In this reflective episode of Retirement Made to Order, Lee Gale Gruen shares how moments of beauty can provide a welcome refuge from the pressures of everyday life. Drawing on a memorable visit to an Alexander Calder exhibition, she explores how art, nature, and thoughtfully chosen environments can calm the mind, lift the spirit, and remind us to step outside our worries. Lee encourages viewers to intentionally seek places and experiences that inspire awe, offering a simple yet powerful way to cultivate greater peace and perspective throughout retirement.
Lee Gale Gruen is a regular Podcast contributor for The Transitions Network. She is an actress, author, speaker, and blogger. She focuses on how retirees can customize their retirement to fit their own personalities, interests, and comfort level.
WEBSITE: https://leegalegruen.com
EMAIL: gowergulch@yahoo.com
BLOG: “Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years”:https://leegalegruen.wordpress.com
BOOKS ON AMAZON.COM:
“Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy, Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire” https://tinyurl.com/33x9vmcx
“Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class” https://tinyurl.com/5d3yycjw
Click to see Full Transcript
Lee Gale Gruen (00:01.324)
Hello, welcome or welcome back to my podcast Retirement Made to Order. I went to a wonderful exhibit several years ago at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I toured the display of Alexander Calder’s airy, spellbinding mobiles and was transported to a fairy land. For those few moments I forgot about the
Crushing heat outside, my personal issues and anxieties, and the world and its demands. I hung out with Calder’s gifts to us all. The mobiles float, they waver, they tremble, like the fragile human beings we all are. Each was a jewel in its own right, and was accompanied by a description, some poetic, which set the stage.
For the awe and amazement the work the work inspired. One I remember in particular had a vivid narrative written by Jean Paul Sartre in nineteen sixty three after a visit to Calder studio. He described the magical mobiles he saw as lyrical, technical, and mathematical symbols of nature, unable to ascertain if they were a result of cause and effect.
Or the evolution of an idea. Calder, who studied mathematical engineering as a young man, died in 1976. I was in my thirties then. The lesson I took away: enjoy the natural and man-made beauty around you. It transports you for an instant and enables you to take shelter from that hurricane that is your life.
And focus on something other than your own self-involved self. I’m Lee Gail Gruen. I hope you’ll visit me again here on my podcast, Retirement Made to Order, hosted by the Transitions Network. I will be regularly posting new podcasts. Feel free to contact me if you want to comment on any of my podcasts.
Lee Gale Gruen (02:29.378)
You’ll find my email address in the information that follows, or in the description section at the beginning of each of my podcasts, along with links to my website, my blog, and my two books available on Amazon.com. Goodbye for now.