I have carried Goethe’s comment with me for many years:

Life is the childhood of our immortality

Here is an interesting fact: “Beginning January 1st, 2011 every single day more than 10,000 Baby Boomers will reach the age of 65. That is going to keep happening every single day for the next 19 years.”

When asked about retirement, I have always wondered if that mean one was “tired” the first time. It is also a statistic based on actuarial data that if one has not prepared to carry on with their life and have a passion or interest in the next part of their life there is a highly likelihood of them dying prematurely in 3 or 4 years.

More than 10,000 people turn 50 every day in the U.S.; how do they handle this shift? Claiming Your Place at the Fire invites this group of “new elders” to ask four key questions: Who am I? New elders synthesize and transfer the wisdom of the past into the present. Where do I belong? They have a powerful sense of where they have come from, where they are, and where they are going. How do I bring my passions alive? They rejoice in rediscovering their life’s work, their calling, their vocation. What is my life’s purpose? Freed from imposed schedules and demands, new elders now find the freedom to create their lives anew. This timely book describes how new older adults can rekindle the good life, relight the fire within, and share that warmth and light with others.

Here are some readings you may want to reflect on:

The Promotion of Successful Aging Through Mindfulness Skills Training
The Art of Presence: An Exploration of Mindful Practices and Aging
The Anti-Aging Health Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness - The Call To Inner Work
Mindfulness of the Aging Body

Elisha Goldstein reminds us: I need to practice mindfulness as part of my work day and for the rest of my life. For it truly is about creating the rest of my life even if it is only a few minutes at a time. Present moment, beautiful moment.

Camaldolese Hermitage-Big Sur

Wounded Warriors on track

Every Friday morning between 6 am and 8 am a coach works out with his stable of runners. Usually its overcast on the tartan track by Scripps Integrative Medicine. When it’s not foggy the westward glance as you round the track is the panorama of the rolling greens of the Torrey Pines South and beyond the majesty of the deep blue green Pacific. When the groundbreaking for the Integrative Medicine center took place, the medicine woman from one of San Diego’s indigenous tribes gave a blessing acknowledging the healing winds that blow over this sacred spot.

Warmups. Banter. Laughter. Work out briefing. Timed distances and speeds. Labored breathing. Grimaces. And continual adjustments.This coach is a little different. He is not only their coach, he is also their prosthetist. Any week there are 6 to 10 runners mostly single amputees with 2 or 3 double amputees working on their aerobic fitness and working on the fit of their new running leg or legs.

If you want to know the future; create it. And the human spirit is alive never to be held down. For some it will be about limitations. For others, it is the gratitude and appreciation of being alive and whatever confronts one is something to be overcome and is just a challenge for the human spirit mindful about what it means to “Be awake, fully present and living my life intentionally.”

A dear friend Karen Dietz shared this piece from a blogger on Mental Floss, Miss Cellania:

In the beginning of the blog she reminds us:

Some people live their lives by making the best of what they have. And then there are people who even make the best of what they don’t have. After all, you just don’t tell some people, “You can’t do that.” Because they will prove you wrong.

Read Miss Cellenia blog on Challenge Accepted about 8 inspiring stories that resonate with the Wounded Warriors. You’ll resonate with being mindful as you sit or move.

Present moment, beautiful moment.

The poem below from e.e. cummings truly speaks from the heart. With Valentine’s Day a day away, it shares a moment of reflection of the love of another. And at the same time a deeper love that many of us find difficult to do and to live: A deep love of ourselves: “I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself with all my heart and from the depths of my being.” It resonates with Jon Kabat-Zinn’s: You are enough just by sitting there breathing.

Many years ago a dear friend Marilyn Deak, psychologist and mentor in Energy Psychology, was working with me on learning the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT by founder Gary Craig) shared at emofree.com. I found it interesting that I had trouble remembering the statement: “I deeply and profoundly accept myself.” What made those words so difficult to remember? Maybe some of you have experienced the same thing. Especially when living out the archtype of caregiver, servant, servant-leader when coming from what James Hollis calls the “Not enough” category of humanity.

I Carry Your Heart With Me

i carry your heart with me
i carry it in my heart
i am never without it
anywhere i go you go, my dear;
and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling
i fear no fate
for you are my fate, my sweet
i want no world
for beautiful you are my world, my true
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
here is the root of the root
and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart
i carry it in my heart
—-E. E. Cummings

A song I heard many years ago by the Incredible String Band has remained one that I have treasured. And from my heart to yours:

May the longtime sun shine upon you
All love surround you.

And the pure light within you
Guide your way on

Close your eyes. For the next few minutes let Snatam Kaur sing to yourself from your heart. For so many of us it is difficult to be compassionate and caring to the God that lives within us. Namaste.

If you are interested, rest your pointed over the heart picture above and go to the website of artist Sandy Levin. Click on Glass Gallery and view her Heart Series

When looking for the poem, I came across the website of the Randomguru and in his My Mind’s Zen Garden shared Cummings poem back in 2006. Also come to find that Carlos is a San Diegan.

Johan Bergstad is a licensed psychologist in Sweden, mindfulness teacher, writer/poet and photographer. The movie he recently released: This Will Also Pass” is a wonderful interview he did with, retired surgeon and Mindfulness teacher, Andries J Kroese.

For those interested in learning more about Mindfulness a good starting place is Mindful.org, that is hosted by Shambhala Sun Foundation.

Shambhala Sun or their website truly is a starting point for all things Mindful.

I have been influenced in the practice of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh since the mid-80’s and by Karen Sothers and Steve Alper since the mid-90s with their work at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine under the leadership of Dr Mimi Guarneri. With my 25 years as a Vistage Chair I have been blessed to be exposed to the many aspects of leadership from the perspective of what does it mean to be a leader who practices Mindfulness.

I would like to share some insights from a dear friend and an alumna Vistage Chair, Mary Lore, author of Managing Thought. Some good thought to reflect on as we begin our new year awake and aware.

Living and Leading with Intention

Do you have a written vision statement or intention for:

Your organization or your family?
Your role in your organization or family?
Your life? Your career? Yourself?
Your relationship with your children? Your direct reports?
Your relationships with your customers, suppliers, investors, employees, colleagues, manager, or boss?
Your marriage, education, livelihood, well-being, success?
Your vacation, the home or car you hope to buy, a conversation, an activity, a sales call, an acquisition, or a meeting?

We can set vision statements and choose our intentions and purpose for any aspect of our being. You can intend:

Good health.
Helping your employees fulfill their dreams.
Being of highest and best service to your customers, employees, investors, suppliers, children, parents, and humanity.
Being a loving partner to your spouse.
Being a guide and mentor to your children or your direct reports.
Being open, receptive, and kind in a conversation and using the interaction as a source of learning about yourself and others.

And then, before you say or do anything, ask yourself, “What can I say or do in this moment to BE my intention?” Before you make a phone call or respond to a comment, before you join a meeting or have a conversation, or before you open the door when you come home from work, exhale and inhale deeply. Remind yourself of your intention and ask what you can say or do to move another step toward making your intention a reality.

With practice, taking the breath becomes natural for you. With practice, reminding yourself of your intention and asking yourself how you can think and behave in a manner consistent with your intention also becomes natural for you. With practice, you are able to think these powerful thoughts just as quickly and naturally as your old thoughts.

When we choose our intentions and are mindful, we achieve clarity of purpose. We are clear on what matters most to us, on what we value. We stop “re-acting” to colleagues, customers, family members, employees, and situations and start creating what we wish to create. Our thoughts, strategies, goals, plans, actions, and reactions are focused on what is truly significant. We become inspired. We achieve significant results. We transform our relationships, our families, and our organizations.

How could you live with intention? How could you lead with intention?

For more on information on conscious, meaningful living and leading with purpose:

Watch video: Powerful resolutions, intentions, and affirmations to create a life well-lived.
Watch, listen, or read: How to Make Goals and Resolutions You Can Keep
Listen or Read: Focus on What You Want, Not What You Don’t Want
Read: What’s Your “I Have a Dream” Speech?
Take this free Self-Assessment for a Life Well-Lived.

For daily inspiration on this topic, follow Managing Thought on Twitter or like it on Facebook.

__________________________

Mary J. Lore is a mentor to corporate leaders, multiple award winning author, keynote speaker, and founder of Managing Thought, LLC. Hailed by business leaders around the world, her multiple award-winning book Managing Thought: How Do Your Thoughts Rule Your World? You not only change the way you think about success—you change the way you think, period. Mary helps individuals and organizations turn counter-productive thinking into inspired action and significant results. In her career, she has served as a CPA, a crisis management and business turnaround expert, and an entrepreneur. Mary serves as an expert resource for Vistage, served as a Chair from 2002 – 2010, and was a member during the 1990s. Visit Mary at www.managingthought.com and www.maryjlore.com. If you’d like to help Mary teach millions of people how to change their thoughts and their lives, go to www.managingthought.com/PBSPledgeSpecial.

Present moment, beautiful moment. It is all we have.

And in the present moment it is amazing what can be created when one looks back at a compilation of present moments.

For it is with the heart that one sees rightly
For what is essential is invisible to the eye

And from the viewpoint of someone who watched it happen

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

— from “Leisure,” by W.H. Davies

In an article “Pearls Before Swine” written by Gene Weingarten he relays the story of virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell playing incognito in the the Washington, D.C. Metro station at L’Enfant Plaza on his three million dollar Stradivarius. On Friday, January 12, 2007, Joshua Bell played for 43 minutes. Of the 6 pieces he played he started with Bach’s “Chaconne” one of the most difficult violin pieces to master. In those 43 minutes 1097 people passed by on their way to work. At the end of his playing, he had collected $32.17. Of the 40+ people the Washington Post contacted there was only one who mentioned the violinist immediately.

The full article “Pearls Before Swine” is a good read. How often our busyness and business finds us in a state of mindlessness. How can we embrace our lives from the context of mindfulness?

Leisure
W. H. Davies

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

And as I searched for more videos on Joshua Bell, the present moment presented me with a video that said:

The following content has been identified by
the YouTube community as being potentially
offensive or inappropriate.

Viewer discretion is advised.

I was reminded by the poet Terence: Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto

I am a man,
I consider nothing that is human alien to me.

And I watched.

I was saddened and realized what my fellow man endures and so often I have no knowledge of those experiences
.
I was reminded of my previous post. There is both sadness and joy. There is both compassion and brutality. There is both hate and love. We are humans and nothing that is human is alien to us.

Sometimes watching the mindless helps us realize that everything I do is a choice. Will I feed mindfulness or mindlessness with each of my choices. Susan Scott words from her big 3 ideas in Fierce Conversations: My life succeeds or fails one conversation at a time.

Can I quiet myself enough to listen?

Wiseman is a good listener

One of Mary Lore’s practices in her book “Managing Thought“ is to remove the “But” from one’s conversations and replace it with “and.” Begin to listen to yourself and others. Catch yourself and begin to replace your “but” with “and.” It opens the conversation to possibilities as opposed to cutting them off. The gift of a good improv artist is that they leave an ending line as something that a member of their ensemble can build upon. With “and” the possibilities are endless. With “but” the limits become all confining.

A dear friend and Kaizen sensi, Toni Davies, shares from time to time the writings of Tom Lane, a close associate for many years in continuous improvement. Here are some wonderful reflections from Tom’s blog over this holiday and Christmas season:

BOTH/AND OR EITHER/OR

Where do you fall on a spectrum of “both/and” thinking on one side, and “either/or” thinking on the other side. Any initial reactions to that? I find myself almost always on the “both/and” side of that question. And I find that conversations with “either/or” people are not very productive or enjoyable. It seems to be some kind of fundamental difference in how we humans deal with the world.
In the “both/and” world, there is this constant realization that two or more different actions/beliefs/possibilities can exist at the same time. It is totally possible that we are both encoded by nature to certain things and socialized to many other things. It is possible that both evolution and some spiritual intervention both happened in our development. That we humans can be both heartless about some things and very compassionate about other things. The both/and world allows for the enormous complexity of what life seems to be about. It is the world of gray. It is the world of no easy answers. It is the world of “maybe”.
On the other hand, the world of “either/or’, seems to be a world of black and white. (I must confess that I am speculating since I have not lived in this world) It is the world of being with me or against me. It is the world of nice and neat contrasts. I think that the reason I have not spent much time here is that, I have too often seen both sides of the situation. Either/or thinking only sees one side. My side is right and your side is wrong. It is the thinking of people who need lots of control in their living. To allow even the possibility of two seemingly contradicting ideas to hold a position of validity, seems absurd to “either/or” thinkers. It just does not compute.
There is only debate with the “either/or” thinkers and no chance for dialogue. To dialogue is to recognize the complexity and nuance of life and that nothing stands on its own as the ‘TRUTH”. But to the either/or folks, their truth is the only truth and no other can stand with it. To even allow another possibility to stand the same ground, is to put into question the absolute quality and validity of their view of the world. The either/or world is a world of needing lots of control. It seems to live by a ‘might makes right’ mentality.
And, if you are on the both/and world, you can see this process and understand how it has some validity in the world. There are some things that seem absolute (like we die) and there is value in some of that. And you also see how so many things are simply in the grey area. For people who want to know for certain, grey is not a good place. It is hard to find their clarity of “rightness”. Most of life, in my view, is in the grey. But, I can also see how some can define the world totally differently and see it as only black and white. And I can also see how they can not see that. Tlane 12/15/11

The picture above was painted by Joe Flynn, a dear friend, I met at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine founded back in the mid-90’s by Rauni Prittinen-King and cardiologist Dr Mimi Guaraneri, the 2011 Bravewell Leadership Award recipient. Joe came to group support since the late 90’s when Kaye, his wife, was a patient. Joe is a living example of “both/and.”

Joe is home from hospice and has been under the care of his caregiver, Lupe, and Joe’s team of caregivers. Joe is both alive and he is dying. I’ve had the pleasure before Thanksgiving and last Thursday to sit with him in the late afternoon and early evening and talk about life and all things of appreciation and gratitude. At Thanksgiving his 3 sons and their families gathered to celebrate with Joe. When I called the next day, some of the grandchildren were saying good bye and on their way home in other cities. Joe is both living and dying.

Joe would put it: ” We’re all dying. So I’m either alive or dead. As long as I am here, breathing; I am alive!

Joe is both a philosopher and an artist. You become a philosopher when dealing as a negotiator which he did for Kaiser in Oakland for over 30 years. You become a philosopher when you and your best friend with your dates leave the bar at the Coconut Grove on November 28th, 1942 because you’re not being served.You become a philosopher when your bomber is shot down over Romania. You become a philosopher when your best friend is also shot down and doesn’t get home. You become a philosopher when the citizens of the country help you and several hundred other Prisoners of War travel a few hundred miles to escape into Turkey.

You become an artist because it allows you to express yourself. You become an artist because it is something you do for yourself and your philosopher doesn’t care what other people think. Your creativity allows you share your art because each year for over 30 years you create a Christmas painting that becomes the front of your Christmas card “Exclusively for Family and Friends.”

The philosopher allows family into your art studio and has them choose any of your paintings to take with them. The studio is emptied. The philosopher aware than being almost blind doesn’t allow the artist to be so the studio closes. The philosopher knows the artist spirit is alive and hears of a teacher who helps the blind and near blind paint.

What you see above is Joe’s painting as he told me, every stroke by his hand. His teacher mixed the colors according to his directions. She then over many months verbally directed where he needed to paint. Her voice directed Joe’s hand with the pressure and length of the stroke needed.

Matt Crisci has a collection of Joe’s cards. The idea was to tell Joe’s story with each card as a chapter. Matt also had same idea for Mary Clark whose Christmas poems spanned more than 50 years. It looks like both Joe’s and Mary’s books will not be written. The anniversary of Mary’s death will be this coming Monday, December 19th. The San Diego Natural History Museum has a beautiful memorial to Mary, both written, in picture and mainly with the video of her reading one of her poems.

Matt, however, was able to share the life of one of our group in his book: Papa Cado. You can read two chapters.

So I am both honored and blessed to have people like Joe, Mary, Papa Cado, Matt, Tom, Toni and Mary in my life. They remind me both to be mindful and grateful for the gift of life.

It is with the heart one sees rightly

Roger, thanks for sharing and reminding us that like marathon running: Life is a journey not a destination.

Thanks also to Doug Freese and his continued contributions to Google Group: rec.running.

Lee Thayer Quote

Lee Thayer’s Leadership Virtuosity in his series of books on leadership is a must read for all who want to see what is the cost of becoming a virtuoso leader.

Click here: Leadership Virtuosity if you want to be challenged to become who you ought to be.

Today was added the 13th, 14th and 15th women who have received the Nobel Peace Prize. These women Nobel Prize winners, many who you will not have known until you read about them, embody mindfulness.

The first nine women Peace Prize winners you can read about in this article on the Nobel Prize website in the words of the individuals who presented these women their awards.
Baroness Bertha von Suttner 1905
Jane Addams 1931
Emily Green Balch 1946
Betty Williams 1976
Mariead Corrigan 1976
Mother Teresa 1979
Alva Myrdal 1982
Aung San Suu Kyi 1991
Rogoberta Menchu Tum 1992
Jody Williams 1997
Shrin Ebadi 2003
Wangari Maathai 2004
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 2011
Leymah Gbowee 2011
Tawakkul Karman 2011

The Nobel Peace Prize 2011 was awarded jointly to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”.

Mindful.org shares a list of the past awardees and nominees where mindfulness impacted their life and their work as with the 15 women Nobel Peace Prize winners.

You will want to visit Mindful.org for their many offerings to further your study, understanding and practical practice of mindfulness.

Congratulations to 2011’s laureates: Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen, who were together recognized for, as the New York Times put it, “their nonviolent role in promoting peace, democracy and gender equality.”

From the Mindful.org archives:
Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War.

Surrendered to Love: Bell Hooks explains how Martin Luther King’s vision of life based on a love ethic could heal our world.
Thich Nhat Hahn

Thich Nhat Hahn is a Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967. He remains active in the peace movement, promoting non-violent solutions to conflict.

There is no path to peace. The path is peace.: Thich Nhat Hahn talks to U.S. Congress about changing our society’s foundation of violence.
Mahatma Gandhi

A pivotal figure in India’s history, and one of the most well-known representatives of non-violence in the 20th century, Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1948, the year he was murdered. The omission has been publicly regretted by later members of the Nobel Committee.

The Global Gandhi: According to Gandhi, inner transformation is the key to social change. Can it be applied to the climate crisis? An exploration by Diana Calthorpe Rose of the Garrison Institute.
Dalai Lama

His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. The Dalai Lama was named the 1989 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his nonviolent campaign over nearly 40 years to end China’s domination of his homeland.

Studying Mind from the Inside: The true nature of the mind, says the Dalai Lama, is beyond any concept or physical form, and therefore it cannot be studied solely by third-person, scientific methods. Mind must also be studied through a rigorous observation of our own subjective experience.