Yearly Archives: 2017

Alone and forgotten We are talking a lot about people getting older in our society. We are trying to figure out what the best way would be, how we can live longer and happier, - and that is great. But actually nobody talks about those whose life is taking place outside of our societies. We don't really talk ever about those who, for one reason or another, are kept in prison and who are not as young as we normally think prisoners would be. Statistics show that the overwhelming majority of prisoners are male and under 30. What about those, again mostly men, who are getting old in prison? Who is interested about their aging process and the difficulties they face with it in the same ways as everyone else? [...]

We hear and read about the fascination of young girls for riding horseback. When I grew up it was absolutely unaffordable for me and so I never thought about this possibility myself. But I remember envying a school friend who proudly wore her riding pants and boots and made sure that she was something special. Nowadays riding has become more "democratized” and is accessible to more people. Owning a horse is still very expensive and time consuming, but at the same time it can give deep meaning to one’s life to enter into deep friendship with such an amazing animal. And today you can be a co-owner of a horse or just a “caretaker” of someone else’s animal. So why not try? Horses can be Catalysts for Healthy Ageing  The Message of [...]

Why don't we have trustworthy and gifted leaders in the world? - We are not taught leadership skills but instead all sort of stuff which is part of the old fashioned school programs and which in our times have only little potential to prepare kids for their lives, let alone to be future leaders. Fre Jones We elders have the chance to step out of the traditional system and think out of the box - as Fred Jones does for many years. His Toastmasters experience brought him to the idea to work with young people in a very unique and amazing way which enables them to practice the skills which they will need to become good leaders. How? Playing together structured role plays where everyone has a certain role and [...]

Age is neither good nor bad Although it is a common behavior in our society it by no means makes any sense. If we allowed ourselves to live - at least for a certain percentage of our lives - from a rational perspective, it should be clear that we cannot avoid the only certainty we have in life: getting older and die. Wouldn't it be better to prepare for the future and explore what we can do and how we can live in older years? One thing is certain: when we ignore reality we ignore not only the uncomfortable aspects of it but also the gifts. Changing perspective would allow us to explore the gifts of our older years instead of keeping to stay stuck in complaints about what we are [...]