Response Flexibility – Shifting Perspectives
Retirement as Re-Calibration, as Metamorphosis
When I casually mentioned to several friends recently that I was experiencing my leaning into retirement as a time of re-calibration, we all nodded as though we knew what I was talking about. Turns out, the dictionary’s meaning of recalibration pertains to when a system gradually drifts off course and periodically needs a fresh point […]
Shifting Perspective – Making the Invisible Visible
I had a five-hour flight to teach at the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium last week, enough time to read one entire book, start to finish. And to relish not only the time to focus on one project and only one project for that long, but to relish that my brain could still focus on anything for […]
Retiring into Renaissance – Letting Go of Who “I” Am
The more I lean into retirement-Renaissance (July 1, 2022), the more well-intentioned, sincerely interested friends and colleagues ask me, “What’s next?” And some day (Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise) there will be a next, new beginnings, a new chapter. For now I subscribe to the wisdom of William Bridges’ Transitions: Making Sense of […]
From Resilience through Retirement to Renaissance
I’m retiring from my professional life July 1, 2022. A decision leaned into for several years, guided by Michael Gelb’s phrase “from retirement to Renaissance” in his book Brain Power: Improve Your Mind as You Age. Now guided by Connie Zweig’s The Inner Work of Age: from Role to Soul, her three portals to retirement […]
Life Beyond the Fish Tank
The beloved poet and spiritual teacher Mark Nepo recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the publication of his New York Times best-selling The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have by reading some of the most moving and enlightening poems/meditations/essays in a recent webinar. Inspiring enough […]
Me…We…and Thee – Experience Creates…and Shifts…Our Relational Identities
In Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age, Bruce Feiler offers an interesting conceptualization of relational identities: me, we, and thee. ME is a focus on one’s self, an individual’s goals and aspirations and efforts to achieve/fulfill them. He suggests folks focused on the unfolding of their individual story, the particulars of […]
Re-couping from the Revving Up and the Shutting Down of a Hard, Hard Year
This weekend is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. On Sunday, June 20, at 8:31pm Pacific Time, the earth will reverse the tilt of its axis and begins its remarkably long journey toward winter. For many of us, this seasonal turning into official summer issues in warm sunny days, school vacations, and a time […]
Pandemic Paradoxes Continue: Control v. Choice
Paradoxes of the pandemic seem as unending as the pandemic itself. The other day my thinking meandered into control v choice. One of our most natural biological and psychological tactics for dealing with uncertainty and the unknown is to try to nail things down. Anything to create stability and predictability. And to shape the outcomes […]
Accept Difficulty
A client forwarded me this post from Rick Hanson earlier this week. Timely enough to pass on; generous of Rick to allow me to do so. May it be useful to you and yours. ******************************* ACCEPT DIFFICULTY WHY? Sometimes things are difficult. Your legs are tired and you still have to stay on your feet […]
Pushing the Envelope, Shifting the Paradigms
This post is pushing the envelope at bit on how I teach Resources for Recovering Resilience. I never would have predicted any of this, especially in these times when the world is still reeling from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (deaths in the United States passed the 500,000 mark last week) and so many of the […]