By Kevin Brown | Bio
In last week’s post, I discussed how care for family Caregivers, especially when the provision of care occurs over prolonged periods, can leave the Caregiver drained of energy and in need of care themselves. I noted that Caregivers should endeavor to maintain their own health, keep up their social network, stay involved with family and share the caregiving.
One gentlemen responded with appreciation for the post, but also noted that for him (and perhaps
Bill Moyers recently interviewed Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, one of America’s leading educators and sociologists, about her new book, The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 years after 50. This book traces the stories of 40 people who choose to do work that is meaningful and who create their own unique ways
By Jim Selman | Bio
I saw a Canadian documentary film last evening called “An Examined Life” by Astra Taylor. It was a series of ten-minute ‘lecturettes’ by notable intellectuals on a variety of questions, all more or less about the meaning of life and how do we make a difference. Everything was filmed as the speakers walked the streets (mostly in New York), which provided interesting backgrounds and added great value to the production. Unfortunately, the backgrounds often distracted from
By Shae Hadden
I don’t want to look in the mirror today. There’s a funny old woman staring back at me, and I can’t quite figure out who she is or where she belongs. Certainly not in my mirror! But there she is, plain as day. Wrinkled and wizened, meditating for nothingness, yet still wanting to save the world.
Perhaps I should do as Japanese poet Nanao Sakaki suggests:
"To stay young,
To save the world,
Break the mirror."
© 2009 Shae Hadden. All rights reserved.
By Jim Selman | Bio
Do you remember when networks of computers first arrived on the scene? Moving information onto the new technological platform decentralized and dispersed information and knowledge, a move that resulted in a significant communications revolution that still has repercussions today. Giving people the ability to access and share what had previously existed only on paper or in the minds of certain individuals not only sped up the rate of transactions, but also freed individuals from a certain amount of manipulation.Some resisted the move to computers, feeling threatened by what they perceived as a loss of control—they equated giving up the ‘management’ of ‘their’ information and knowledge as a threat to their power. Ironically, organizations eventually embraced computers as a means to ‘manage’ knowledge, creating complex online systems to store and share the experience and expertise of their employees.
We’re now witnessing an
By Shae Hadden | Bio
Spring flowers bloom passionately on this sunny West Coast day, birds are preparing nests for their young and people run madly by me as I sit by the ocean and ponder what it takes to survive in these times. My search for a place to live has not yet been entirely successful, and the conversations I’ve had reveal both desperation and gnawing hesitation in myself and others to actually put a stake in the ground—metaphorically speaking—and declare that this is the future we are committing to. It’s almost as if, with so much uncertainty about so many things in our lives, we are afraid to take a chance—whether on an investment, a potential tenant, a business expense or a relationship.What do we lose when we put aside possibility and focus on surviving?
I think that we lose touch with our courage and creativity. When things look difficult, change is tumultuous and our internal sense of balance is thrown off kilter, we often forget there is a silver lining to the economic doom and gloom. We now have an opportunity to return to the heart of things, to simplify our lives, to free ourselves from practices that might have had us living beyond our means.
There
Prepare to be touched, moved and inspired by this YouTube video of Susan Boyle singing on a British talent show.
By Kevin Brown | Bio
My lovely wife has spent her day=&0=&By Shae Hadden | Bio
The algae bloom on the lagoon where I’m housesitting seems symbolic of the state I’m in these days. Long-forgotten, half-hidden ideas seem to be coming to the forefront of my thinking and showing the richness of their colors and their impact on my life. Like my belief that “fear is toxic”. A belief that has been stored for years in my body and which I’m now choosing to let go of.It’s true that fear triggers certain physiological responses in our bodies: adrenalin gets released, our heart rate increases, and all the normal ‘fight or flight’ responses come into play. And when fear is a constant in our lives, it becomes a constant in our bodies as well. My belief has been that it acts like a toxin, something harmful to our health and wellbeing, something that drains our energy and limits our ‘aliveness’. Over time, it can become a source of
By Jim Selman | Bio
I’m half-way through the safari. We’ve experienced total immersion in the Hadze culture, experienced the world’s eighth natural wonder—the Ngorongoro Crater—and the world’s largest zoo—a 10 mile by 12 mile caldera with 1,800 foot walls. We’re now in the Serengeti. As luck would have it, we’ve connected with part of the great migration of plains animals—hundreds of thousands of primarily wildebeest and zebra.
It is easy to imagine what