Category Archives: Wisdom in Action

Just an Interpretation

I had a great conversation this past weekend with my son Clarke. We were talking about the differences between ‘his generation’ and ‘my generation’ (the Boomers), and he shared a perspective I thought was extraordinary and which made me realize our two age groups advocate two very different interpretations of reality.

He believes that one of the biggest problems his generation faces is themselves—because they have grown up in a time in which they have been constantly bombarded with the

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So what have you learned in the last 30 years?

I gave a speech in Buenos Aires last week and was asked to share with folks my ‘bottom line’ on what I have learned coaching people over the past 30 years. Here was the list off the top of my head. On re-reading it, I think this is pretty much the whole story for me. What is your list? Please send it along as a comment.

  • Life is choices. At the end, your life story is just a record of the choices we made.
  • Choices are commitments—not decisions. Gravity doesn’t care why you jumped.
  • Moods are excuses for being less than we are. They blind us to reality and keep us coping with circumstances and whatever else we think is causing our moods.
  • We create our own reality. Life is pretty much what we say it is.
  • Intentions and vision are the same. They are where we come from, the context for whatever it is we are doing.
  • If you want to know what you intend, look at your results. The alternative is to deny our power and responsibility.
  • Possibilities aren’t real—they are created. If they were real, they would be examples.
  • We always get what we resist. Both proponents and opponents of change are frequently pushing in the same direction.
  • Control always produces what we don’t want. It’s the opposite of surrender and generally is grounded in the belief that we are choosing (when in fact, we are just resisting).
  • Clever self-serving people always lose in the end. This is more a matter of faith than actual learning. There are still a lot of slimy scumbags who look like they are ahead for the moment.
  • The best strategy for success is having a sense of humor, acceptance, gratitude and praying for humility.
  • The essence of leadership (and coaching) is love. It’s all about giving people space to be the way they are, as well as space to change.
  • Love is a choice. Therefore, love is a commitment (maybe ‘the’ commitment).

And finally, the list would not be complete without adding that I have learned that no matter how much I have learned, I am still a beginner and there is at least this much

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Divisadero

AARP had an interesting book review of Michael Ondaatje’s new book, Divisadero, that leaves me thinking about how the past affects not only the future but also how we experience the present. Based on the review, it sounds like a well-written and thoughtful yarn. I will pick up a copy at the airport.

The premise of the book reminds me of a provocative question we used to ask in the 70s when the focus was on ‘being here now’ and ‘going with the flow’. The question was:

“Would you want to have 10,000 experiences in your life or live one experience 10,000 times?”

The point being that

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Aging and Poverty

I just came from Sao Paulo—an enormous city of more than 20 million folks. Brazil has about 188 million, a lot of them dealing with poverty every day. They have about 17 million folks over 60 and, like our aging population, that number will almost double by 2025. The biggest difference is that Brazil doesn’t have as much of an economic foundation and social infrastructure to support its older citizens. I was speaking to a friend there who shared his view that very few people in Latin America,

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Sand Art

I am profoundly grateful today for the gift of life and the opportunity to observe. How extraordinary and beautiful this all is. When we consider how miraculous it is that we are here at all, even the difficulty and pain are exquisite.

If I think about my life, it is utterly amazing that I have survived this long and have had such a wealth of experiences—a cornucopia of the good, the bad and the ugly. Perhaps the greatest gift of growing older is to appreciate ALL of it, the marvelous and the

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Procrastination

Jose Ortega Y Gasset said, “The most compelling thing about life is its immediacy. It is fired at us point blank”. I think that says a lot for why we need to learn to live in the moment and not become trapped in our internal conversations about this and that, forever chasing the future that never arrives or dragging the past forward like a yoke….

We live too much of our lives in our head, wishing and wanting things to happen later and regretting and resenting what is already gone … and

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Building Bridges

I was listening to an interview on CBC’s wonderful Sunday program called "Our World”. They were speaking with Charles Taylor, a 76-year-old Canadian philosopher and political activist who was recently awarded the Templeton Prize to research how spiritual aspirations shape society and politics. In this interview, he came across as one of the most optimistic commentators on the state of the world I’ve heard and he was positive without being unrealistic or naïve.

The essence of his message

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Older Americans Month

We’re almost at the end of Older Americans Month. I think it’s a good thing to increase people’s awareness of the contributions of those who might otherwise go unnoticed. But I wonder how many people even knew that was the designation given to the month of May? I confess I didn’t until about a week ago. Older Americans Month (originally Senior Citizens Month until Carter moved to have it renamed in 1980) goes hand in glove with

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Living the Questions

There is a part of each one of us—the dreamer, the romantic, the artist, the creative imagination—that brings forth all possibilities. This part of us never ages, never suffers and is inherently happy, joyous and free.  This core of our being holds our existence in a space of unconditional love of self and another, a space that is both finite and infinite simultaneously. It is the home of feeling whole and completely satisfied.

I enjoyed spending a day with my son today. I was 42 when

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