Different Beliefs: East vs West

Enjoy this 18-minute TED talk with Devdutt Pattanaik on understanding how our different viewpoints of life and the world contribute to the clash of civilizations and have us misunderstand each other. [Read More]

Written by eldering at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: belief devdutt_pattanaik life misunderstanding

An Entirely New Game: Life 2.0

   By Kevin Brown | Bio

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Increasingly I find myself thinking about the word retirement and whether it has the appeal that it once had for the mature worker. I remember, as if it were yesterday, my father talking about how he was looking forward to retirement. After working long hours and raising a family, there just did not seem much time for anything else. Through much of his mid-life, my dad's job (conductor for the railroad) had him working away from home and on the road during the week. Weekends were mostly reserved for rest before returning to the job the following Monday. Often he would share how he looked forward to being able to spend time doing the things he really wanted to do. I just assumed that meant golfing and fishing simply because those are about the only leisure activities that I remember my dad enjoying.

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Written by eldering at Retirement
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Tagged with: boomers eldering freedom_55 growing_older life retirement

Goodbye Mimi

   By Jim Selman | Bio

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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.

 

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Written by eldering at Learning

Tagged with: death dying learning life loss

Benjamin Button

By Jim Selman | Bio

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Assuming you’ve been to the museums a couple of times and don’t speak Spanish very well, what can you do in Madrid on a cold and wet winter day except find an English-speaking film? I did, and finally caught up with everyone else and saw The Strange Case of Benjamin Button. Put me down as a fan, but the funny thing is that it is one of those films that you’re not quite sure if or why you like it. First of all, it is about age.

 

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Written by eldering at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: age benjamin_button life love

Boomer Boredom

   By Jim Selman | Bio

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Of all the complaints and fears we hear that are associated with aging, the number one is boredom. After a lifetime of activity and accomplishment, it is incredible how many of us move into “elderland” only to discover that we’re unsatisfied and bored. How can this be? Granted that we might not be as spry as we once were and some of our libidos are lackluster, but goodness gracious, do we really expect our circumstances to make us happy or enthusiastic or interested in other people and the possibilities of each and every day?

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Written by eldering at Retirement

Tagged with: aging boredom circumstances game generation life play

Baby Bloomers

I was writing recently about how I am feeling great about getting older and how, in fact, my life seems better than ever. While I was sharing this with a friend recently I proclaimed, “I’m just a late bloomer.” I don’t think I am unique or alone in finding that my sixties have been an extraordinary time of my life, perhaps the best time I can remember. I am always a little concerned when I hear about ‘Zoomers’ or slogans like “The 60s are the new 40s”. These kinds of interpretations always seem to me about resisting getting older, rather than celebrating the fact.[Read More]

Written by eldering at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: baby_bloomer blossom life older possibility zoomer

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.[Read More]

Written by eldering at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: freedom happiness laughter learning life peace wisdom

The Facts of Life

By Shae Hadden | Bio

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One of my New Year traditions is to clean up some of the papers that have accumulated around me over the past year. Yesterday, I came across these “Facts of Life” that someone had given me and thought they were worth sharing. Unlike the ‘facts of life’ we normally think about (like ‘the birds and the bees’, death and taxes), these seem fitting for the beginning of a new year, especially since they actually challenge us to look at ourselves and others in a whole new way.[Read More]

Written by eldering at Learning
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Tagged with: assessments learning life truth

Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump

By Shae Hadden | Bio

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There’s a place near Fort McLeod in Alberta that goes by this odd name…the Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Jump world heritage site …where the indigenous peoples used to lead the buffalo to jump off a cliff. A place where there’s a very finite line between life and death…and where life comes from death. You see, for thousands of years, the native people would use this natural geographical formation to ‘harvest’ these wild animals and feed their tribes each winter. I’m remembering this place today because I’ve been reminded—not so subtly by being in a car accident—that life is the dash between birth and death.[Read More]

Written by eldering at Learning
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Tagged with: control death gratitude joy life surrender

Too Late for Later

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 eldering at The Great Turning
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Tagged with: action aging global_warming later life transformation