Tag Archives: service

Wisdom in Action

Harold’ Story – Part 1

By Stuart J. Whitley | Bio

“O body swayed to music,O brightening glance,How can we know the dancer from the dance?”—W.B. Yeats, "Among School Children" (1928)

  
I had lunch with an old friend, a Tlingit elder, Harold, today. I’ve known Harold for nearly a dozen years. And I know him to be a serious, thoughtful man; he’s someone who has taught me many things, not the least of which was the powerful consequence of even the smallest positive intervention in someone’s life. I have seen it in action: Harold is the embodiment of Emerson’s dictum that it is one of the most beautiful compensations of

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Wisdom in Action

Caregiving: A Family Responsibility

By Kevin Brown | Bio

Recently I was reading a blog post by Paul Span and the associated stream of comments in the New York Times concerning the use of contracts between a family member providing care, a family member receiving care, and other family members. I must say that initially I found the idea of a contract somewhat disturbing. I realize that the idea bothers me because I hold the

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Wisdom in Action

The Real Magic of MIchael

By Jim Selman | Bio

I remember a Harvard Lampoon edition of the New York Post back during the cold war. At the top of the page, ½-inch letters proclaimed the headline: “Russia drops the Big One—World War III Declared”. Right below the enormous NY Post-style 6’’-wide banner was the headline “MICHAEL JACKSON DIES”. It was funny then, but it is not so funny now that he has, in fact, like Elvis before him, become a force of history. I am reminded of the Lampoon as I watch the round-the-clock all-channel coverage following Michael Jackson’s death. It seems to me he is getting more airtime than Sammy Davis, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra all put together. Who else could have pushed the Iranian election crisis to the back burner?

I confess I am of a different generation than the Michael Jackson phenomenon. I have never been to a concert, have not seen most of his famous music videos and appearances, and remain a bit perplexed about the hubbub surrounding his demise. I am learning more about him and his extraordinary career now from posthumous coverage of his accomplishments and am beginning to appreciate his fame and contributions to music and dance. I am sorry to hear of anyone dying so young and am

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Learning

Learning from Experience

By Rick Fullerton | Bio

Over the past few months I have been an absentee blogger, a consequence of having accepted a full-time work assignment that I expected to last two years or more. I was enticed by a personal request for my services to lead a strategic initiative that would call on my experience and skills. So after nearly 10 years as a freelance consultant, I returned to work inside an organization at age 62.

Any major decision like this comes with many implications. Besides the desire to

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Wisdom in Action

Elder, Elderly and Eldering

By Jim Selman | Bio

I read a nice piece called Welcoming the Approach of the Golden Years by Gary Westover talking about his growing awareness that he has a choice about how he grows older. He can follow the path of his parents and others and deteriorate each year until finally succumbing to dementia or worse. Or he realizes he can see that it is his attitudes and expectations that create the future he is living into and he can look forward to a continually expanding and rewarding experience of living. How we age is a choice and a commitment, it is not a given. He is realizing the difference between being an elder and becoming elderly.

We have added a third distinction called ‘eldering’. Some people love the term and others say it reminds them of the fact that they are getting ‘old’ and with that thought comes the fear of being elderly. This is why there is so much resistance to growing old and people trying to hang onto their youth just a little longer. Eldering is our term for the question of ‘how to’ live to the fullest after retirement and as we enter the last third of life. Eldering is wisdom

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Wisdom in Action

The Wisdom to Know the Difference

By Jim Selman | Bio

Think about the positive attributes of growing older, and ‘wisdom’ will always appear near the top of the list. Until recently, I had assumed ‘wisdom’ was a kind of ‘right knowledge’. Every time someone says the Serenity Prayer, I am reminded of this attribute again.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

I wonder if I do know the difference.

On one level, I have learned a degree of serenity and think I am more or less accepting of most things in life. Yet I still fret about our political leadership, the drift toward corporate oligarchy, the environment, TV programming, traffic and a hundred other things that I think should be

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The Great Turning

We Are Hard-Wired to Care and Connect – Part III

By David Korten | Website

Reprinted from  "Purple America," the Fall 2008 YES! Magazine
284 Madrona Way NE Ste 116, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.  Subscriptions: 800/937-4451  

Read the first part of the article here.

Learning to be Human
If the properly functioning human brain is wired for caring, cooperation, and service, how do we account for the outrageous greed and violence that threaten our collective survival? Here we encounter our distinctive human

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Leadership

Angst

By Jim Selman | Bio

I like this word. I don’t know why…perhaps because it is one of those words that seems to express itself in speaking of it. The word means ‘anxiety’—a kind of generalized anxiety with being alive.

The existential philosophers talked a lot about angst. In fact, we
normally associate angst with existentialism—existential angst. The
word is usually associated with a negative mood such as depression or
what Thomas Merton characterized as “the dark night of the soul”. I
think that Heidegger talked about it as the inherent tension between
‘being’ and ‘non-being’. I think that angst underlies the ‘suffering’
that Buddha associated

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Retirement

Life and Work

By Rick Fullerton | Bio

Last
week I began a new job. In itself, this is not remarkable; people
change jobs as a regular occurrence, whether as a result of individual
initiative or organizational circumstance. For me, this latest career
move serves as a stimulus to reflect on my commitments and priorities
and how these evolve over time.

Early in my career, I was
energetic, curious and ambitious. I had student debts to pay, a family
to support, and the aspiration of home ownership. At

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Personal Empowerment

Angst

I like this word. I don’t know why…perhaps because it is one of those words that seems to express itself in speaking of it. The word means ‘anxiety’—a kind of generalized anxiety with being alive.
 
The existential philosophers talked a lot about angst. In fact, we normally associate angst with existentialism—existential angst. The word is usually associated with a negative mood such as depression or what Thomas Merton characterized as "the dark night

read more