a blog by John P. Schuster
I went snowboarding for about the 18th time in 14 years a few weeks ago. When 50, on a bit of a lark, I learned how to snow board. I was already too old to do this. The young boarders call any boarder over 50 “a gray on a tray.” That was me. I so loved it. The joy of swooshing down the huge, miles-long slopes in Utah or Colorado. The bracing air, the snow[…]
Read moreLike many a loving grandparent, I bought Modern Warfare 3 (MW3) for my grandson. This was a must-buy for this well-rounded 13 year old. MW3 sold $775 million in five days, you most likely heard, making it a mega event. It is well over a billion in sales now. What can we make of this? How can we put our arms around this amazing commercial success for a war game? For me, my relationship to[…]
Read moreA good friend of mine, Joy Leach, tells the story of a childhood memory that has shaped her life as a working mom and wife. Her Dad, every week, would pull out seven one-dollar bills and give them to her mom, and this was her allowance for the week. They were not in poverty, though in the ’50s wealth levels were nowhere near today’s. For Joy, traveling and doing her work as a happily married[…]
Read moreWhen we look at the night sky we feel small in the Grand Scheme. When we help someone with a problem, provide a useful insight, or give a hug of understanding that relieves some pain, we feel worthwhile and know we are here for a reason. What a dichotomy we hold, so tiny and insignificant and so significant! Golda Meir, former Israeli prime minister, apparently carried two stones with her. One said, “For me the[…]
Read moreWe are all taught to use, and teach others, to set SMART goals. This busy time of year, we are “making a list, checking it twice.” So much to do, so little mistletoe. But maybe you need some dumb goals to balance out and enrich your holidays. This SMART acronym, one of the more universally known in the world of organizations – but as a reminder – stands for: Specific Measureable Achieveable/Attainable Realistic Timebound Managers[…]
Read moreThe holidays are upon us and many people will physically go to a place we think of as home, or home-like, with family, friends, sibs, parents, cousins. Even with the unresolved issues that get stirred up by arriving in family settings, in the main we keep longing for home. The metaphor of coming home resonates spiritually as well. We yearn to come home to the original version of us, the more innocent version who had[…]
Read moreOh the age thing! I had a bit of a shock last year. A woman we work with said she went to the doctor, got measured for height, and had shrunk an inch. So I measured myself that night. No mistake about it, down an inch from my six-foot-tall days. Now when did that happen? What a rude sign of mortality and aging! Isn’t getting shorter for people in their late 80s, not me, a[…]
Read moreBy now, at certain latitudes in the northern hemisphere, we have gone through our closets for the Autumn ritual of switching out our wardrobes. Depending on how far south you live, this may or may not be true. (Texas,Florida,Arizona: just imagine how others do this so I can carry through with the metaphor, ok?) My southern hemisphere friends are pulling out the spring look. On the literal side of things, I have to get rid[…]
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