Life Changes

The impact of life changes.

The Change Equation – Community and the Alphabet!

“In the kind of world we have today, transformation of humanity might well be our only real hope for survival.”
Stanislav Grof

Thirty years ago, when my parents entered their 50’s, they were asked to participant in a university study on aging. They were interviewed separately in cubicle offices by young 20 something year-old students. The questions were basic, covering a broad range of subjects that were easily answered, until the last one.  “Looking back over all of your life experiences, what advice would you give to a young person starting out.”  In separate offices, without any discussion, and without hesitation, they answered, as if in unison:  Remember that time is finite.  Do what you must do. Choose your friends wisely for they will influence the quality of your life. 

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A Wedding…Dialogue III

Spring Flowers

And they lived happily ever after….well, that is until the end of the story which is,

Till death (or divorce) us do part…”

There is an end to a marriage. The statistics, no matter how you interpret them, confirm that divorce is a reality.  And then there is death.  The statistics are quite firm on that point.  We are left with the unpleasant, if somewhat intimidating thought that, one way or another, there is an ending to the wedding story.

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So how has my life changed?


I was recently asked how my life changed after graduating from the Dalhousie MBA(fs) program. What a wonderful question to be asked! Especially now that we are coming into a new year – 2011 – which promises to offer many adventures yet to be experienced. I was 43 when I started the MBA program and finished just as I turned 48. At 43, I already had a fulfilling career, sat on several volunteer boards and had a fairly balanced home life. While most people take an MBA to prepare themselves for the next position, my career aspirations had been fully realized. I chose Dalhousie’s academically rigorous MBA program for a very specific reason: I was ready for the next phase of my journey, the time that Mary Catherine Bateson, in her book “Composing a Further Life” so eloquently defines as the “Adulthood # 2.”

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