Life happens while we are having conversations with ourselves and other people.
Not learning from others may have a lot to do with not truly ‘listening’ to what others say. Listening is the context that makes life intelligible, allows anything to have meaning, and forms the basis for all communication (both written and spoken). It is a whole lot more than just ‘hearing’ the words that are spoken. I’m always listening, always bringing a prior interpretation or understanding of my world
Yesterday was Philanthropy Day. I went to a luncheon for 1,300 people in San Francisco hosted by one of my favorite ‘causes’, the Pachamama Alliance. The organization was founded 12 years ago by Bill and Lynne Twist as a partnership between the indigenous peoples of the Rainforest and the modern world. They prefer to say the Alliance found them. The purpose of the Alliance is to create a world that is “environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just”. It would seem
By Rick Fullerton | Bio
Being over sixty and having five grown children, it comes as no surprise that my wife and I look forward to grandchildren. Like many close-knit families, we treasure the time our kids have had with their grandparents. Visits to the island summer home in Mahone Bay or to my mother in Grand Lake offered life-shaping experiences when the extended family came to be together. These times were not just about having fun or creating enduring memories: they were unique opportunities to learn and grow individually and as part of a larger family.Yet
reflecting on the place of grandparents in families and in our evolving
society raises several questions and possible insights. As a child, I
knew only three of my four grandparents—my dad’s father having died
many years before my birth. Similarly, none of our children even met my
dad as he died when I was 12. On the other hand, our two granddaughters
have all four grandparents and knew two of their great-grandmothers.
At
the other end of life’s spectrum,
By Shae Hadden | Bio
How often have you caught yourself ‘tuning out’ when listening to a friend, family member or acquaintance? Or had someone point out that you aren’t really listening to them?We have all, at one time or another, done so—whether consciously or not. I discovered a few years ago that I had developed a habit of trying hard to ‘push’ my perspective on some of my close personal relationships. When they didn’t listen, I withdrew and stopped listening to them. I don’t know a more effective way to seal oneself off from other people. Not only can it lead to boredom, but it can sound the death knell for love. And it is a lonely tragedy often replayed
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Has your phone service been changed to another telephone
I was speaking about the future with my son recently over an obscenely large steak at an Argentinian restaurant in Mexico City. We’d just seen a real ‘shoot ’em up’ film which just happened to be called Shoot ’em Up. The hero, a kind of homeless James Bond, lives on the street, reminiscent of Lee Child’s character Jack Reach. They are both tougher than tough guys, the kind of character who make the bad guys feel bad that they ever met. Last night’s film was about 500 guys
A Happy Thanksgiving Day tribute to all our elder friends in Canada!
Thanks for the Elders
You have made my life richer.
And you have made me see the world anew
By bringing your perspective to my life.
Grateful am I for every moment of your time,
Every sharing of your wisdom and experience,
Each intention clarified and held,
But more than these…I am honoured to ‘listen’
To who you are and what you stand for.
Perspective really is everything. When Barb and Jim tell friends they’re ‘out of town’, they’re not necessarily where you might expect them to be. They may actually be just down the street or in a neighbouring community in the cosmopolitan city in which they live. To this retired couple, being ‘away from home’ translates into days or weeks spent in someone else’s home, soaking up the ambience of the neighbourhood, re-creating days spent in foreign cities, immersing themselves in
Letting go is a big part of growing older. If letting go as we age
means experiencing terrible losses to us, then we’ll feel as if
whatever we are attached to is being snatched away as the years pass
by. The key to serenity is to let go voluntarily.
There’s a difference between letting go as a choice and succumbing to
the inevitable. For example, since we can’t do anything about global
warming, we become resigned and decide we might as well let it go—by
which we really
After seeing the movie The 11th Hour, I have been thinking a lot about The Eldering Institute. The idea all along has been a strategy for mobilizing a lot of people, both retired and younger to “take on intractable problems”. The foundation for this has been the observation that most older people want to make a difference and leave the planet in better shape than we found it, and younger