I am more than happy to see Obama back on his game and in what looks like the homestretch in what has been a grueling horserace—for the candidates and the public. I am committed to Obama because I believe, along with a lot of other people, that he is sincere in his commitment to unite the nation and that he has demonstrated his capacity to stand for something beyond politics-as-usual. I have said on more than one occasion how sad it’s been to watch the fracture of our nation and our communities
Tag Archives: wisdom
Priceless Gifts
By Rick Fullerton | Bio
My last blog anticipated the arrival of a new grandchild, and now I am pleased to announce that Angus Fullerton Beauregard arrived on March 14th—much to the delight of family and friends! As grandparents, it seems appropriate to us that he shares Einstein’s birthday.
Births, like graduations and marriages, are major milestones of life. These events trigger other feelings and reflections, in addition to the natural joy of celebration. For example, newborns bring concerns
Foolishness
Today is the day for fools, foolishness and merry pranks played on friends, colleagues and neighbours. Because of the abundance of April Fools’ hoaxes in the media, many people distrust news reports and advertisements launched on this day. No such luck here at Serene Ambition…although, as in some countries like Britain, we do believe that jokes pulled after noon turn the prankster into the ‘fool’. Instead, we’d like to share a few famous insights into learning how to live wisely.
Life
Toward an Ethic of Aging I
By Stuart J. Whitley | Bio
About three years ago, I assisted an aboriginal woman elder with a presentation she was doing for the media. She was trying to explain the role of justice as conceived by the first peoples of this continent. Paraphrasing her: first, she said, there is the sky over all of us, then there is the water below. What takes our breath away when we look to the rivers and the forests is the same thing that possesses us when we think about the wonder inside our own bodies. As the
Paradox of Deception
By Shae Hadden | Bio
For a few hours yesterday, I was ‘spring cleaning’, clearing out the accumulated papers and possessions of the past. I always find such ‘mindless’ activities actually very mindful: they are the perfect opportunity to become present to many of the old internal conversations I’ve been having with myself. Each piece of paper or item draws up memories or images of who I was or what was happening in my life at the time. Yesterday, what kept appearing was the thought that I have been deceiving myself about who I am and what I want to do with my life for a very long time. A question followed—what value is there in deceit?Conventional wisdom would have it that mastering deception is mastering the art of cheating someone or something other than ourselves. Yet, every self-deception influences our mood, choices and actions, and these can deceive others into believing we are not who we are. And every time we deceive others, we deceive ourselves into believing our own self-deception.
Deception hides us from our deepest desires: it’s as if we live in a castle of confusion, blind to the paradox we’ve
Wisdom and Fear
I heard someone remark that the best thing about getting older is they don’t have to be afraid anymore. While I think that is one of life’s ‘truisms’, it falls into the same category as your mother telling you “not to worry”—it doesn’t help much to know that when you are worried! From what I can see, most people get more fearful and anxious as they age. This anxiety takes various forms: fear of not having enough money, fear of being homeless, fear of being alone, fear of becoming
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
Saving the Best for Last
By Don Arnoudse | Bio
In his wonderful book From Age-ing to Sage-ing, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi notes that the Bible is lavish in its praise of elders. ”It considers gray hair a crown of glory and wrinkles a mark of distinction.” This really got me thinking. What if we regarded the last part of our life—let’s just say the years after our hair goes gray—to be the “crowning glory of our years”? Wow! What would be possible from that perspective?On my 50th birthday, I
received cards, intended to be funny, about how I was now a member of
the “over the hill gang”. At 50! This year I will be 60. What if I
picture myself at the top of the hill—with the full intention of
staying up there for a good long time? What would be possible?
If our gray-haired years were truly our “crowning glory”, we would:
- Be thrilled at finally being old
- Continue to be curious (but with great calm)
- Be free from striving and trying to prove ourselves
- Take the time for deep reflection and contemplation
- Be busy distilling wisdom from a lifetime of experience
- Generously offer our legacy to younger generations
- Be grateful for this stage of life
- Make our peace with our mortality
- Be quick to forgive and slow to blame
- Often take the perspective of the “greater good”
- Value a good dialogue without concern for who’s right
- Leave the world a better place than we found it
My
mind is brimming with possibilities. The crowning glory of my years.
Not the fading remembrance of
Does Getting Older Mean Getting Wiser?
By Lauren Selman | Bio
I
recently watched one of my favorite shows, "Sex in the City." This show
features four protagonists that constantly prove that 30 is the new 20
and uncovers their relationships in the city of New York. In this
particular episode, the older women were poignantly juxtaposed against
young starlettes to emphasis they’re "getting older". The plot
circulated around the question about aging that Carrie posed at the
Listening & Learning
Life happens while we are having conversations with ourselves and other people.
Not learning from others may have a lot to do with not truly ‘listening’ to what others say. Listening is the context that makes life intelligible, allows anything to have meaning, and forms the basis for all communication (both written and spoken). It is a whole lot more than just ‘hearing’ the words that are spoken. I’m always listening, always bringing a prior interpretation or understanding of my world