Fearless Aging

Being 21 in the 21st Century

   By Lauren Selman | Bio

I was walking through beautiful San Francisco yesterday, humming
to myself and thinking, "Wow, I’m 21 in the 21st century." And then I
thought:

  • What does it mean to be aging with time?
  • What does it mean to be getting older with each century that passes?
  • How am I part of the "next generation" as well as being a witness to the upcoming generation?
  • What is it like to be a teacher and a student?

As I pondered on where to start, I, like Alice in her mysterious Wonderland, began at the beginning.

What does it mean to be 21?

I
am no longer a teenager and people are beginning to look at me more as
an ‘adult’. At this point in life, I can legally go to the bar and
drink

read more
News

Caring for Your Parents

Do you have a unique perspective or a provocative question about caring for elderly family members?

WGBH Lab, part of the Boston-based PBS station, is looking for ‘real people’ stories. They are inviting anyone who cares for or has cared for aging relatives (or knows someone who has) to submit a 3-minute video story by February 22nd about how the experience has changed their lives and relationships. A selection of 10 to 20 of the submitted pieces will be posted on the WGBG Lab website

read more
Wisdom in Action

Legacy

I was having a conversation recently with an old friend who is deeply committed to a spiritual practice intended to release us from the vicious cycle of ego and our addiction to the material world. I was sharing about Serene Ambition and my commitment to do what I can to encourage our generation to ‘make a difference’ and leave the world in better shape than we found it—to leave a legacy of possibility to those who come behind us.

My friend pointed out that this is a terrific focus for service

read more
Fearless Aging

Curiosity

I have been thinking about the process of growing older for a long time. In my 30s, I discovered I had all sorts of stereotypes about old people (which for me at that age was anyone over 60) and that most of my notions were just plain wrong. For example, I learned though conversations with a number of older friends that most people aren’t afraid to die after a certain point—but they are afraid to die without having left a mark or without having been able to pass on their life’s experience

read more
Learning

Depression: Nature & Laughter

By Stu Whitley | Bio

Another
balm to the damaged soul lies outdoors. The natural world, with its
fixed cycles of life, degeneration and recuperation, is a soothing
reminder that all passes eventually.

There’s a harsher truth
as well: the world is indifferent. It is neither fair nor unfair; it
simply is. Outdoors, if one is careless, disaster can easily happen.
Rushing streams and precipitous inclines may be beautiful to
contemplate, but they are neutral on the issue of

read more
Retirement

When to Retire

I am getting to a point in my life where I am thinking a lot about what I am doing, why am I doing it, and how am I going about doing what I do. For example, if I look at my schedule for the next month, I am in France, Brazil, Mexico, Eastern and Western Canada, the United States and Argentina. I love the work I am doing, and this kind of travel regimen didn’t used to bother me too much. I have my travel routines down pretty well and rarely have problems—although it still takes about 3 extra

read more
Wisdom in Action

Ethical Will or Intergen Conversation?

By Shae Hadden | Bio

I was reading an article about ethical wills recently that got me wondering about what kind of legacy I might leave behind if I were to die tomorrow. This type of ‘leave behind’ document—like diaries, journals, books, letters and photo albums—are usually loving prepared over the course of several years. Nowadays, we also have innumerable opportunities to record our lives and thoughts online to share with friends and family. So why bother going to the trouble of preparing an ethical will in addition to a legal will?

According to the article, an ethical will offers us an opportunity to communicate with loved ones on paper. We can share things like:

  • Our values
  • Our life history
  • Our regrets and our gratitude
  • The lessons we’ve learned
  • Our hopes for the future

It saddens me to think of these being communicated in a will. True, sharing lessons learned in a document as one approaches death or as one’s last words after death is better than not communicating them at all.

But I see more value if we can use the document as a starting point for conversation with younger family members and friends while we

read more
Wisdom in Action

Creativity II

Read Creativity I.

Now it’s easy to hear this conversation about ‘standing in possibilities’ of what the future might be as some sort of optimism versus pessimism discussion—the “Just be happy” versus “There’s no hope” maxims. I am not suggesting this at all. Optimism and pessimism are grounded in positive or negative predictions of the future. Changing how we observe is not a function of prediction: it is a function of commitment.

I predict that the future is likely

read more
Learning

Shanghaied Again

OR "You Can Never Get Enough of What You Don’t Want" 

By Charles E. Smith |Bio

A man is sitting in a bar having a beer,
eating cashews and at peace with the world. A pretty woman sits next to
him. He buys her a drink and after a bit she promises him that he can
have whatever he wants, which is usually what he is not getting at the
moment in relationship or what he is getting that he wishes he didn’t
have. He gets interested and then someone

read more