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
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.
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
I have been reading an interesting book that is a mix of historical thriller and modern mystery called Labyrinth by Kate Moss. It spans history from the Middle Ages to the present and raises all sorts of ‘what-is-life-all-about’ questions. For me, it opened
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
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,
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
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
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
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
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