Blog Archive
The Blog Archive is intended to provide a repository for the blogs that are prepared for the Safe Harbor Pathways website. Blogs will continue to be posted so that new visitors can read what has previously been presented.
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We Each Need to Have a Desert
As we cycle through life with its transitions, the chaos that surrounds us in today’s world can become overwhelming. In order to mitigate the intense emotional reaction to the hurricane of fast-moving continuous news cycles, political divisiveness, and personal life challenges (money, job, family, lack of time, health), we need to find a resting place.…
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Transition to a New Year
As we approach the holiday season, we each view the holidays from our perspective of past experiences. For many, the holidays are a joyous and eagerly anticipated time. For others who have experienced loss or trauma, the holidays can be an endurance obstacle course. We generally meet after the holidays with the attitude that the…
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Living Alone During the Holiday Season
As the decades have passed and life transitions have occurred, the late 70’s have proven to be a time of reflection and, in many ways, the attainment of clarity about the effects brought about by life’s adventures. Living alone for most of us is a series of peaks and valleys. The Christmas season is a…
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Memories that Create Auras
As I age, some memories throughout my life create a feeling within me that elevates my spirit. These memories not only permit me to recall the events that created the memory, but also the context of the events. Where was I? What was I experiencing for which the events registered in a different way than…
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Scribbling about the Thread of our Lives
The trees outside my window are an amazing spectacle of color, ranging from dark green to burnt orange, gold, red and amber. Another season is upon us as we approach the excitement of the holidays. As we age, we look forward to another chapter in the parade of seasons. What will it bring? In my…
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Retirement…Thinking about my strategy
When I retired, I rrealized that my life had changed dramatically from the work-a-day world that I had experienced for the years since I left the cockpit and joined the world of high reliability electronics for the aerospace industry. Retirement was a life transition with which I had no experience. I was fortunate because I…
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Boxes in the Attic
I have learned that having a “safe harbor” sounding board person within your trusted circle is a resource that provides safety and aids in developing clarity for almost every life transition, issue resolution and important decision that we make in our life trip. My daughter-in-law, Sarah Masat, is a valuable safe harbor resource for me.…
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“Bill, write about the life transition of loss”
What can I say about loss that has not been said by others in a thousand books? Healing from loss? Is that even possible? Doesn’t healing from loss just mean, in some way, to start over? How do we replace the pieces of our heart that is a void left by the missing part? Every…
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Navigating Risk in Life Transitions
Risk is inherent in almost every life transition. Our fears and self-doubt contribute to the chaos that is roiling within us as we enter a new branch of our life pathway. I experienced the specters of doubt as I entered college. Was I smart enough? Disciplined enough? Persistent enough? When I entered pilot training, was…
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Human Connection Pathways- The Black and White
This may be the most difficult time in history to connect with other humans. The level of divisiveness within America is at a peak. Of course, we can point to social media as a major contributor to human disconnection. Opposing political, spiritual and societal viewpoints contribute significantly to our disconnection. The 24/7 news cycle, in…
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When Does Old Age Begin?
Joel Pinsker addresses the words used to describe “old age” in the Atlantic Magazine in his article “When Does Someone Become Old?”. The article reviews the many words that define those who are “aging”, such as elder, elderly, senior, retired, old, older, geriatric, and mature. In considering the topic of aging, I have always tended…
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Assistance for Living with a Disability
Incurring a disability creates a wide range of adjustments that must be resolved in order to maintain physical, mental, and emotional equilibrium. There are resources that will provide support for most of life’s necessities. Living with a disability is an ongoing learning experience. Exploring the services that are available will be a very important aspect…
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Learning to Live with a Disability
When a disability occurs, we have to borrow a phrase from our friends, the U.S. Marines: “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome.” In addition, we must add the word “Accept” to the beginning of their saying. We must accept, improvise, adapt, and overcome. The first action that we must take, acceptance, is a mental process that we…
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How to Thrive and Be Wheelchair/Home Bound
When both of my knees stopped supporting me and I fell, I knew instantly that my life had changed. I am a large retired man in my late 70s. I had struggled with a walker for two years and, previously, a cane for more than a decade. As I aged, my knees became less reliable…
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A Neighbor’s Tree
My neighbor allowed an acorn to sprout in her front yard. At first, it barely broke through the soil. She placed a wire plant cage around it so that her lawn team would not mow over it. I don’t remember exactly when, in the spring of this year, the little tree sprouted, but as it…
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Bringing the World into Your Living Room-Life Transitions
Many of us who are in the retired ranks spend much or most of our time in our homes. While our lives revolve around our calendars, doctors appointments, visits by repair people, friends and family visits and, of course, watching our TV series, we find that we are missing the stimulation from the “ourside world”.…
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10/19/2025- Waking Today
Sun streaming through the window filling the bedroom with light. Eyes open staring at the ceiling. Another day in the litany of retirement. Time to choose. Another day of status quo or a transition day. Transition to what? Chaotic country, chaotic world, chaotic thoughts that must be sorted. What can I do that transits instead…
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Pathway to Clarity
Most of us, at points in our lives, fight mental chaos. In my life, as is the case with most of us, I have experienced many life transitions. My challenges were initiated by a variety of life transitions. Career choice, marital partner, becoming a father, loss of my chosen profession, reorientation toward a new career,…
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Communication Clarity: Individual to Individual
When two or more people communicate, often the communication is not clearly stated or received because the sender and the receiver are processing the communication from their own experiences and perceptions. In order to create clarity during communications, it may be helpful for the receiver to restate the communication in order to ensure that it…
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Looking through the eyes of others
Each individual possesses a distinctive array of experiences that shape their perceptions (EP) regarding various aspects of life, including culture, politics, and spirituality, as well as their interactions with others. These perceptions play a crucial role in establishing our expectations (E), which in turn influence our outlook on potential events, reactions, and outcomes. As we…
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