Category Archives: Wisdom in Action

Wisdom in Action

Coming of Age: The Collaborative Generation

By Jim Selman | Bio

There was an interesting article in the New York Times on Generation OMG speculating on the impact of the current economic crunch on our younger generations. It compares some of the conventional wisdom about the impact of the “Great Depression” on our parents with views on how the “Great Recession” will affect our children. The conclusion is that nobody knows, although most believe that living in tough times does affect how people see the world and can forge a generation’s ‘way of being’.

I am not sure I believe this—it is too deterministic and there are too many exceptions and generalizations to buy the theory. Nonetheless, it can be a useful inquiry.

My father is a conservative man who made practical choices throughout his life. He stayed in the military after WWII because it was a more reliable option than taking risks in the private sector, given his responsibility for raising a family. Was this a product of being a teenager in the Depression or a product

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Wisdom in Action

Back to the Rhythm

By Jim Selman | Bio

I am returning from an experience I didn’t expect to have. I have just come back from being on a two-week safari in Tanzania with Richard Leider and a group of 7 other men between 55 and 70. Richard is a consultant, author and leader in the field of “Positive Aging” and has been leading groups to Africa for many years. We were going on both an adventure and what he calls an “inventure”—a deep and reflective journey

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Wisdom in Action

The Care and Feeding of Seniors

By Kevin Brown | Bio

You must forgive the title of this post, especially if you view aging the way that I view aging: as a natural progression of life that embodies endless possibilities. This view is the core reason why I joined the Eldering Institute, an organization that promotes a life of power, purpose and possibility for Elders. I choose to live in a world in which individuals, regardless of age, are committed to continually creating new possibilities for their lives.  I am speaking

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Wisdom in Action

What are you being counted on for?

By Jim Selman | Bio

Russell Bishop’s posting about ‘The Blame Game’ is right on the money. He uses the term “responsibility” as meaning the ability to respond —literally “response – ability”. I share his definition and am always asking people to see that responsibility has nothing to do with causality (as in who did it or who will do it). Responsibility is a relationship to the circumstances, a way of being—a declaration that we always have a choice. Anything we’re not responsible for, we are a victim of.

But there is another term we sometimes confuse with responsibility and it can be an enormous source of mischief in most situations. The term is accountability. Now this word is also often misunderstood as someone’s job description or duty. I prefer to think of it as ‘count-on-ability’, the ability to be counted on for something. We can be responsible for all of it, but we still need to divide the work to be done and count on each other to deliver on what we promise.

The

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Wisdom in Action

Eldering Report

By Kevin Brown | Bio

Recently, I had the privilege of meeting with a local group of leaders that were actively engaged in Eldering activities in the heart of Calgary Alberta, Canada.  I was fortunate in that one of those leaders, my Uncle George Hopkins (a gentleman who really espouses the Eldering Principles), shared with me the contribution a group of seniors are making within their community.

George is currently active with a group of elder leaders in his community bringing together seniors

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Wisdom in Action

My Funny Valentine

By Jim Selman | Bio

This is one of those nights when I am up early in Madrid—still having a little ‘time zone’ fatigue. I am writing today’s blog while listening to Miles Davis play “My Funny Valentine” on my headset. Now for those who are into music and listen to it all the time, this may seem like a “so what?” But strange as it seems and even though I enjoy music when I hear it, I am not very conscious of it. Music is just background for me most of the time. The other day I was talking to a friend who also does a lot of blogging who said she couldn’t think of writing without carefully choosing the music to listen to while she is writing. So, here I am at four in the morning listening to my jazz favorites on iTunes.

Valentine’s Day is coming up in a couple of days and it has me thinking about romance. I am a romantic and always have been. I think I may be getting more romantic as I get older. This has me wondering what romance is. Diana Kroll is singing “You may call it romance, but I call it love”. The fact is that romance is a lot of what I think makes life worth living. Romance isn’t just about seducing the ‘objects of our desire’. Maybe it is the recognition that the ‘other’

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Wisdom in Action

Already Listening

By Jim Selman | Bio

There is a phenomenon I point to in my work called “already listening”. This is akin to the ‘little voice’ in our heads that goes on and on about everything. It is our internal and automatic ‘judgment muscle’. It is called already listening because it is what we bring to a conversation before anyone speaks. It is the “pre” filter that is always organizing what we think. It is not the same as hearing. We can all hear the same thing, but not ‘listen’ the same

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Wisdom in Action

Spectator

By Jim Selman | Bio

What is it about us that generates such endless fascination with conflict and suffering around the world? As I am watching Israel’s war with Hamas and the occupation of Gaza, I become resigned that the situation there will never be resolved and I fall into a kind of ‘funk’ about the Middle East mess in general. Now I don’t know all that much—just what I get from television, magazines and conversations with friends who don’t know much more than I do. I have become

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Wisdom in Action

Compassion

By Jim Selman | Bio

Compassion is word that for me has special significance at Christmas, partly because it is the quality of “being love” embodied in the stories of Jesus and most of the great spiritual masters and reincarnations of God throughout the ages. It is also because it may be the ultimate gift we can give each other and ourselves during this special season of giving (as well as at every other time of year). When times are tough, compassion is sometimes all we have to give.

Compassion is not ‘feeling’ bad for others. It is not sympathy.

Compassion is a deep emotional and spiritual connection and recognition of others and ourselves. It is the profound experience of ‘otherness’ and the nature of who we are. Compassion is, I think, love at its purest and most primal level. Compassion is the line between human beings and other animals. It is the choice to be alive and present and acknowledge that each of us is making or can exercise that choice

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Wisdom in Action

Christmas 2008

By Jim Selman | Bio

Well, here we are, another Christmas Day, almost another year gone by and people everywhere are at home or, if not, are hopefully getting ‘something special’. I am saying a special ‘thanks’ to all those people who are working today so the rest of us can relax and do whatever it is we’re doing on Christmas day—the soldiers, the firemen, the police, the health care workers and even lots of people in the hospitality and transportation industries.

I woke up today thinking about other Christmas mornings when I was a child or when my own children were young. There is nothing quite like the squeal of anxious toddlers peering with wonder at gifts left by the magical Santa. I remember one Christmas when we left chocolate kisses on the stairs for the children to follow while “Jingle Bells” played on the stereo. The memory fills me with joy and happiness and just a touch of nostalgia for those times when we were young.

There

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