Rook,
Thanks once again for your willingness to discuss these personal issues. Not only is it good self therapy but by providing insights to those issues you are having to confront you are sharing insights to how the dream functions, and addressing a basic pattern that is so common in the human condition; an inherent need to be loved.

Ah! That emotion of a need to be loved. It is very often an emotional issue that we all have to confront, and is a pattern that usually begins in childhood. Even in positive childhood development there seems to be a greater need for more than what is given by parents. And although this one emotional issue may not 'make' a person be one way or another, it does greatly influence later life attitudes and actions. That is only logical, the environment we grow up providing the influential experiences that make up who we become, the young impressionable psyche of a child being greatly influenced by experience.

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The 'retiring' old man may be the wisdom self coming to terms with those childhood issues that have influenced your actions as an adult, as well as the 'sunset' of a need for the 'flirting/dating' environment. From my own experiences it was around the age of 30 that I began to move away from the need of acceptance from the opposite sex {the 'looking for love' in all the wrong places}.

James Bond is the hero and the dream is where the hero looks to perform heroic deeds of self healing. There may be a hero complex being addressed but the inner hero is also the focus. The third person is the dream and the subjective is the dreamer. Seeing oneself in terms of the third person is seeing oneself as they really are, the true self. The retired James Bond is not only moving away from the old flirting/dating self, it is the wisdom you have gained by the self examination you are engaged.

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It may be value to understand there are stages we go through in life. My oldest grandson is at a stage I recognize so prominently in my life and my son's life. I was once a sports nut but out grew that stage, largely due to my newly found interest, my bliss, in dreams and the deeper psyche. Your 'letting go' of hockey seems to fit with this stage. And your age coincides with the age I began to lose interest in sports. There does seems to be that 'natural' evolution that plays a role on maturity but not everyone reaches that point. Or is able to 'cross over' the barriers. And the biggest reason beyond the unconscious influence is a lack of discipline. If there is one aspect of the hero that is most important it is the discipline needed to stay the path. With the emotional baggage we accumulate throughout life, and the inherent childhood influences that unconsciously influence/control attitudes and actions, it is no wonder so few reach that place of 'Nirvana', of peace, harmony and bliss is life. That is the ultimate goal, the Holy Grail in life. Blissful harmony in this life.

Finding the time to satisfy the physical need for a healthy body. Physical fitness has been a 'part of my routine' for the past 30 years. It has been the one constant that delivered me from many days of negatives. If there is one thing I know about, one thing I promote as much as I do Jung's Individuation Process, it is physical fitness. It has to be part of the routine, integrated into the life. It does require a lifestyle change for most. But the benefits are major. The good health benefits are real. The better quality of life is real. The psychological aspects of a healthy body is also real. So many positives and so few negatives.

And there are other benefits that can 'titillate', such as being told you look 42 when the real age is 60. That happened to me today when getting my hair cut by two young female stylists, and it happens a lot. There is no down side to being healthy. And as long as there is a mature ego there is no harm in the benefits, even when the ego is 'titillated'.

My advice to everyone is to find the time to satisfy the need for a healthy body. I was 29 when I began my interest in physical fitness, lost 40 lbs in a year and learned to discipline myself. They went hand in hand. Anyone can do the same, and if they do there is no reason to believe they too will look 42 when they get to be 60. I don't consider myself exceptional, merely the exception. I try to pattern myself as an example. Not as a 'me' thing but something to share that is positive. Positive for me and those around me. Promoting a positive environment that I desire to live in. A giant step in that quest for Nirvana.

Nirvana is the condition that comes when you’re not compelled by desire or by fear or by social commitments....Joseph Campbell

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 60 Murfreesboro, Tn

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