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Elders and the Environment - Part 2

Friday Nov 13 2009

By Shae Hadden
According to Dr. David Suzuki, “it is not progress to use up the rightful legacy of our children and grandchildren.” He opened the first Elders and the Environment Forum on Monday in Vancouver, Canada with a keynote address that focused on the role of elders in the environmental movement and how we can make a difference:
  • Tell it like it is, find our voice and speak out
  • Tell us all what is possible and keep us fixed on creating the future
  • Remind younger generations that true wealth is found in our relationships with family, friends and neighbours (in community) and that people lived full, rich lives long before we had all this ‘stuff’
  • Teach children that the word ‘disposable’ is a ‘dirty word’
  • Help younger generations see how things are shifting environmentally in the world by sharing the changes we have seen and are seeing in baselines (for example, the differences in salmon runs between now and years past)
  • Challenge the perspective that views the natural world as an ‘externality’ (as economists do), in which all the services that ecosystems perform are irrelevant to calculations of value
  • Teach young people the values of thrift and stewardship by showing them how to live in community (for example, teach them how fix things when they are broken; how to compost, grow things, harvest and store food; how to knit and sew and darn, etc.)
Dr. Suzuki’s message is not a nostalgic call for a slower-paced lifestyle. It is a vital reminder that we have had and can have fulfilling lives based on what we do with other people. And that we can help heal our relationship with Mother Earth while we’re at it.

© 2009 Shae Hadden. All rights reserved.

Written by eldering at News

Tagged with: david_suzuki elders environment future generations relationship

Fear: Toxin or Growth Hormone?

Tuesday Apr 14 2009

By Shae Hadden | Bio
The algae bloom on the lagoon where I’m housesitting seems symbolic of the state I’m in these days. Long-forgotten, half-hidden ideas seem to be coming to the forefront of my thinking and showing the richness of their colors and their impact on my life. Like my belief that “fear is toxic”. A belief that has been stored for years in my body and which I’m now choosing to let go of. It’s true that fear[Read More]

Written by eldering at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: fear growth health relationship toxicity toxin

Choosing Partners

Thursday Jan 22 2009

   By Shae Hadden | Bio

Despite my intentions to stay focused on launching new materials into the world, the last couple of weeks have seen a flurry of activity around forming partnerships. When I look at the very real challenges we are facing today and the urgency with which they need to be addressed, establishing relationships might seem like the last thing we should spend time doing. However, I’m reminded of something Jim Selman often says: “Relationships are the foundation of success.”

[Read More]

Written by eldering at Leadership

Tagged with: partnership possibility relationship success time

Community

Tuesday Aug 05 2008

   By Shae Hadden | Bio

In the busyness of mid-life career pursuits, we can easily find ourselves letting relationships slide. In no time at all, it seems years have gone by, we’ve lost touch with dear friends from near and far, and forgotten the lure of long-promised adventures we were going to share. A recent NY Times article about Elizabeth Goodyear, a centenarian confined to her one-bedroom walk-up, has prompted me to reconsider my relationship to others and what ‘community’ I want to grow older in.

[Read More]

Written by eldering at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: career community giving receiving relationship

Listening for Relationship

Wednesday Oct 31 2007

By Shae Hadden | Bio
How often have you caught yourself ‘tuning out’ when listening to a friend, family member or acquaintance? Or had someone point out that you aren’t really listening to them? We have all, at one time or another, done so—whether consciously or not.[Read More]

Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action

Tagged with: boredom listening loneliness love relationship

Giving Your Best

Thursday Aug 30 2007

By Shae Hadden
Bio
As the evenings get cooler and days shorter here, summer holidays wind down. Everyone seems to be preparing for the start of September, and looking forward to the last real weekend before things start up again. Most everyone I talk with has enjoyed some of the summer outside with family and friends, and I find myself experiencing a twinge of regret. For me, the last few months have been a blur of work indoors in front of the computer, interspersed with a few brief moments of relaxation. This afternoon, I am acknowledging that I have ‘missed’ this summer altogether in my efforts to fulfill as many of my commitments as possible.[Read More]

Written by eldering at Personal Empowerment

Tagged with: choice commitment perspective relationship time

Reflections on Loss

Wednesday Aug 01 2007

I find myself in a strange space today. My husband and I filed divorce papers jointly yesterday, and this morning I awoke to what seemed like a different world. My regular yoga routine was awash in tears, and my conversations likewise. I know that people get divorced all the time, just as people die all the time. These two facts are different, but for me today they seem very close to the same experience—loss.

While we have been living separately for over a year now, and I have been at peace with how our relationship was evolving, today was special. Today for the first time, I felt like I was truly ‘on my own’, without a partner, without connection to another human being. I am adrift with my thoughts and feelings and free (perhaps even forced) to look newly at my world, other people and what I am doing with my life. ‘Present’ today in a new way, in this moment and aware of the thoughts and beliefs that have brought me to this place and time.[Read More]

Written by eldering at Personal Empowerment

Tagged with: attachment divorce loss relationship time

Expectations

Friday Jun 22 2007

By Shae Hadden
Bio
Expectations are basic to who we are. From the time we are born, we live in a relationship with the future based on our experience of the past and the interpretations of reality that we learn from our culture and history. We learn from our parents to live up to our expectations. We organize our actions based on them and, more often than not, they become self-fulfilling. When something unexpected occurs, we feel fortunate if it is good and upset if it is bad. Our moods are always correlated to our expectations. And as we grow older, most of us expect to ‘slow down’, experience declining health, need to change our lifestyle and perhaps to give up many of the things we’ve enjoyed most in our lives. The general expectation of old age is one of decline.

If I were to have a child (a hypothetical choice at this point in my life, as I am long past my child-bearing years), I would not be able to bring them up without teaching them what to expect in the future. For from the first time they cry and I respond, I would begin a pattern of stimulus-and-response behavior that would create an expectation. If I can perceive that my child is hungry, I would feed them: wet, I would change them. In need of tender touch and affirmation of my presence, I would provide both for them. And in doing so, they would connect their need and their rudimentary vocal and body language with a fulfillment of that need. The mere act of making a request by verbalizing or indicating with some form of ‘language’, followed by a patterned response, creates a context of expectation.[Read More]

Written by eldering at Fearless Aging

Tagged with: disappointment expectation history lesson relationship

Connections

Friday Sep 29 2006

By Shae Hadden
Bio


I’ve always been aware of the distances between people…ever since my first childhood remembrance of being a being separate from my mother. Vivid memories of being the last one chosen to be on the team in gym class translated into a story about being the one assigned to sit on the sidelines of life while others got to play. I thought I had left that all behind when I got married at the ripe old age of 28. I was ready to dive in and live full out. And I thought I did….Until recently.


[Read More]

Written by eldering at Personal Empowerment

Tagged with: connection love relationship

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