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Articles from H. Les Brown | Selfgrowth.com
- Life Is Coming At You - Are You Ready? - by Submitted on Apr 06, 2009 from H. Les BrownOur local Giant supermarket has introduced hand scanners so that you can just walk up and down the aisles, collecting your groceries, while scanning them and bagging them right in your cart. Checkout involves downloading the inventory from the hand scanner into a self-serve checkout station. ...
Views: 1479 - Living a Life of Regret - by Submitted on Oct 24, 2008 from H. Les BrownEmily Dickinson wrote, "Remorse is cureless, the disease not even God can heal." 'Remorse' arises as a sorrow for past decisions that you've made, while 'regret' serves as a broader, more useful term, describing a wish that you'd made other choices in the past: choices either to avoid doing ...
Views: 2343 - Living Life On Life's Terms - by Submitted on Oct 31, 2008 from H. Les BrownOn last night's internet radio program, I interviewed rock musician and author, Steve Mayfield, about his new album and book, Afterlife Crisis. One of the principle themes (that became a song on his album) was that, even when we've gotten through the midlife transition, we still can't find a ...
Views: 1017 - Looking Into The Heart Of The Beast - by Submitted on Oct 09, 2008 from H. Les BrownYou know, there's one thing I can say for being an expert in midlife: when an emotional crisis sneaks up from behind you and pounces on your back, you know the material well enough that you can identify the beast before it takes too bad of a bite out of you. Even if you can't figure out in the ...
Views: 730 - Loving The Man In The Mirror - by Submitted on Aug 22, 2008 from H. Les BrownEvery day you live, you collect stuff. Just imagine the sheer volume of information that passes into your psyche every day, from what you see, what you read, what you experience, what you think, what you do (consciously or unconsciously), and the decisions you make. Every second — awake or ...
Views: 854 - Men Don't Know What They Don't Know - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2008 from H. Les BrownIn October of this year, the American Psychological Association issued a report on stress by gender. Here is some of what they said: In June 2008, more people reported physical and emotional symptoms due to stress than they did in 2007, and nearly half (47 percent) of adults reported that their ...
Views: 1273 - Midlife Is The Antidote - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2008 from H. Les BrownIn 1980, singer Grace Jones released her version of the song, "Love is the Drug" and it soon became a hit on the disco circuit. It's true: though we don't always think about it in those terms, love is a very potent drug. Who doesn't love being high on love? To be sure, though, it's not the only ...
Views: 804 - More Than Muddling Through - by Submitted on Aug 08, 2008 from H. Les BrownUnpleasant surprises don't necessarily have to be a necessary part of the process of midlife transition. 'Shock and awe' may have have some usefulness in military operations, but they clearly don't belong in a well-managed life. Although it's impossible to predict all the eventualities of ...
Views: 779 - No Little Pill Will Fix It - by Submitted on Nov 24, 2008 from H. Les BrownOver the past number of years, there has been an explosion of advertising around pharmaceuticals that are designed to alleviate problems with ED [erectile dysfunction] in men (for the drug companies and advertising agencies, the embarrassment of ED has apparently replaced the heartbreak of ...
Views: 1033 - Over 30 Need Not Apply - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2008 from H. Les BrownKo-Ko. Are you old enough to marry, do you think? Won't you wait till you are eighty in the shade? There's a fascination frantic In a ruin that's romantic; Do you think you are sufficiently decayed? Katisha. To the matter that you mention ...
Views: 764 - Ravished by Midlife - by Submitted on Dec 10, 2008 from H. Les BrownAs I was considering a title for this article, I wanted to find a verb that would express what's on the 'other side' of the midlife transition. I guess that I'm in quite a good mental state right now, because before I knew it, I had found the perfect word: ravished. It's a word that touches a ...
Views: 1115 - Recognize Your Emotional Sleight-of-Hand - by Submitted on Oct 02, 2008 from H. Les BrownFor a couple of years, my partner had to have periodic allergic desensitization shots. He found it very unhandy to administer the shots to himself, so he enlisted my help. I became his unofficial shot-giver. Although I'd never done anything like that before, I followed instructions, practiced ...
Views: 868 - Repent! The End is Near! - by Submitted on Dec 29, 2008 from H. Les BrownWell . . . to be honest with you, the end is near whether or not you choose to repent: the end of the year 2008, that is. We humans have a particular affinity for the ending of things: like graduations and funerals (not that there's any other similarity between the two). Yet, we mark transitions ...
Views: 1158 - Repent! The End is Near! (Part 2) - by Submitted on Dec 30, 2008 from H. Les BrownOnce more, the Grim Reaper is coming up the pathway to visit the old year, 2008. The economic forces that were put in motion over the last ten years have finally tipped the scales, particularly over the last six months. Huge corporations are dropping like flies or are begging to be propped up by ...
Views: 1039 - Sliding Downhill from Commitment to Denial - by Submitted on Feb 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownYou see all those fancy letters after my name? The 'MA' (at least one of them) is the result of my fascination with Western (Greek) philosophy. These ancient brilliant minds, after all, laid the foundation for our entire cultural perspective. What to us 'sophisticated' contemporary thinkers ...
Views: 1077 - Sorry, Guys - Time's Up! - by Submitted on Oct 21, 2008 from H. Les BrownYou know what they say: "Time and tide wait for no man." And, you know, they're right. Time's up, guys! Tide's gone out, and there's not enough water left to float your boat. For the past four months, I've been focusing my energies on addressing the single most critical time in a person's life ...
Views: 731 - Sounding the Emotional Depths - by Submitted on Oct 20, 2008 from H. Les BrownWe know one thing for certain regarding midlife: it's an emotional maelstrom. The principal difference between your reactions to the emotions that you experience during the midlife transition and the ones you endured during puberty lies in the fact that you're so much more adept at finding ...
Views: 822 - Statistics, Setbacks and Self-Esteem - by Submitted on Oct 13, 2008 from H. Les BrownIt sure seems like when a guy hits middle age, it all hits the fan — and all at once. You know what they say: 'feelings aren't facts', but it certainly seems that way, doesn't it? At the same time, many people don't count on how statistics conspire together to make you the target of ...
Views: 1374 - Success Is A Dead End - by Submitted on Aug 21, 2008 from H. Les Brown'Be careful what you pray for, 'cause you just might get it.' Have you ever heard that saying? In my opinion, it so perfectly describes the pitfalls of adulthood. Keep in mind that I have what I think is quite a unique definition for 'adulthood': childhood without the parental constraints. The ...
Views: 794 - Tell Me, What Does It All Mean? - by Submitted on Sep 25, 2008 from H. Les BrownWould you like to know what the essence and the root cause of the midlife crisis is? Would you like me to let you in on the Big Secret? Actually, it's not really a secret at all, but it is BIG. The infamous midlife crisis is nothing more (and nothing less) than a crisis in meaning. My personal ...
Views: 950 - The (Aging) Parent Trap - by Submitted on Sep 28, 2008 from H. Les Brown"Nothing's certain but death and taxes," they say. I have to ask, "What's so certain about death and taxes?" The only certitude that we really have is that stuff will happen: some of it enjoyable, some of it painful, some of it avoidable, most of it not. There's an aspect of midlife that becomes ...
Views: 754 - The Arrogance of Self-Destruction - by Submitted on Feb 20, 2009 from H. Les BrownYesterday evening, I was working away at my desk, prepping for my Thursday evening internet radio program, when up pops an e-mail announcing that I had been befriended by someone over at BlogCatalog.com. Curious (I have few friends over there, since I'm a recent member), I stopped by to view ...
Views: 1948 - The Arts Are a Waste of Time - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2008 from H. Les BrownThis is an era of ever-tightening budgets and precarious performance in students' basic skills. It's an era of 'No Child Left Behind', although very many still are. Many inner-city schools are in disrepair, school supplies are hard to come by, and teachers are generally ridiculously under-paid ...
Views: 7440 - The Boomer Survival Guide - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownWhat an absolutely amazing time to be a 'Boomer! If you're a person who likes a challenge, you'll absolutely love 2009! There's nothing quite like the fear of financial insecurity to stress every system in your life (your career, your relationships and your health) to within an inch of its ...
Views: 1631 - The Endangered Working Male - by Submitted on Mar 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownSeveral years ago, my friend, Dr. Jed Diamond explained how masculine acculturation was creating a huge obstacle for men in the workforce: both young and old. As the world moves from an industrial model to a "post-industrial" (or knowledge-based) economy, the skill sets most in demand evolve ...
Views: 1368 - The Male Brain - Hardwired to Fail? - by Submitted on Nov 25, 2008 from H. Les BrownAs if the emotional, social, cultural and hormonal changes that overtake a man during the midlife transition aren't severe enough, he also has to factor in a biologically-based uphill battle that he has to fight to maintain his place in the world. Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen from Cambridge University ...
Views: 1929 - The Masculine Mystique - Field of Lost Dreams - by Submitted on Nov 26, 2008 from H. Les BrownEach of us begins his or her life at the center of a perfect 3-pronged conspiracy. Born into an established environment, you immediately commence your cultural formation. After the initial explosion of neural and synaptic formations, for the first three years of your life, your environment plays ...
Views: 1689 - The Most Terrible Feeling Of All - by Submitted on Nov 13, 2008 from H. Les BrownOne day my father, as a young man, came home from work to find the apartment cleaned out of furniture and swept clean. His wive (not my mother) was gone. Needless to say, reconciliation wasn't an option. I also know of a woman who was so alienated from her husband that, from time to time, he'd ...
Views: 1355 - The Mystique of the New - by Submitted on Jan 16, 2009 from H. Les BrownThe year has changed . . . how about you? What changes are facing you in 2009? If you're a man in midlife, change has probably caught you like the incoming tide and is carrying you along with its often-understated power. Now, the question remains: what are you going to do about it? Your ...
Views: 1113 - The Only Way to Win the Battle of the Sexes - by Submitted on Jan 23, 2009 from H. Les BrownHere's a double spoiler for you, first for the 1983 movie, War Games, then for this article: as the computer, Joshua, comments at the end of this picture: "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play." It works as well for global thermonuclear war as it does for the age-old conflict ...
Views: 1074 - The Other Side Of The Mountain - by Submitted on Oct 26, 2008 from H. Les BrownJust because I've made it "over the hill" doesn't necessarily mean that it's smooth sailing from now on. As a matter of fact, think back to when you were a teenager still walking riding your bike everywhere you wanted to go. Couldn't you just taste the freedom and all the possibilities that were ...
Views: 1168 - The Scariest Hallowe'en Ever - by Submitted on Oct 27, 2008 from H. Les BrownSaturday was the first (and the biggest) costume party of the Halloween season around here. I went as the scariest thing I could think of: the New York Stock Exchange. Sadly, I didn't win the 'Scariest Costume' prize . . . I lost out to a store-bought devil. I'm not sure whether this particular ...
Views: 995 - The Threat Of Abundance - by Submitted on Sep 21, 2008 from H. Les BrownI am a very fortunate guy . . . I really should say that I'm extremely blessed. I live in a modest but lovely home in a summer resort one mile from a beautiful beach. I'm have a relationship that's stable and loving with a level of communication and mutual appreciation and understanding that's ...
Views: 743 - The World As You Never Saw It - by Submitted on Nov 30, 2008 from H. Les BrownWhen I was growing up, way back in the old days of black-and-white television (in the very early 1960's), the US Army produced a weekly half-hour program that they called The Big Picture, and it opened with a graphic depicting the globe. John Glenn had not yet taken his first manned orbital ride ...
Views: 987 - The World's Having A Male Midlife Crisis - by Submitted on Oct 07, 2008 from H. Les BrownIf I didn't know better (but I'm not sure that I do), I'd say the world was having a midlife crisis. Whether it's about half-way through it's life span, I don't know; but I do think that it's behaving just like a middle-aged guy. As I read my morning Washington Post today — with one eye ...
Views: 1157 - The Young Adult And The Ostrich - by Submitted on Sep 29, 2008 from H. Les BrownOnce upon a time, there was a man. Although he was still young, he was an extraordinary man in many ways. Yet, in spite of his many talents and successes, he was very much like the other men of his age: he didn't want to hear bad news. So, he did the same things he saw all the other men around ...
Views: 760 - Turning Obligation into Celebration - by Submitted on Nov 23, 2008 from H. Les BrownRemember Charles Dickens' opening lines to A Tale of Two Cities? "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." These words apply to more than just Paris before the French Revolution. Welcome to the holidays! If you're older than 5, these are the days that we genuinely love to hate. ...
Views: 1001 - Vision Correction As A Metaphor For Midlife - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2008 from H. Les BrownYesterday I went for my biennial eye exam. I had all the drops and the blinding equipment scanning my cornea and retina. I read the charts so often that I had the bottom line memorized by the time I was finished: O V T C Z 2. Naturally, my eyes were a little worse than they were two years ago, a ...
Views: 908 - What If I Get Sick? - by Submitted on Aug 14, 2008 from H. Les BrownThis is my first day back in my home office since I left on my Vancouver trip last week. In the meantime, something unpleasant happened to me: some kind of nasty, lingering stomach virus that has left me wanting to do nothing more than just sleep. Getting sick is one of life's most unpleasant ...
Views: 682 - What to Do When the Tables are Turned - by Submitted on Dec 22, 2008 from H. Les BrownRecently, I had a question from a man who was in serious pain because . . . his wife was going through a midlife crisis. In some ways, there's nothing odd or strange about that: women and men both experience the physical and emotional changes that signal the transition from adulthood to ...
Views: 942 - What Will Your Next Career Look Like? - by Submitted on Nov 19, 2008 from H. Les BrownThinking of retiring? If pundits are right (and it certainly looks that way from here), the concept of 'retirement' has been put to rest — permanently. Take a look at the recent history of employee benefits. Pensions were the first to go. They relied on a continuous growth model that has ...
Views: 1046 - What Will Your Transition Cost? - by Submitted on Aug 14, 2008 from H. Les BrownOn paper, it seems obvious that people should plan for a major shift in perspective that should occur just about the time they settle in to their relationships, their careers and their sense of personal achievement and well=being. That's all very fine to speculate about before the fact. Yet, a ...
Views: 760 - What's Happening to Your Husband? - by Submitted on Dec 15, 2008 from H. Les BrownAre you noticing that the signs of menopause are starting to show up? Can you feel the changes happening in your body? Is it one of the topics of conversation when you and your closest friends get together? Have you already started discussing it with your doctor? How are you feeling about these ...
Views: 1762 - When 'Bored' Is the Name of Your Game - by Submitted on Sep 16, 2008 from H. Les BrownThe French have the perfect word for it: ennui. It means 'boredom' but it also means so much more. The dictionary defines the word as meaning, "Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest." I could add 'restless', 'irritable', and 'discontent.' The French term is also the ...
Views: 770 - When Are You 'Over The Hill'? - by Submitted on Sep 03, 2008 from H. Les BrownA little over a month ago, I had one of those 'milestone' birthdays . . . you know the kind . . . they're the ones that end in a '0'. It didn't bother me too much this time. Actually, I felt rather good about reaching that age at a time when people are saying, "You're kidding! You're that old?" ...
Views: 774 - When Generations Collide - by Submitted on Aug 19, 2008 from H. Les BrownWe're quickly coming into an age when multiple generations are experiencing the midlife transition simultaneously. Perhaps we're already at that point. From my research, it's becoming clear that a far broader range of age groups self-identify as 'middle-aged': people from their mid-thirties into ...
Views: 944 - When Making The Right Choice Goes Wrong - by Submitted on Sep 05, 2008 from H. Les BrownQuick: stop reading right now and write down your top three core values. Do it now! . . . How hard was that? How long did it take you? Did you have to stop and ask yourself, "What does he mean by 'core values'?" Did you have to stop and think, confused by a long list of things that seem very ...
Views: 901 - When You Stand at the Turning Point - by Submitted on Feb 22, 2009 from H. Les BrownYou have competency. That's not enough. You have experience. So do a lot of other people. You have long-term loyalty. That's not relevant. You have a family, a mortgage, car payments, expenses, tuition. It's not even a consideration. You're over fifty; it's too late to start over for crying out ...
Views: 1484 - When Your Clock Strikes Midnight - by Submitted on Oct 14, 2008 from H. Les BrownWhat happens when your clock strikes twelve? There's no fairy godmother, no pumpkin coach or coachmen, no ball gown or glass slippers, no Prince Charming. Nothing left but some very hard work. Everybody's clock hits midnight once in a while. When it does, especially when you're in the midst of ...
Views: 903 - Why Men Get Lost In The Clouds - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2008 from H. Les BrownJust before we moved from Connecticut to Delaware (where we now live), I was only about a month away from earning my instrument rating on my private pilot's license. From everything I've heard, the instrument rating is the most difficult rating for a private pilot to achieve. If I were to ...
Views: 986