Serene Ambition started out as a blog site for reflections on aging. While I get distracted by a variety of other interests, I am still interested in how we experience the last portion of our lives. Somewhere in our 50s I think, there is a shift in how most of us relate to the future and ourselves. There is a ‘fork in the road’ where our bodies and our minds begin to move in different directions and age at different speeds. My thesis has always been that how we experience age (and
Another year. This year’s resolutions looked pretty much the same as last year and the year before that so I’ve resolved to stop making New Year’s resolutions. Nonetheless the year-end (or beginning) is a time that calls for taking stock and reflecting on the past and the future. This year the big questions for me have to do with the next 10 years.
I have laughed a lot about how easily I can fall into making just about anything significant. I even made
By Jim Selman | Bio
One of the toughest things we ever learn is to ‘let go’. I can’ t remember all the times I have made resolutions or tried to ‘reinvent’ myself or start over in one way or another. Every time we end a relationship or a job or some deeply ingrained habit (whether voluntary or involuntary) we must confront the break between the certain past and the possible future. And as far as I know there is no way to create and experience a ‘new’ future
By Jim Selman | Bio
As long as I can remember, people have been telling me to relax, enjoy the moment, smell the roses and just take it easy—to live life one day at a time. That’s a challenge when we’re younger, when we have many goals and not a lot of history under our belt. As we age, we eventually realize we’re not going to accomplish everything. So what happens when we realize there are a lot of expectations we have that will never be fulfilled?
In my experience, my ‘ego’ (or
By Jim Selman| Bio
I have a friend who is really upset because she feels she was pressured into a particularly large purchase and not appreciated afterwards. It occurs to me that this could be a concern for many single women, especially as they grow older. We read daily of various scams to help older people part with their money. While I don’t think that women are the only ones affected, they do seem to be targeted more often than not. In the case of my friend, the issue
By 2012, 50% of Americans will be over 60. Most of us can expect the gift of an additional 30 years of life.
What will we do with this gift?
Surviving old age is not enough.
We want to continue living to our highest potential. We want to be valued, to experience well-being, happiness and love, to be fully self-expressed in this last third of our lives. We still have a lot to contribute.
We need
By Jim Selman | Bio
I just finished reading a really good ‘how to’ book by Russell Bishop called Workarounds That Work: How to Conquer Anything That Stands in Your Way at Work. This book is today’s best guide for having our work lives work.
Although I am not generally a fan of ‘how to’ books, especially about the workplace, Bishop has written a book for living well set in the context of work. Moreover, while the book is definitely written for and delivers to people who want tools
By Jim Selman | Bio
Stephanie Chen, a writer for CNN, recently published “No Retirement for These Older Folks, Just Work” about older workers and the fact that more and more people have to keep working well beyond their ‘retirement age’. For some, this is purely a function of economic necessity. For others, it
By Jim Selman | Bio
Someone said to me in a meeting yesterday that there are a billion blogs. The number seemed high, so I did what we all do these days. I went to Google and in about 30 seconds of looking at “How many Blogs are there”, I was assured there are closer to 100 million, with about 175 thousand new ones being created every day. So while the billion estimate was a bit exaggerated, it is obvious that there are a LOT of blogs.
This got me thinking: why so many? A blog is basically
By Jim Selman | Bio
Do we have an economic problem or a spiritual problem?My teacher and friend Dr. Fernando Flores was a candidate for the Presidency of Chile. In one of his speeches, he declared, “We don’t have an economic problem so much as we have a spiritual one…we’ve forgotten who we are…we lack a vision and purpose for our nation”. He dropped out of the presidential race, but this phrase has stayed with me. I think it is true of most nations, including our own.
There is a maxim that states, “A vision without action is just a dream.