<1211 words> Ambition Many years ago, when I was working with my first ever coaching client, I saw in real life the power of sensible vs. audacious goal setting. The client was the plant manager in a manufacturing concern, part of a global conglomerate. He was thrilled at his recent promotion… Read More »CUTTING BACK ON BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS
<1312 words> Faltering can happen any time, no matter how well prepared you are and how experienced and skilled and everything. No doubt faltering has many causes but to my mind, when emotions simply will not remain in the back row of a command performance, the prospects of faltering happening significantly… Read More »When Faltering Happens
<1156 words> Apparently it was necessary for me to have a crazy dream of registering for a farmers’ expo here in Nova Scotia. The rule was that if you could register a VOF (Very Old Farm) you somehow could claim senior status. I thought I might use my grandfather’s farm outside… Read More »My Story of an African Farm
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A minimum of two people and an issue on which they disagree.
Add to the recipe the factors that the people each bring into the relationship:
Our values are what we judge to be important in life: our personal principles. The rules we live by. They typically originate in our culture but over time our values may shift as our relationship with our culture shifts (e.g. young adults and their elderly parents may share a culture but have very different values as regards to how kids are raised; dealing with garbage; ethnic diversity, and so on).
“Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others.”[1]
Triggers: What sets you off causes a quick change in your mood/attitude, rooted often in values or cultural practices you hold dear would be called a trigger. For example a South African grandmother whose half-Japanese grandson slurps his tea. Tea slurping is what one does in Japanese culture. Not so in ‘polite society’ in South Africa.
<1281 words> I have a great deal of respect for wild elephants and am careful to show that respect by backing out of their way when they come walking down the road towards my car. I believe I’ve learned a thing or two about elephant culture in my multiple trips to… Read More »RESPECT & CURIOSITY: On Elephants and Others
<1230 words> They say that our thoughts naturally turn to contemplation of the future when we watch water in motion. When I was about to turn 60, my brother, Guillaume, died of a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumour and I came across ‘The Waterfall’ by Zen philosopher Shunryu Suzuki. It is his… Read More »Like a River Flows
<1197 words> Twice in the past 48 hours my GPS on my not so smart phone encouraged me onto roads very infrequently travelled. My standard mode of transport is a 9 year old Toyota Corolla – so middle of the road that I regularly have to use the little… Read More »The Roads Less Travelled
<1412 words> My summers in Nova Scotia are defined by the number of kayaking adventures I can pack into a week. Sometimes I go out alone – for quite long trips – ‘quite long’ in my books usually means several hours, not several days or weeks. Most often I am… Read More »PADDLING YOUR OWN CANOE
<1344 words> My son gave me a Vitamix for Christmas. I’ve become pretty proficient at creating interesting and sometimes compelling smooth greenies as a result. I’ve developed quite a taste for them, in fact. It is a formidable machine. It is to blenders what the Lexus is to cars. Some might… Read More »The Speed of Trust – reflections upon
<1243 words> FOUR DECADES OF BEING A ‘SENIOR’ WARRANTS A CLOSER LOOK AT THE DIFFERENCES There are more and more forecasts that more and more of us will live to be one hundred. Our eligibility for Canada Pension kicks in at 60. For many of us that marks the beginning of… Read More »Four Decades of Being a ‘Senior’