a hug, a kind word, or the offer of a meal. If you are alone and blue this holiday season, reach out for support.

Be on the lookout for wonder this season and create moments of wonder for others. It brings out the best in us, lifts our spirits and warms our hearts.

Blessings to all and thank you for the gift of your trust and referrals throughout the year!

Embrace the ‘D’ word for better living

Sabrina Roblin — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 23:24:52 +0000

If your reaction to any mention of the dreaded ‘D’ word- death, is dismissal or denial, and if you want to stop reading and click out to something different, you’re in good company. I had a near death experience in my teens, have a will and health directive, have worked as a chaplain in a hospital, and yet I still live at times as though I’m not going to die. Even with the knowledge and experience I have, I often feel as though that final chapter doesn’t apply to me. As terrifying and painful as this life can be at times, it’s still my life and I value it and who and what I love about it deeply. When the time comes, it will be hard to let it go. Although denial is a normal reaction, I invite you to stay and keep reading, as embracing death and educating yourself about it can enrich life and be a gift to your loved ones.

“Perhaps the fact of life most conducive to living fully as a person is an honest awareness and acceptance of death.” – Leo Buscaglia

Facing our mortality and having the important conversations about death and dying with loved ones takes courage. It’s important to embrace courage and have them BEFORE a health crisis, while we’re still healthy. It’s a gift to yourself and your loved ones so that in the midst of a crisis and impending loss, they can rest in the knowing of what to do to honor your values and your wishes.

Where to start?

We die in the character in which we’ve lived, so live now with purpose – contribute to something greater than yourself.
Cultivate your relationships – let your loved ones know how much they mean to you.
Cherish life and all that is good each day.
Answer the following questions and share the answers with your loved ones

What are your fears? (We often fear loss of independence and suffering before death more than death itself).

What tradeoffs are you willing to make to try to stop progression of a disease and or effects of a critical injury? What are you willing and not willing to endure?

If you are critically injured or ill, do you want extreme measures to be taken in the hospital to keep you alive at all costs or not?

Do you prefer to die at home with hospice care and your loved ones around you?

Do you want to donate organs and tissues?

Do you have a health directive that outlines your wishes and has assigned someone you trust with power of attorney for health care if you’re unable to speak for yourself?

What do you believe about death and the afterlife and how does that support you or not?

We won’t have control over how and when we die, but if we have the courage to prepare well, we can increase the chances of being the author of a better death experience for ourselves and our loved ones.

For those who want to engage more with this topic I recommend, The Five Invitations: What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully, by Frank Ostaseski. And as always, I’m here for a conversation, coaching, and spiritual guidance.

The Resilience of Hope

Sabrina Roblin — Fri, 03 Jun 2022 18:26:48 +0000

The violence of the recent shootings and the uncertainty of these times can get the best of me, the best of us. It can intensify the questions and natural anxiety of leaving a long-time career and dreaming into a next chapter of life. What will I do next? Will I be OK financially? Can I take the risk of dreaming, of trying something new? What happens if it doesn’t work out? Amidst all that’s happening in the world, how do I continue to dream into a future that is so uncertain?

To meet these questions and stay engaged in dreaming and action, it’s important to maintain resilience. Hope – the expectation of a better future is an essential aspect of resilience. When feeling overwhelmed or in despair beauty is my ‘go to’. It is a balm for my heart and spirit, especially the beauty and resilience of nature. Living in the mountains, I experience the garden and the mountains being completely covered and frozen under snow in winter, and then what looks dead, comes to life and greens up in the Spring. It opens my heart to awe and wonder, settles my nervous system and restores a sense of inner calm and hope for the future. If nature can do that, certainly we can!

Beauty may be a key source of resilience and hope for you, or it may be something else. What is your ‘go to’? Who or what gives you strength, restores your inner balance, clarity and hope?

Engage with whatever your answer is to those questions, for hope keeps your dreams alive, and dreaming is the first step to making something real. When you’re ready for action, in the words of David Whyte, “Start close in.” Trust your knowing and take just that first step that’s right in front of you. The one you see clearly. Like driving at night, only seeing what your headlights illuminate in the darkness, that first step will lead you to the next one.

Sabrina Roblin, CPCC, a former executive and founder of Life Reinspired, is happily enjoying her best chapter of life. She now helps others do the same. Schedule a free Life Reinspired Strategy Session or email info@lifereinspired.com.

Rediscover Your Purpose in a New Form

Sabrina Roblin — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 20:17:02 +0000

At the end of March I was interviewed by Richard Eisenberg of MarketWatch for his column, The View From Unretirement. One of his questions was why people are lost after their career ends, to the point that they shrink in their lives and don’t move on. My answer was that we get our identity and self-worth so tied up in our careers, we feel lost and irrelevant without it. We mistake the career for our identity rather than a way to express ourselves in the world. We think our work was our purpose and that without it we no longer have one. This points to the importance of purpose which is one of the five pillars of my Life Reinspired work.

David Brooks writes about purpose in his book, The Second Mountain, which is one of my favorite reads for the 3rd act of life. “If you know what your purpose is, you can handle the setbacks” (p.30). Without purpose you can flounder in a sense of loss.

Re-reading The Second Mountain has been part of my recent study of joy. I’ve read several books on the topic. Guess what’s mentioned in each one as something important to a joyful life…purpose. Purpose brings us joy, and when we look at what brings us joy, we can find our purpose.

All this is a reminder of the core value of purpose in our lives – the potential loss of it when a career ends and the importance of rediscovering it in a new form.

Retiring from a career is an opportunity for self-discovery, to reprioritize and redesign life for more joy and meaning. Rediscover your purpose in a new form. Take time to reflect, explore and redesign your life around answers to the following questions:

What’s my best life?
What brings me joy?
What do I believe in?
What do I look forward to each day?

Purpose can be as simple and sweet as time with grandchildren or volunteering in your community, and as grand as being part of a world-changing endeavor. It’s up to you!

The Power of a Question

Sabrina Roblin — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 21:55:58 +0000

Transitions can be stressful, especially when leaving a successful career for the next chapter. The uncertainty of the times we’re in adds an additional layer of anxiety to the process. Lots of questions come up – Who will I be without my career? Will I become irrelevant? Will my colleagues keep in touch? Will I be OK financially?

Leaving my career was a tougher transition for me than I expected. I thought the freedom and time to play would bring me joy. I didn’t realize that the loss of purpose, structure, colleagues, and my executive role would throw me for a loop. It’s what inspired me to develop the Life Reinspired work of coaching people to their next best chapter. I’ve found that asking the right kind of questions can make all the difference in how the next chapter unfolds.

If you are either in or facing a major life transition, here are some questions to ask yourself:

What am I learning about myself? Who am I becoming?
What’s important to me/gives meaning to my life?
How do I want to contribute to others in my next phase of life?
What and who will support me through this transition?

Exploring the answers to these questions and others will help you find your true North and create your next best chapter of life in a way that is aligned with who you truly are.

Be kind to yourself. Transitions can be both scary and times of meaningful growth and discovery. Embrace the adventure and remember, you don’t have to do it alone. Coaching can help shepherd the process.

Keep Looking Up!

Sabrina Roblin — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 18:19:08 +0000

“It requires so much courage and strength to endure love for the beauty of the world.”

-From Beguiled by Beauty, by Wendy Farley

I get overwhelmed by the world at times and wonder what to write that will be of value, what will make a positive difference in your day. I’ve started reading a book by Wendy Farley called, Beguiled by Beauty that has been just on time for me given that the events in Ukraine have added to the already stressful times of the pandemic and the climate crisis. It’s what inspired this month’s quote and blog. It’s helping me keep my eyes and heart open at a time when I want to close them and just “not look up” (check out the movie, Don’t Look Up). It’s reminded me of the importance of beauty, of appreciating it and creating it, in order to experience wonder and joy, and preserve our humanity.

Keeping my heart open to the suffering of the world is almost unbearable at times, and yet it’s the only way I can experience love and its beauty, and without that, life would be cold and empty.

Here are a few of my own reminders that I hope will make a difference for you –

Practice daily self-care, get plenty of rest.
Stay connected to the innate goodness in the world through loved ones, beauty, spirituality, and inspirational reading.
Remember the eight pillars of happiness from last month’s blog (link here).
Envision a better world and take actions, even small ones to make it real.
Set healthy boundaries around how much of the daily news you take in. I’ve started reading The Optimist Daily to balance out the negativity of the mainstream news cycle.
Music is one of my favorite expressions of beauty. Listen to your favorite music often and check out this month’s inspirational song below.

And remember, I would be honored to be one of the people on your support team. I’ve added spiritual direction/guidance to my coaching practice. There is no religious agenda. It’s about deep listening in the griefs of life and experiencing more joy, meaning, richness and connection to the divine in ways that are meaningful to you. Contact me for a free session.

Stay well and keep looking up!

The Eight Pillars of Happiness

Sabrina Roblin — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 22:37:40 +0000

Last month’s blog, the Three Essentials of a Joyful Life, inspired a lot of positive feedback. I realized from your feedback and recent coaching conversations, that you’d like more information about how to cultivate joy and happiness during the challenging times we’re navigating. So, this month I’m writing about the eight pillars of happiness from The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It’s a book I’ve had since its release that has been especially helpful during the last couple of years. I refer to it often for reminders about how to cultivate joy while navigating times of stress, anger, grief, illness, and death.

On page 145 is a Tibetan saying that, “…it is actually the painful experiences that shine the light on the nature of happiness”. This points to the first of the eight pillars:

Perspective. The lens we see our challenges through makes all the difference in how we navigate the difficulty.

Humility. This is the quality or state of not thinking you are better than anyone else.

Humor. The ability to laugh at yourself and your circumstances is the next pillar. Laughter with a friend is also a doorway to joy.

Acceptance. By accepting life’s inevitable sadness and grief, we open the door to growth and healing.

Forgiveness. Nelson Mandela once said that hatred is like drinking poison and then expecting the other person to die. Doing the work of forgiveness for self and others frees us from the pain and suffering.

Gratitude. This is one of my favorites because it opens the heart to all that is working in life, opens our eyes to new opportunities we might otherwise miss and inspires us to feel positive about the future.

Compassion. It is about understanding the suffering of another and taking action to help relieve that suffering.

Generosity. It is a cousin to compassion and means being kind and generous. The sharing the love and resources in our lives.

I recommend the book. I also invite you to choose one of the pillars over the next month as a daily practice to cultivate joy. Not only will you experience more joy and well-being, it will spill over to your loved ones, colleagues and community.

Feel free to reach out for a conversation about how to successfully navigate the challenges in your life and cultivate more joy!

3 Essentials for a Joyful LIfe

Sabrina Roblin — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:32:19 +0000

In all my years of soul searching and personal growth, and through the research I’ve done for Life Reinspired, I’ve come to realize that underneath all that we wrestle with in life, there are only three things we really want –

Aliveness

Zip, effervescence, vitality, enthusiasm

Love

To love and be loved.

Meaning

The feeling that we matter, our life matters, and has purpose.

I call it ALM’s. The dictionary meaning of alms is the food and money we give to the poor. When we don’t have Aliveness, Love and Meaning, we feel poor in heart and spirit and in our humanness and “human-mess”, we look for all kinds of crazy ways to fill up the internal coffers so as not to feel that lack and emptiness.

ALM’s are what will truly fill you up.

The holidays are the season of the heart. A time of generosity, kindness, love, forgiveness, gratitude, peace, joy and patience. Capture opportunities for giving and receiving these qualities, even if they are just micro moments in the midst of a busy season.

Thank you for helping to make this a meaningful year for me.

Happy Holidays!

Sabrina Roblin, CPCC, a former executive and founder of Life Reinspired, is happily enjoying her best chapter of life. She now helps others do the same.