By Jim Selman | Bio
I work with organizations that are attempting
to change. At the beginning of working with a new client, I point out
what’s missing for any organization that has recurring or seemingly
intractable problems: what’s missing is a different way of observing.
Whether we’re talking about a company, a community or a continent, a new
perspective always gives us an opening to create new possibilities,
have new choices and take new actions: a new way of observing the world
effectively gives us a different future than some variation of ‘more of
the same’. We need to stop asking what the problems are and start
asking why they persist. When we do, we begin to realize that we
have a paradigm problem. Until we deal with that, none of our seemingly
intractable problems—from staggering debt to unending war, climate
change to the underlying causes of the mortgage crises—can be solved.
Albert Einstein expressed this concisely when he said that sometimes our
problems cannot be solved by thinking the way we thought when we
created them.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
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 By Jim Selman | Bio
It is almost impossible to turn on the television or read a
newspaper or a magazine without encountering one pundit, expert or “man
on the street” either talking about the future or trying to blame
someone for something. Our media commentary is rarely about what is
happening now: mostly it’s about what happened in the past or what
someone thinks is going to happen in the future. Combine the
establishment media with all of the blogging and chatting going on, and
it is incredible how fixated we are on what will happen next.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
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 By Jim Selman | Bio
Do you remember when networks of computers first arrived on the scene?
Moving information onto the new technological platform decentralized
and dispersed information and knowledge, a move that resulted in a
significant communications revolution that still has repercussions
today. Giving people the ability to access and share what had
previously existed only on paper or in the minds of certain individuals
not only sped up the rate of transactions, but also freed individuals
from a certain amount of manipulation. Some resisted the move to computers, feeling threatened[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
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 By Jim Selman | Bio
I am coming to the conclusion that I am a
travel-aholic. Like most ‘isms’, travelaholism is the product of
thinking we control something that we don’t control and, therefore, are
controlled by it. One of the primary symptoms of an ‘ism’ is that we
say we want to change something—usually our behavior—but continue in
whatever pattern it is that we want to change. I protest that I am
traveling too much, while at the same time filling in my calendar with
airports and connections and hotels around the world. So far this year
I have been to Buenos Aires, Geneva, Madrid, Sao Paulo, Paris,
Amsterdam and am on my way to Tanzania before leaving for New Zealand,
the Ukraine and New York City. While this may sound exotic, I rarely
have time to fully appreciate the uniqueness of these far-flung
locations. It is also true that[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
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By Jim Selman | Bio
Our
relationship to risk and our fears is closely related. Most of our
lives we’ve made decisions based on some formal or informal process for
assessing ‘risk’. In our conventional way of thinking, this means
trying to predict what will or will not happen and with what
probabilities based on some scenario or course of action. It is a
‘forward looking’ posture and, as with all predictions, draws on
historical data or experience and projects it into the future. In other
words, we take our past, project it into the future and then make our
choices and commitments based on what our predictions (the past) tell
us will probably happen. Anyone who is even mildly
paying attention can easily grasp that the predictions are wrong more
often than they are right.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
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By Jim Selman | Bio
As an elder, what do I have to say regarding the ‘crisis’ in the
financial system? To begin, I don’t know what to say about the crisis.
But I do know that this is not a time for ‘idle’ opinions or mouthing
platitudes and ideological dogma. I know the seemingly ‘sudden’
emergence of this situation is mostly the fact that the media and
government pays attention only after something happens and doesn’t
bother to listen to thoughtful commentary before the fact—perhaps
because so much of their business is about who to blame. A few things are clear...[ Read More]
Written by eldering at The Great Turning
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By Jim Selman | Bio
I don't think that age is personal. I know
it feels like it is 'me' that is getting older, but I don't experience
myself as older. If anything, I experience my 'self' as being 'better'
than at any time I can remember over the past 66 years. I feel more
'alive', more engaged, more present and more satisfied than ever. It is
true that my body can’t run, wrestle or climb as easily as in the past.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
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 By Jim Selman | Bio
Nathan Oates, a Christian minister who writes a very thoughtful blog called “ Theologically Speaking”,
did a nice piece on loneliness. His point: how we seem to fragment our
society into all kinds of niches and end up not relating to or
connecting with most of the people around us. Even in the churches that
one would imagine to be the most community-oriented institutions, the
norm is to break the congregation into oriented ‘special interest’
groups according to age—the tots, teens, 20 ‘somethings’, 30
‘somethings’, middle-agers and seniors. While such segregation might
make sense in terms of some ‘educational’ objectives, it makes no sense
spiritually and undermines the whole idea of a multigenerational
community.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
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 By Shae Hadden | Bio
While Americans debate the need for universal
healthcare in their country, Canadians are wondering about the need for
stringent controls on the classification, labeling and distribution of
therapeutic drugs, foods and medical devices. The federal government
has proposed Bill C-51, touted as a ‘security’ measure, clamps down on
the healthcare industry and poses a potential threat to the country’s
citizens by limiting the options available to consumers. We now have
pharmaceutical drugs and natural health products: the bill, if passed,
will merge both into one category called “therapeutic products”.
Neutraceuticals, derived from foods essential to life, would become
subject to drug testing routines and prescription requirements.
Currently, only pharmaceutical drugs are considered toxic until proven
they have therapeutic benefit.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Health
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Well, it looks like Hillary is bowing out—actually more like accepting
the fact that she can’t win. Polls in that league are realists above
all else. I assume we’ll get the inside dope on whatever backroom deals
were made in the weeks ahead. Now the healing and reunification of the
Democratic Party must begin. However, before we relegate Hillary to the political graveyard, I want
us to stop and reflect on what an incredible process this has been and
acknowledge her for her strength and courage.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Leadership
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