Guest Post

The question I get most as a spiritual-financial coach is "What is enough?" And as with any other essential question, it sparks deepening thought and personal reflection.

The only thing worse than being taken captive is sympathizing and bonding with your captor. But what if our captors are our own beliefs and aspirations?

The Encore Physicians program matches retired doctors who want to continue practicing medicine part-time with community health centers in the San Francisco Bay Area. These "modern elders" are paid for providing direct patient care and mentoring less experienced clinicians for a few days per week over the course of a year.

No matter how enlightened we want to be, grudges happen and can rob you of precious time with life’s best gift … love. I learned that lesson when I reconnected with my old best friend at a hotel lobby in New York after not speaking to her for almost ten years.

The name of today’s post mirrors Anthea Pretorius’ poetry book that was published last year. She says, "Sometimes these short poems can be very thought provoking. I often say that a haiku is an unfinished poem. I start the story and tell only a fragment and the reader completes the story in their imaginations."

In Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling and widely discussed book, Outliers: The Story of Success he talked about the 10,000 hours rule. In the book he cites a paper from American Scientist, by Herbert Simon and William Chase, noting that it takes between 10,000 and 50,000 hours to master something difficult.

What I find most intriguing about these unprecedented times is that it is not only the world that is in a state of "not known or done before"; it is also ME. I am unprecedented. How intriguing.

So much is written today on the evils of social media and while I understand the very real issues regarding data privacy, coercion through fake news and the speed of dissemination of extreme views and bullying, I secretly love social media.

Transitions are not always easy. Change, whether it be chosen, or thrust upon us, often requires shifting our attitudes and expectations. Culturally, we often see early life transitions - possibly during adolescence or early adulthood - as our most opportune time in life. The world is your oyster, you have your whole life ahead of you!

Chip’s Note: Paul Hawken was my hero-from-afar when I started Joie de Vivre Hospitality in 1987, the year that his book “Growing a Business” was published (which was made into a PBS series). He was the mentor I never met till a couple decades later.