By Charles E. Smith | Bio
This is my personal journey, how I came from seeing organizations as static objects, to seeing them as interacting energy fields. It began six years ago, when I was the owner of a 16-person organization development and training firm. We helped companies with strategic visioning, culture change projects, coaching programs, and project effectiveness. I built the business from a $25.00-a-day practice in 1969 to over $2.5 million in annual revenues in 1993, with the
By Shae Hadden | Bio
Spring is in the air today. The first crocuses blaze their yellow glory at me from across the lawn. I’m staring into the sky blue expanse above the mountain ridge, and wondering why I’ve chosen to move from this place. The quiet location and the natural environment were perfect for me when I moved in a year and a half ago. And now these four walls and many of the things gathered around me loom like barriers to living full out. The friendships I had before I moved have all, save for a few, disintegrated. Some people have dropped out of my life entirely. Others, still present, relate to me in very different ways than before. Similarly, the activities we used to do together have disappeared from the picture as well. I am changed. My inner transformation has created outer changes in my circumstances and relationships. I find myself attracted to the ‘New Me’ and distracted by, even uncomfortable with, the ‘Old Me’. Holding on to anything from my past would seem to be an exercise in futility. I sense an overwhelming urge to ‘clean house’, to empty my life of what no longer serves. It’s said that, as we journey through life, we find ourselves letting go of people, places and things that no longer align with who we are. While I’m grateful for everyone and everything in my life today, I’m also realizing that transformation has a price: we must let go of who we have been and what we once treasured to become who we are choosing to be. I’ve decided I’m going to do a bit of spring-cleaning this afternoon. I just wonder what my empty house will fill up with next…?We had another meeting of the Old Souls group—my buddies from over the years who get together every few months to share our lives and experience as we grow older. We’ve been at it since 2001 and it is a special opportunity not only to be with friends, but also to have the kind of reflective space that empowers each of us in our own lives. The wife of one of our members marvels at how rare it is to find a group of men who are willing to be so open, vulnerable and supportive.
I have belonged
By Rick Fullerton | Bio
On reflection, I see several factors that contribute to this expanding range of interests:
So
for me (as for others), life occurs as this continuing stream of
experiences where we respond to what shows up for us and what interests
us moment to moment within the structures we find ourselves. The
challenge, it seems, is to gain a different perspective and
relationship with what’s happening.
To complicate things
further, along with the barrage of information and options
I have been a bit ambivalent about ‘Christmas Letters’. They seem to have caught on and now I get a few dozen long ones each year. I appreciate the time that goes into writing them and I am glad to get some sense of what is happening in the lives of far-away friends. However, I must confess I’m a ‘scanner’ and that I don’t give them the time or reflection they deserve.
In some ways, Christmas letters remind me of all my failed intentions to stay in touch with people during the year.
Moods are central to our lives. There isn’t a time when we are not in one mood or another. For most of us, our moods are organizing how we feel, what we do and how we explain just about everything to ourselves most of the time. For example, can you remember the last time you said, “I am happy” or “I am unhappy” without following the statement with “because”? No, we always have a story for why we are in whatever mood we’re in—whether it is a good one or a bad one.
I often ask
I always know my ideas are good when everyone else seems to be having the same ones. A few months ago, we were engaged in discussions about what Eldering is and had what seemed like a breakthrough at the time in seeing eldering as the process of “intergenerational collaboration through which we can create a common future”. Since then I have discovered that this is not only not a new idea, but one that is taking off like wildfire. This intergenerational
I caught a Larry King interview the other night in which he
was speaking with a bunch of positive-thinking gurus about their
beliefs and theories. One of the questions he asked was, “Do you have
any bad days”? Most of them said they don’t have bad days, and a couple
said that they still have ‘bumps’ in the road but recover quickly. I
got to thinking about my own life and concluded that I too can claim
that I don’t have bad days, although some are more challenging than
others.
How
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
Finding balance in life has been a concern of mine for a long time.
From the number of times it comes up in conversation, it appears to be
a major concern for many others as well. My struggle for balance came
to a head recently with a series of inexplicable dizzy spells.
Admittedly, I’ve been running non-stop since my mother passed away
suddenly two years ago—abandoning a work situation where I felt
inspired but unappreciated, leaving a 20-year relationship