 By Jim Selman | Bio
One of the aphorisms we were given at the end
of the est training in the 1970s was the statement, “Understanding is
the booby prize.” It has taken me most of my life to really appreciate
and mostly live day-to-day with this trueism. In our culture,
understanding is assumed to be more or less synonymous with
‘knowledge’. It’s the point to most communication and a prerequisite
for most commitment. If I have acquired any wisdom over the past six decades, it is this:[ Read More]
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 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.[ Read More]
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By Jim Selman | Bio
The engine that drives the world’s economy
is a principle that is embedded in our worldview—“more, better and
different”. It may seem obvious, but when we think about consumerism,
materialism or alcoholism—or any ‘ism’ really—they are all based on the
idea that if we like something, then ‘more’ is good (and conversely, if
we don’t like it, then ‘less’ is good). Continuous improvement demands
that things get better and better—and ‘more’ better is better than
‘less’ better. At the end of the day, we work hard to innovate and
create ‘different’ expressions of what we already have. These three
perspectives pretty much define our options at every moment. To do
‘nothing’ is rarely considered as an alternative. Experientially, we
cannot tolerate boredom. We’re hooked on change, but the only change we
can relate to is ‘more’, ‘better’ and ‘different’. Remember the axiom,
“The more things change, the more they stay the same…”?[ Read More]
Written by admin at The Great Turning
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I spent a good chunk of my life learning to be reasonable. In business,
the mantra for any proposal was always: “Is it practical?” It seemed to
me that reasonableness (and its sister practicality) were virtues.
People who were unreasonable or impractical seemed to be
exceptions—they came across as flaky, dangerous, occasionally lucky,
unpredictable, disconnected, loose canons and, above all, they weren't
team players. When I turned 50, I came upon a quotation by George
Bernard Shaw that hit me between the eyes and totally changed my
approach to life and, in particular, my future.[ Read More]
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 By Don Arnoudse | Bio
There
is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated
through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all of
time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never
exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable
nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is
your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the
channel open… whether you choose to take an art class, keep a journal,
record your dreams, dance your story or live each day from your own
creative source. Above all else, keep the channel open.
—Martha Graham
I
received this quote from my wonderful coach, Ann Cheng, after our last
coaching call. I had told her that my life just wasn’t working lately.
[ Read More]
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Thomas Friedman’s great op-ed piece about global warming
definitively declares that, when faced with making decisions that have
life or death consequences, there is, at some point, no more time for
procrastinating, debating and analyzing. At some moment, to continue to
procrastinate or put off until tomorrow becomes a fatal decision. I love this idea that ‘later’ ceases to be an option when the stakes
are high enough. When this is the case, we are committed—no matter what
we choose. It is an ‘all-or-nothing’ kind of situation.[ Read More]
Written by admin at The Great Turning
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I was speaking with a friend today about how we sometimes feel
‘disempowered’ in certain situations where people repeat their patterns
of the past and where we have no ‘accountability’ for the outcome. I
realized as we were talking that we generally look at ‘being empowered’
as a solution in our careers and personal lives—as the pathway to the
promised land that will deliver us from whatever circumstances are
challenging us in the moment. When we see teams of people creating new
possibilities and managing themselves to solve their own problems,
we’re seeing people who have empowered themselves moving in action.[ Read More]
Written by Shae Hadden at Personal Empowerment
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Christmas is just about here, then the ramp up for New Year’s Eve
and the post-holiday recovery. I am looking at the Christmas cards
we’ve received and thinking about what to say that hasn’t been said a
hundred ways already at this time of year. “Peace on Earth, Goodwill
toward Men” seems to pretty much capture the point of Christ’s message,
but then it also captures the message of Mohammed, Buddha, a bunch of
Hindu Gurus, most Jews, Zoroaster, and just about everyone I know. So
why is there so little peace and not a lot of goodwill?[ Read More]
Written by Jim Selman at Wisdom in Action
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 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.[ Read More]
Written by Jim Selman at Wisdom in Action
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 As Dick Gregory used to say when talking about social change, “In a forest fire, there comes a time when the only thing that will save us is a ‘shift in the wind’”. Well, we certainly witnessed a shift in the wind yesterday with the mid-term election results.
[ Read More]
Written by Jim Selman at News
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