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Futurists

Monday May 19 2008

In the 1970s, I belonged to The World Future Society. I even toyed with the idea of becoming a ‘futurist’. I vaguely recall that there was a magazine on the subject and various intellectuals were trying to get prediction raised to the status of a science. According to Wired magazine, the Society still exists and there are people who call themselves professional futurists, but the numbers are shrinking and their status seems to be less than in the past—primarily because the future is increasingly less predictable (if it ever was). Yet, why do people continue to seek answers to what will the future be?[Read More]

Written by admin at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: certainty choice circumstances control freedom future futurists prediction

Choice and Trust

Tuesday Apr 15 2008

By Shae Hadden | Bio

My life is my game—no one else’s. And I create the rules. What freedom, what choices, what responsibility! Playing ‘by the rules’ means playing according to choices I’ve made about what’s ‘best’ for me. And that’s left me in a quandary, because many ‘old rules’ don’t fit anymore. It’s time to examine them, keep the ones that still suit me and replace any unworkable ones. So here I am, wondering how to pick and choose from the rules I have been playing by. Yet is it possible for us to know what choices, what rules will be ‘right’?[Read More]

Written by admin at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: choice faith freedom future responsibility rules trust

Guilt

Tuesday Apr 08 2008

I was speaking with a friend recently about age in general, how we ‘remember’ our lives and the power of memories to affect our day-to-day experience. From one perspective, I think that living in the present is the point of living—experientially at least. When we are present, our memories are just memories and don’t affect us either positively or negatively. Our memories are our ‘story’, and we can relate to our past as just that—a story. On the other hand, our moods and our memories are very connected. While the past is the past, it can have an impact on the present. Memory can enrich our lives and allow us to ‘relive’ happy moments or it can displace and diminish our lives, burying us in caskets of regret, resentment, fear and guilt.[Read More]

Written by admin at Personal Empowerment

Tagged with: ego freedom guilt memory mood responsibility

Foolishness

Tuesday Apr 01 2008

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.[Read More]

Written by admin at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: freedom happiness laughter learning life peace wisdom

Growing Older—A Team Sport

Friday Jan 04 2008

Tom Brokaw in a recent AARP op-ed piece pointed to the obvious fact that as the Boomers retire they’re going to change our social and economic reality in profound ways. Lots of others are predicting the coming crunch associated with questions of how to pay astronomical healthcare and Social Security costs with a shrinking workforce and tax base. Consider that about 4 or 5 of us have supported one retiree over the course of most of our career. When we retire, a couple of our offspring will be supporting us—as well as paying additional costs for energy, security and cleaning up and protecting the environment. You don’t need a Ph.D. in economics to realize that something doesn’t add up.[Read More]

Written by admin at Wisdom in Action
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Tagged with: choice commitment democracy freedom future retirement

Just an Interpretation

Tuesday Jul 03 2007

I had a great conversation this past weekend with my son Clarke. We were talking about the differences between ‘his generation’ and ‘my generation’ (the Boomers), and he shared a perspective I thought was extraordinary and which made me realize our two age groups advocate two very different interpretations of reality.

He believes that one of the biggest problems his generation faces is themselves—because they have grown up in a time in which they have been constantly bombarded with the marketing machine’s message that the world is custom-made to fulfill whatever you want. He and his peers have grown up in an era of customized everything—from their local Starbucks experience to designing their desktop and personalizing their clothing to match current fads and their own tastes. The message is always, “How do you want it to be?”. This proliferation of choices and possibilities is wonderful and convenient (and obviously good for businesses and marketers). But is it good to believe that your personal whims and preferences should be the organizing principle for your life?
[Read More]

Written by Jim Selman at Wisdom in Action
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Tagged with: choice differences freedom generation relationship

I Can't Wait Until I'm Old Enough to...

Wednesday Apr 25 2007

By Don Arnoudse
Bio

My daughter, Sara, is about to turn 21. Her impending birthday has triggered my own memories of that familiar refrain of youth…”I can’t wait until I’m old enough to….go to school, to learn to drive, to vote, to get a credit card, to stay out past midnight, to travel on my own, to get my first apartment, to get my first real job, to go to night clubs and bars, and so on and so on.” It got me to wondering. What are the advantages of age now that I’m staring 60 in the face? Yesterday, I was listening to Julio Olalla, master teacher and founder of the Newfield Network. He began his comments on some of the crises we face in the world by saying, “At my age, I no longer choose to censor myself”. I thought, “Wow! That’s an advantage of age. Telling the truth as I see it without concern for others’ reactions.”

Tagged with: e experience freedom growing older perspective wisdom