Guest Post

Chakra: in ancient Sanskrit, chakra means "wheel" and refers to energy centers in our bodies

I'm an outsider. I don’t have any personal experience with life in the big leagues, aka the corporate world. But, I DO have a perspective, an important one. I have been "married" to a global consulting firm going on 29 years. My husband has been with the same firm our entire marriage.

"Imagine if you are older, like in your 60s. Could you climb a tree? Should you climb a tree?" Those were the first questions proposed to us students in my Sports Psychology class in college.

Chip’s comment: This guest post seemed well-suited to Independence Day, not just for the U.S., but for yourself. Have your hopes and dreams been suspended during the pandemic? Even if you stayed physically healthy, it’s commonly recognized Covid took an emotional toll on all of us. Part of the price of the pandemic is its theft of so many dreams.

The Law of Inertia, also called Newton’s first law, states if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force. I wonder if Newton was talking about the human condition as well as physical objects.

An Algorithm for Caring: Healing the World, One Caring Conversation at a Time. Theodore Roosevelt famously said, "Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care."

I hosted my first-ever Future Funeral recently (in two sessions: virtually on May 10, and in-person on May 22). I promised myself that it won't be the last. The reason is simple: I learned a tremendous amount from it, so did my 'guests,' and all those who heard about it from different parts of the world but couldn't join either of the sessions personally.

In 1980, Diana Ross released the song "I’m Coming Out." In 1980, I was 21 years old and just graduated from college. I moved from Illinois to San Francisco. That song became the LGBTQ anthem, about declaring who you were and being proud.

I remember the moment everything plunges into darkness. For the first few minutes, I am disoriented. Slowly, the family emerges, one by one, around the kitchen table. Candles are lit, a game is found, a cosy blanket covers two of us, a bag of chips gets passed around.

I have finally moved into my new digs, smack bang in the middle of the city and it feels good.... but if I’m honest, it also feels a smidge confronting. Maybe that’s because I have officially stepped into that ‘new chapter’ that I’ve been pontificating about for the past few years and now I need to actually make good on all those grand plans I have for the second half of life.