By Shae Hadden | Bio
It’s difficult these days to not worry about something—what with the economic crisis, pollution, climate change, species extinction, resource depletion and the melting polar ice caps, not to mention the innumerable human conflicts on the planet. Many of our conversations revolve around one or another of these topics, or at least are impacted by the larger global issues we all are facing. And much of what I’m hearing in what people are saying is that they are ‘worried’
By Lauren Selman | Bio
This may seem like a far-reaching question, but really, who is designing our future? Is it is the politicians in marble buildings, or the aspiring college students whose optimism drives them to want to change the world, or is it our unborn?If you are like most people, you may think that designers are the people that decorate the runways of Milan, New York and Los Angeles with glamour, innovation and beauty. Yes, these are designers. But this past weekend, my focus was shifted to designers that I would have never associated with holding the element of change. These new designers look to the planet as their runway and inspire and create new systems and solutions to our present problems. These graphic artists,
By Shae Hadden | Bio
I haven’t lived through the Depression, or participated in a major global conflict. Compared to many people on this planet, I haven’t had a lot of difficulties in my life. But the challenges that I have faced I have been able to survive. If you’d asked me a year ago what made that possible, I would probably have said “sheer will power”. But I’m a little older and a little wiser now. And my answer today has a quality of serenity in it that wasn’t evident back then.Viewing the future as possibility has allowed me to look at everything that’s happening from a very empowering perspective. The future has not occurred yet…it is and always will exist in the domain of possibility. And, as Jim Selman would say, possibilities are not real (if they were, they’d be examples). So being afraid of the future is simply being afraid of what’s possible. It’s up to me to choose which possible future I want to commit to and ‘make real’.
Once
By Kevin Brown | Bio
Recently, I had the privilege of meeting with a local group of leaders that were actively engaged in Eldering activities in the heart of Calgary Alberta, Canada. I was fortunate in that one of those leaders, my Uncle George Hopkins (a gentleman who really espouses the Eldering Principles), shared with me the contribution a group of seniors are making within their community.
George is currently active with a group of elder leaders in his community bringing together seniors
By Jim Selman | Bio
I think one of the saddest things I hear of as I grow older is when real friends become estranged. It isn’t that we can’t have strong disagreements and even periods of disengaging from regular conversations at any age. But when ‘falling outs’ become long-term estrangement, bitter memories, regrets and resentment people we once called friends become burdens or even foes. We pay a heavy price to hold onto whatever stories we tell ourselves to justify our position. Most
By Shae Hadden | Bio
I’m thinking of the term “mid-life change” often these days. No matter what age we are, we are always in mid-life: neither at the beginning, nor at the end…yet. Most people tend to think of mid-life change as something that happens when we’re in our 40s or 50s. But what if we took the view that, while we are alive, we are always in the ‘middle’ of our lives, in the midst of constant change? Would we, perhaps, become more comfortable, less anxious with changes in our lives?I wonder if there is something qualitatively different about mid-life change that makes it worth distinguishing? Countless books have been (and are still being) written about this and about the ‘second half of life’ (which Jim defines as being “whatever we have left”). My perspective is that mid-life—this moment of ‘now’ that we are living (no matter what age we are)—is the best time to love change, to transform ourselves, to dance with the flow of what’s
By Jim Selman | Bio
There is a nice retrospective on the 60s going around the web, a kind of YouTube-type overview of some of the highlights to remember. I am generally not big on trips down memory lane, but this was kind of fun. It seems like a long time ago today when we danced the “Twist” or transformed from bobbie socks and surfer movies into flower children. I realized while watching that we, the ‘Boomers’,
Multigenerational communities, multigenerational households and multigenerational cohousing. There seems to be a real move afoot away from the large subdivisions of single family homes and a heavy reliance on cars. And as the effects of the economic crisis deepen, these types of intentional living arrangements are receiving more interest. Cohousing is a type of intentional community (a community planned, designed and built for people who are committed to living together in community) in which
By Jim Selman | Bio
Paradigm is one of those words that has become so over-used and misused that to say it in polite company or even in a corporate workshop will have eyes roll and people sigh as if the term itself is something to be endured. I am one of those people who say it a lot, have a pretty good idea of what I am talking about, and believe it is important for ordinary people to understand that most of our persistent problems are paradigm problems. That is, our dominant and collective interpretation
By Kevin Brown | Bio
Today is ‘Family Day’, a public holiday in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. It is also celebrated in South Africa, in the Australian Capital Territory, in the state of Arizona in the U.S., and in the Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific.
In Alberta where I live, ‘Family Day’ was declared to recognize the values held by the pioneers who built the province and the values of home and family. It is celebrated on the third