You Have Wisdom to Share (and it's hiding in your stories)
All eight billion people on planet Earth are composed of the same six elements: hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorous. And all eight billion people, no matter where they were born or what language they speak, are composed of 75% water, 23 pairs of chromosomes, and approximately 37.2 trillion cells.
That's the measurable stuff of which we are made. But there is also some unmeasurable stuff -- that which is not immediately visible, even under a microscope. And this unmeasurable stuff is a clue to why our species has been named "homo sapiens" -- the "wise ones."
Hmmm... wise ones... really? Given the sorry state of the world these days, the "wise ones" seems like a misnomer, but in reality, it is our true nature.
Human beings are more than just carriers of viruses, projections, and DNA. We are also carriers of wisdom -- the ability to perform an action with the highest degree of adequacy under any given circumstance. "Truth in action," you might say. What Solomon was famous for. And Socrates. And a whole lot of other sages since the beginning of time.
But not only known sages. Nope. Unknown sages, too. And unknown regular people, as well. Like your grandmother, for example... or your grandfather... parents... teachers... friends... neighbors... coaches or, this just in -- YOU!
Sages, Masters, and Elders may be the most historically recognized "keepers of wisdom" on the planet, but they are not the only ones. The rest of us are also keepers of wisdom. The thing is -- we don't always know it. Our wisdom is often invisible to us. Unseen. Unacknowledged. And unexpressed.
Not only do we see the glass as half empty, we often don't even see the glass.
Where is our wisdom hiding? More often than not, in our stories -- much like water is hiding in underground springs and gold is hiding in mines. But just because our wisdom is hiding, it doesn't mean it's non-existent.
Everybody has wisdom inside them. Everybody has something meaningful to share, based on what they've learned from the own life experiences. And the simplest, most powerful way to communicate this knowing is story.
Story is how the wisdom of the ages has been transmitted since the beginning of time. This is how our ancestors shared the best of what they knew. This is how all spiritual traditions pass on their knowledge. And this is how the best communicators on the planet communicate what is truly worth communicating.
YOU just happen to be one of those people. Your hidden stories are treasures. There is great wisdom, meaning, and inspiration in them. They need to be told. Especially these days, when the daily narrative that rules our lives is often so dark and depressing.
Are you ready? Are you willing? (I know you're able).
PHOTO: Gift Habeshaw
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:59 AM | Comments (0)
July 09, 202330 Great Quotes on Aging
"Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old." - Franz Kafka
"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age." - Sophia Loren
"My face carries all my memories. Why would I erase them?" - Diane Von Furstenberg
"If you are pining for youth I think it produces a stereotypical old man because you only live in memory, you live in a place that doesn't exist. Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been." - David Bowie
"As soon as you feel too old to do a thing, do it." - Margaret Deland
"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all things that make you want to live to be a hundred." - Woody Allen
"There are six myths about old age: 1. That it's a disease, a disaster. 2. That we are mindless. 3. That we are sexless. 4. That we are useless. 5. That we are powerless. 6. That we are all alike." - Maggie Kuhn
"When it comes to aging, we're held to a different standard than men. Some guy said to me: 'Don't you think you're too old to sing rock n' roll?' I said: 'You'd better check with Mick Jagger'". - Cher
"Aging is not 'lost youth', but a new stage of opportunity and strength." - Betty Friedan
"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. - Samuel Ullman
"When you get to my age, you'll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don't care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster. That's the ultimate test of how you have lived your life." - Warren Buffett
"We live in a youth-obsessed culture that is constantly trying to tell us that if we are not young, and we're not glowing, and we're not hot, that we don't matter. I refuse to let a system or a culture or a distorted view of reality tell me that I don't matter. I know that only by owning who and what you are can you start to step into the fullness of life. Every year should be teaching us all something valuable. Whether you get the lesson is really up to you.' - Oprah Winfrey
"We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
"Don't try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. There are so many things I won't live long enough to find out about, but I'm still curious about them. You know people who are already saying, 'I'm going to be 30 -- oh, what am I going to do?' Well, use that decade! Use them all!" - Betty White
"The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes." - Frank Lloyd Wright
"What helps with aging is serious cognition -- thinking and understanding. You have to truly grasp that everybody ages. Everybody dies. There is no turning back the clock. So the question in life becomes: What are you going to do while you're here?" - Goldie Hawn
"With aging, you earn the right to be loyal to yourself." - Francis McDormand
"The thing about aging is all your old lovers, pretty much if they were really friends, become your family. It's great. You have those terrible feelings of possessiveness and uncertainty go out the window. You have what you shared. You know you would help each other in times of trouble no matter what." - Gloria Steinhem
"I don't feel old or used up, and I don't have time to waste thinking about aging, because I live only for my cause." - Brigitte Bardot
"Most people don't grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging." - Maya Angelou
"The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected." - Robert Frost
"And the beauty of a woman, with passing years only grows!" - Audrey Hepburn
"Wisdom comes with winters." - Oscar Wilde
"The secret of a good old age is simply an honorable pact with solitude." - Gabriel Garcia Marque
"Today I am 65 years old. I still look good. I appreciate and enjoy my age. A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it. You still bring to bear all your prior experience, but you are riding on another level. It's completely liberating." - Nikki Giovanni
"I have reached an age when, if someone tells me to wear socks, I don't have to." - Albert Einstein
"You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream." - C.S. Lewis
"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm." - H.D. Thoreau
"Today is the oldest you've ever been and the youngest you'll even be again." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Those who love deeply never grow old. They may die of old age, but they die young." - Ben Franklin
Last photo: Cristian Newman
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2023WANT TO HEAR WHAT YOUR HEART IS SAYING? Put Music to It
Here's something I just heard about that I thought you might find both inspiring and timely, especially if you are looking for a new way to express your love to someone special in your life.
A good friend of mine -- Stuart Hoffman -- a masterful composer, pianist and producer of love songs -- has just launched SongScape, a brilliant, new custom-songwriting service.
The service Stuart provides is wonderful: you tell him what kind of song you're looking for (see below for details) and he will write, arrange, and produce the perfect song for you.
The twist? He is jump starting his new custom songwriting service with a raffle. For just a $25 entry fee, you can win a deeply moving, custom song that would typically cost at least $850.
Two examples of Stuart's Love Songs
A Thousand Days With You
One More Day
More examples of Stuart's music
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU WIN THE RAFFLE
Stuart will send you a simple form to complete that will provide him with the info he needs to write and produce your custom song, i.e.
-- The name of the song recipient
-- The occasion for the song, (i.e. engagement, wedding, birthday, anniversary, holiday, apology, expression of gratitude, sympathy)
-- Special moments you want noted in the song
-- Meaningful images, metaphors, memories, and details
-- The feeling or response you want the song receiver to experience
-- Your preferred musical genre or mood
2. Stuart will contact you to continue the intake process -- a way to ensure that the song he creates for you meets all of your specifications
3. Stuart and his team will write the lyrics. Stuart will write the music.
4. Stuart and his team will mix and master the song.
5. Stuart will digitally deliver the song to you in your desired format.
MORE ABOUT THE RAFFLE
-- Opens: Thursday, July 6
-- Closes: Thursday, July 20
-- Entry Fee: $25
-- Payable to piano88@sbcglobal.net via Venmo or PayPal. (Be sure to include your email address in the note).
-- Receipt of payment is your official entry into the raffle
-- Winner will be chosen via a random drawing on July 20
-- Winner will be announced/informed on July 21
WHAT STUART CAN PRODUCE for an NGO or ORGANIZATION
HOW TO ENTER THE RAFFLE
-- Buy a ticket by sending $25 to piano88@sbcglobal.net (via Venmo or PayPal). Deadline is July 20.
QUESTIONS? totalembrace88@gmail.com
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2023"Dada, Do You Have Time to Catch My Bubbles?"
One morning, 28 years ago, I found myself standing in my closet, madly searching for clean clothes in a last minute attempt to pack before yet another business trip, when I noticed my 4-year old son, Jesse, standing in the entrance. In one hand he held a small plastic wand, in the other, a plastic bottle of soapy water.
"Dada," he said, looking up at me. "Do you have time to catch my bubbles?"
Time? Whoa! It stopped. And so did I. At that moment, it made absolutely no difference whether or not I caught my plane; I could barely catch my breath. The only thing that was happening in that moment was my son and the soulful look of longing in his eyes.
For the next ten minutes, all we did was play -- him blowing bubbles, me catching. His need was completely satisfied -- his need for connection, his need for love, his need for knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that his dada was THERE for him and everything was perfect just the way it was.
Jesse is 26 now and just bought his own house. He works at YouTube. His bubbles are digital. But his deepest needs -- and mine -- are very much the same: love, connection, and enjoyment of the moment.
SO WHAT? This just in: In these difficult days of the Coronavirus, it is clear to me, more than ever, that it is the small moments that count -- the subtle opportunities we have every day to really BE there for each other. The business of life is not a life of business. There is something going on beyond cash flow, getting back to work, and government stimulus packages that is worthy of our attention.
Like love, for example. Like kindness. Like caring, fun, deep listening, and being totally present with the people in our lives -- especially those who live under the same roof we are working so hard to make sure remains over their head.
Somehow, along the way, we have forgotten that earning a living is not the same thing as LIVING -- that the people counting on us for survival are more interested in our interest in them than they are the compounded interest we are trying to earn for them.
This is tricky business, especially at a time in our lives when it takes a whole lot more effort than ever to pay the bills.
On that memorable day in my closet, if you asked me what I was doing the moment before Jesse asked me to catch his bubbles, I would have given you a stock answer -- something like, "getting ready for a road trip" or "packing." If you'd pressed me, I might have said something like "building a house of bricks" for my family.
Jesse didn't want to play with bricks that day. He wanted to play with BUBBLES. Bubbles were not a part of his long-term strategy. They were, instead, a crystal clear invitation for me to stop doing what I was doing and BE PRESENT with him in the moment -- the moment he was joyfully living in and I was planning for.
NOW WHAT? Who has been blowing bubbles your way recently? Have you acknowledged them? Given them your attention? Responded? If not, pause for a moment and ask yourself what you might do differently to catch their bubbles.
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MitchDitkoff.com
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:13 PM | Comments (0)
