I don’t think it is news to anyone that we experience life through its contrasts. We don’t notice or appreciate hot until we get cold; we can take kindness for granted until it goes missing; we typically put off taking care of our health until it starts to deteriorate. At this moment, I am half-way through the longest trip of my life—mostly work with some vacation thrown in around the edges. Consequently, I am very present to how important ‘home’ is to me now that I am away from it
All posts by Jim Selman
The World We Want: The Big Picture
By David Korten | Great Turning website
Many
of us have been anticipating the day of reckoning for our reckless
human ways for decades. That day has arrived. Peak oil, climate chaos,
financial collapse, and spreading social disintegration are all
consequences of deep cultural and institutional dysfunction. The
imperative to address them presents us with an epic test of our human
intelligence and creativity.
When I was a student in business
school my professors always told us "Go for the
Madrid
Today is a holiday in Madrid. There must be a million people on the streets. There is a lots of military pomp, soldiers marching by the review stand near my hotel, and five planes flying overhead. The weather is beautiful and life is good. I am always delighted to have a day off when I am in a city to just experience ‘being here’. Madrid’s downtown core is beautiful—great old buildings, wide avenues, a magnificent palace with a living monarch, and a great ‘old town’
Nextville
Barbara Corcoran, weekly real estate contributor to NBC’s Tonight Show and columnist for the New York Daily News, with Warren Berger, recently published an interesting book about finding out where you belong in the next act of your life. Nextville: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life offers readers a "Happily Ever After" real estate quiz that helps determine the types of lifestyles and
On Surpressing Energy
By Charles E. Smith | Bio
Over
the years, I have seen and recognized the enormous effect of the CEO’s
personality and ‘way of being’ on the energy of a company. All
personalities have limitations and drawbacks. But when somebody has the
top position in a system, the effect of what they focus on and what
they suppress is immense. Whatever a CEO’s automatic way of relating to
the world, whatever their way of dealing with relationships, or with
conflict,
Priceless Gifts
By Rick Fullerton | Bio
My last blog anticipated the arrival of a new grandchild, and now I am pleased to announce that Angus Fullerton Beauregard arrived on March 14th—much to the delight of family and friends! As grandparents, it seems appropriate to us that he shares Einstein’s birthday.
Births, like graduations and marriages, are major milestones of life. These events trigger other feelings and reflections, in addition to the natural joy of celebration. For example, newborns bring concerns
The Cost of Comfort
By Shae Hadden | Bio
It’s so easy to get ‘comfortable’ with the circumstances of our lives—even when they are uncomfortable or when we can see that they may very likely lead to discomfort. It’s almost natural, sometimes even expected, that we complain about what’s ‘not right’ or ‘not perfect’ in our lives. But complaining (to ourselves or others) doesn’t change anything and we’re left ‘adapting’ ourselves to living with whatever is contributing to our discomfort.
Complaining
Every Human Has Rights
The Elders are working with a wide range of organizations to remind the world that much work remains to be done to protect the human rights of all women and promote women’s leadership. To mark the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, the Elders are running the Every Human Has Rights campaign. They are asking for 1 billion individuals, rather than governments,
Toward an Ethic of Aging II
By Stuart J. Whitley | Bio
Ethics concerns the attempt by disciplined discernment to identify moral options available in a given case, around which there is some general agreement. Professional societies and other groups, through statements of ethical standards or codes of conduct, attempt to assert rules about rightness of conduct that rise above the minimum standards of the law. This is most often referred to as ‘applied ethics’.
Morals involve the identification of what is good about a person’s
Fast Train
It seems appropriate on this Earth Day that I am scooting along the French countryside at about 180 mph on one of Eurostar’s fast trains on my way to Amsterdam. I decided that the chance to spend a few hours away from hotels and airports might be a refreshing change. I was right. The scenery is lovely and the ride comfortable. If governments and organizations could move this fast, there is no telling what could be accomplished.
I have been working a lot this trip with the question of how to get