By Jim Selman | Bio
The older I am, the more I reflect on the
aphorisms all around us and wonder why it is so difficult to accept and
live with this obvious wisdom. Robert Fulghum memorialized many of them
in his bestseller All
I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. All of these
little ‘nuggets’ of wisdom we’ve accumulated over the years are
generally, well, wise. It is befuddling why so few people take them to
heart. Why do so many spend a lifetime learning these kinds of lessons the hard
way?[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
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 By Jim Selman | Bio
As we watch the devastation in Haiti on
television, the world recoils at the horror and the suffering,
mobilizes its resources and tries to clean up the mess and help the
survivors. The media forages, looking for who to blame (usually corrupt
or incompetent politicians). We’ve witnessed this scene following
earthquakes countless times: in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake 2008 when
69,000 died in China; in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake when 230,000
died in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand; in the 2005 Kashmir
earthquake where 86,000 died in Pakistan; in the 1923 Great Kanto
earthquake when 142,800 died in Japan; and even in 1908’s Messina
earthquake when 100,000 died in Italy. If we think about the
hurricanes, volcanoes, fires, tsunamis and famine, it seems the “Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse” are doing a fabulous business these days.
The fact is[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
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Loneliness is curable. Here are some easy steps to help get you engaged: - Reconnect with family and friends.
Let go of any resentments or regrets you have. Reach out to people you
haven't spoken with in a long time and do whatever it takes to rekindle
the relationship. Spend time with them and communicate using whatever
methods work.
- Surround yourself with upbeat people. Choose your friends carefully. Happiness is just as contagious as loneliness.
[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
Tagged with:
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 By Rick Fullerton | Bio
I continue to
be struck by the environmental challenges facing planet earth. With
signs of increasing public awareness about the deepening climate
crisis, it is gratifying to sense a noticeable shift taking place in my
own and others’ behaviour. For instance, I see more and more people
supporting recycling programs, choosing Energy Star appliances, and
driving fuel efficient cars. And we change our light bulbs! Yet is it
enough?[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
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 By Jim Selman | Bio
Forty-five
years ago Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the
message”. I wonder what he would have made of today’s
media-on-steroids. Someone sent me a fascinating YouTube piece called “ Social Media in Plain English” , which was followed up with a dramatic piece on the extraordinary impact of all that is going on in the Social Media Revolution.
It includes a new term I had never seen before: socialnomics. It’s
getting easier and easier to feel ignorant and out of touch. The
general consensus is that the phenomenon of social networking/social
media is as potentially revolutionary as the Industrial Revolution.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
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 By Sharon Knoll | Bio
Cooking with my daughter, Krista, is bliss. We were making Crabby Crabcakes, an incredible recipe from Mark Bittman at the NY Times.
They were 99% crab with a little bit of stuff we purchased at the Queen
Anne Farmers Market to hold them together: brand new potatoes baked
with olive oil and rosemary, and sautéed summer squash and caramelized
onions with herbs. (Can you stand it? Are you ready to rush out and
cook and enjoy the wonderful tastes of fresh grown great food?) Our cooking together is like a dance—an intensive information and learning exchange.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
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 By Jim Selman | Bio
This has been a sad week. My partner’s mother died at the
age of 94. Even when the end is expected (and perhaps even welcomed after a
long period of decline), it nonetheless has a powerful impact on those who
cared. All of the clichés aside, there just isn’t much to say to the bereaved
other than “I am sorry for your loss.” As we get older, death and dying becomes
a larger part of our day-to-day reality as we lose friends and loved ones. For
“Mimi”, there weren’t many left. She outlived almost everyone of her
generation. [ Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
Tagged with:
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The following segment from Tom Freston's 2007 commencement speech to
the graduates at Emerson College contains four pieces of wisdom about
'being in action' that are timeless. This man built MTV and Viacom's
cable empire, was fired by chairman Sumner Redstone, accepted a $60
million severage package and is now helping Oprah build her new TV
network while you travels to Afghanistan, Burma, Rwanda and beyond and
works with Bono to reduce global poverty and AIDS. [ Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
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By Jim Selman | Bio
Yesterday
I was coaching a friend of mine. I was sharing a bit of how important
it is to ‘come from’ your vision for your life. Our future is always a
product of our actions, and our actions are always a correlate of how
we relate to the future. When we act as if the future has already
happened, then it is only a matter of time before that future is
realized or we learn what we need to learn to achieve it. Her response
was, “Well, you make it sound so simple, but it is too abstract and I
need to know ‘how’ to have what I want in the future.” This was my
response.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
Tagged with:
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 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[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
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