The Power of Imagination in Retirement Planning – Cassandra Vieten, PhD

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The skills that helped you succeed professionally – critical thinking, analysis, judgment and efficiency – may not be the ones to help you create what comes next. Psychologist and researcher Cassandra Vieten, author of Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of Imagination, joins us to explore imagination as a practical skill for navigating transitions.

Cassandra explains why imagination often becomes flattened as we grow older, how to reframe uncertainty to create possibility, and how intentionally imagining alternatives can help us escape habitual ways of thinking.

We discuss the stories we tell ourselves about retirement, Cassandra’s VISTA framework, a powerful future-self exercise, the relationship between mindfulness and imagination, and simple practices for bringing curiosity and possibility back into everyday life. I especially like the way she describes her book: A user’s guide to your imagination.

Cassandra Vieten joins us from San Diego.

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Bio

Cassandra Vieten, PhD is the author of the new book Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of Imagination. She is the Clinical Professor and Director of the Center for Mindfulness at the Centers for Integrative Health in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. She is also Director of Research at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination and Clinical Psychology Director at the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative at UCSD. She is Senior Advisor of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation where she served as Executive Director from 2019-2023, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019. Her research has focused on spirituality and health, transformative experiences and practices, the development of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional well-being, and development of media technologies to inspire awe.

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For More on Cassandra Vieten

Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of Imagination

Website

Take this quiz to learn more abour your own unique imagination profile

and help scientists learn more about how imagination works.

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Other Retirement Podcast Conversations You’ll Also Love

The Future You – Brian David Johnson

The Inspired Retirement – Nathalie Martin

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Wise Quotes

On Reframing Uncertainity

“The thinking mind really likes certainty and categories and competence…and the imagination actually loves uncertainty because uncertainty equals possibility.”

On Tapping into Your Imagination

“Could you spend some time every day purposely giving that analytic mind a break…and let this other aspect of your mind run wild? It takes some practice. Silence your judging mind for a while. Don’t edit right away.”

On The Power of a Beginner’s Mind

“Instead of staying in your little tiny bubble of what you do know, you could be an adventurer. You could be an explorer and say, ‘I want to have a sense of curiosity about what I don’t know.’

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About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.

About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happ