Keeping with the exploration of the second half of life, in February I attended “The Spirituality of Aging,” which provided aging in the framework of the seasons:
| Spring | 0-25 |
| Early Summer | 26-50 |
| Late Summer | 51-64 |
| Autumn | 65-75 |
| Winter | 76+ |
Separating the Wheat of Life from the Chaff — some wisdom from Helen Luke’s essay, “The Odyssey”:
“Why do you speak of a winnowing fan,” said Odysseus, “when you must know very well that this is a beautiful oar with which I cleave the great waters of the wine-dark seas around us?” …
“You are right, I am not ignorant of the oar… I was not pretending by using the words ‘winnowing fan’…I ask you now only to think of the meaning of that image.”
Continue reading “Separating the Wheat of Life from the Chaff”
Once again, I found myself stuck in the foggy gap. I’ve been focused on defining my vision for this second half of life (not a bad thing) but there’s a lot of unknown in this new life. I got fixated on the fog of uncertainty, but today I caught a glimpse of what was in front of me: the reality of creative tension. Once again, the fog lifts (and I do recognize this is a pattern).
I’ve been approaching creative tension as the obstacle, which is a big mistake. It can actually be the force to move me forward. Peter Senge dives into the topic in his book, The Fifth Discipline:
The juxtaposition of vision (what we want) and a clear picture of current reality (where we are relative to what we want) generates what we call “creative tension”: a force to bring them together, caused by the natural tendency of tension to seek resolution.
Senge continues later in the book: The gap between vision and current reality is also a source of energy. If there was no gap, there would be no need for any action to move toward the vision… Continue reading “Recognize Creative Tension as a Source of Creative Energy”
Excerpt from NYT’s Social Q on July 11, 2019:
The reason to attend our friends’ new endeavors (their amateur art openings, piano recitals and improv performances) is not to witness their greatness, but to applaud their bravery in trying something new. It’s much easier to watch a video and carp about it than to stand up in public and bomb.
In out of the way places of the heart,
where your thoughts never think to wander…
-John O’Donohue
Through these decades of remembering the unknown soldiers, I have learned that the most unexpected individuals turn out to be guides and teachers. Continue reading “Exploring a Dark Place in the Heart where Remembrance Never Touched the Ground”
creative meander 