Young adults who like being at home with their parents are now trend-setters. If the recent economic crisis has you looking at moving back home to live with family, you’re not alone. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, from 2000 to 2007, there has been a 67% increase in the number of Americans who are living with an adult as head of their household
All posts by Jim Selman
Beyond the Bailout: Convert to Debt-Free Money
By David Korten | Website
Reprinted from "Sustainable Happiness," the Winter 2009 YES! Magazine
284 Madrona Way NE Ste 116, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. Subscriptions: 800/937-4451
This brings us to the most important reform of all:
changing the way we create money. One key to Wall Street’s power and to
the inherent instability of the financial system is the current
practice of private banks creating money with a simple bookkeeping
Giving and Getting
By Jim Selman | Bio
We’re in the middle of the holiday season and, from all reports, we’re buying a lot less ‘stuff’. Yet from where I am sitting, it looks like there is a lot more ‘giving’. I see and hear about more ‘charity’—from giving some paper money to the homeless man we pass everyday to my father’s adopting an out-of-work mother and three children who are members of his church community. A lot of people seem to be generally nicer to each other, which is a wonderful gift anytime.I suppose you can attribute this kind of mood-shift to the increasingly tough times and say it is just an anomaly of people pulling together in a crisis. On the other hand, however, consider that all this “economic meltdown” news and conversation may be just symptomatic of something much deeper and profound. I think this is the ‘wake up call’ that reminds us how interconnected we all are and that none of us is going to ‘make it through’ this economic storm alone.
We’ve
Resignation
By Jim Selman | Bio
I have said many times that I view one of the biggest threats to our way of life (and at least the medium-term future) is widespread and institutionalized =&0=&. Resignation is a mood that most of us have experienced and many are experiencing today. It is a worldview devoid of possibility. It is the perspective that ‘nothing can be done’ and ‘nothing will really make a difference’. It is giving up, but in a way that justifies and rationalizes that giving up is the rational and reasonable thing to do. The benefit of resignation is that we can stop thinking or struggling.There is a difference between true ‘acceptance of those things I cannot change’ and resignation. Resignation is not a choice; it is a succumbing to the circumstances and buying into a ‘no possibility’ scenario. I was sitting next to a man last week from Mexico discussing the Mexican government’s campaign against drug cartels. He assured me that all the effort and all the lives that have been lost are meaningless and that corruption and organized crime are a permanent
Beyond the Bailout: Measure What We Really Want
By David Korten | Website
Reprinted from "Sustainable Happiness," the Winter 2009 YES! Magazine
284 Madrona Way NE Ste 116, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. Subscriptions: 800/937-4451
The only legitimate function of an economic system
is to serve life. At present, however, we assess economic performance
solely against financial indicators—gross domestic product (GDP) and
stock prices—while disregarding social and environmental consequences.
Aging in Place in San Fransisco
San Fransisco Village-Northside (SFV-N), a non-profit, membership-based, aging-in-place program, has partnered with the city’s Institute on Aging (IOA) to provide affordable support to seniors so they can live independently as long as possible. The SFV-N program offers seniors an alternative to assisted living facilities. Members enjoy the benefits of social connection, volunteer
Beyond the Bailout: Self-Finance the Real Economy
By David Korten | Website
Reprinted from "Sustainable Happiness," the Winter 2009 YES! Magazine
284 Madrona Way NE Ste 116, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. Subscriptions: 800/937-4451
Far from serving the financial needs of Main Street, Wall Street treats
Main Street like a colony to be managed for the benefit of its colonial
master. In alliance with the Federal Reserve, Wall Street players have
used a combination of control over the money supply, predatory
Coaching
By Jim Selman | Bio
In 1976 I was working with some government employees in Virginia trying to implement a new system for integrating human services—a kind of one-stop shop for all the various services offered at that time. I had just finished the est training the previous July and was overwhelmed with my own experience and the idea that a person could transform themselves and their relationship to everything. Until then, I had bought into the belief that people don’t really change in fundamental ways, that personalities are fairly fixed, and that it requires a major crisis to shift our perceptions of reality. It was during that period that I formulated the idea that there were things that could be managed or taught and other things that could not be managed or taught but that could be “coached”. The difference had to do with how we observe others and ourselves and how we relate to power and responsibility.This was a time before the concept of organizational culture had appeared in the business lexicon. I don’t think I even heard the word ‘paradigm’ until about 1980 or so. Peter Drucker was about the only popular writer on the subject of management. This was a time when people thought in terms of careers spanning a lifetime and many even expected to work for one or perhaps two companies for life. Tom Peter’s landmark book, “
20 Minutes
Doing 20 minutes a day of mild exercise (like walking, swimming or dancing) can help counter slight memory loss and improve your fluency. Recent research in people over 50 also suggests that the benefits of this small amount of daily exercise can last from 12 to 18 months and may even help those who are at risk for Alzheimers (those who exhibit mild cognitive decline). Being active not only improves blood flow to the brain, but it also relieves stress and enhances mood.
Beyond the Bailout: Play by Market Rules
By David Korten | Website
Reprinted from "Sustainable Happiness," the Winter 2009 YES! Magazine
284 Madrona Way NE Ste 116, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. Subscriptions: 800/937-4451
Once we extinguish the immediate fire, we can turn
our attention to redesigning the potentially beneficial institutions of
finance to align with the imperatives of sustainability and equity.
Ironically, given the excesses committed by Wall Street in the name