Category Archives: Fearless Aging

Fearless Aging

Lent and the Strangeness of Letting Go

By Shae Hadden | Bio

I’ve been looking for a way to be free all my life. My entire search has, unfortunately, been focused on the practical aspect of ‘holding on’ to whatever I thought would give me freedom: a belief in some system or way of thinking, money, possessions, favorite books that contained ideas that were ‘liberating’, any activity that loosened up my body and mind, people I loved. But now almost nothing is certain in my life, and a deep desire to let go of my attachments to everything and everyone propels me forward.

This sensation is visceral. It’s like a snake wriggling out of its skin, a baby bird struggling to climb out of the nest. What to do when my whole being wants to do something I thought impossible: drop everything I’ve gathered around me (including my clothes and possessions), take one step to the side, and then begin again…buff naked and unencumbered?

A friend was reminding me this is the time of Lent, a time of letting go of what no longer serves us. For some, the focus

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Fearless Aging

Fear

By Jim Selman | Bio

In “A Course in Miracles”, there is an aphorism at the beginning of the book that says “Nothing real can be threatened and nothing unreal exists.” Although I have never formally studied the program, I have read the book and it is a beautiful and compelling insight in the realm of spiritual wisdom. For millions, the Course has given access to a higher power or transformation of their relationship to the world. What I found for myself was a clarity and simplicity that

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Fearless Aging

Worrying

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’

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Fearless Aging

Old Friends

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

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Fearless Aging

Mid-Life Change

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

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Fearless Aging

Nostalgia

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’,

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Fearless Aging

Paradigms

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

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Fearless Aging

Family Day

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

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Fearless Aging

What’s the Game?

By Jim Selman | Bio

The early Boomer retirees are rewriting the book of what ‘freedom from having to earn a living’ means. Of course, there is the rush to enjoy some of the perks of our new-found freedom. But once the lustre of all that unscheduled time wears off, we’re faced with the realization that retirement can also mean the freedom to take on those issues we either didn’t have time for when we were younger or were afraid to risk what we had going at the time for. But for most,

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Fearless Aging

Is it worth it?

By Jim Selman | Bio

We spend a lot of time contemplating what we want to do with the rest of our lives.  Some of us will die asking the question. We spend years contemplating what we want and what could or might happen and dealing with all sorts of breakdowns and problems that, once solved, would allow us to get on with what we really want to do with our lives—until one day we realize that the breakdowns are our life. How often to we try to figure out the right thing to do or to avoid the

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