I’m writing this the day before our facilitation intensive with Rosa Zubizarreta-Ada September 25, 2025
When I retired from my counseling practice several years ago I began the process of convincing myself that my life was over, i.e. time to live my life in a more relaxed presence with the emphasis on “live.” I literally resisted taking on responsibility for anything other than my daily life and even that was suspect. I have been a “kept” man living on my social security and Laurie’s part time counseling. I discovered that “living” needs more than relaxing and I began feeling more like my life was falling apart along with the country I grew up loving and respecting. I began feeling pulled down by what I thought was truth rather than be inspired by it.
The one consistent message I kept hearing from those individuals that I respected was to turn my attention to the people closest to me, i.e. family and friends. In a world that seemed to be crumbling those were the people with whom I could develop trusting support groups. I’m assuming that many of us did that.
Somewhere In that process of trust building I watched the Netflix movie “Don’t Look Up”. The premise of that movie is that soon a comet is going to smash into the earth. All life will be destroyed. In fact if you looked up you could see the comet in the sky. Some people were panicking about the coming disaster and what to do about it. Others (perhaps more) argued the point that the story of the comet was not true and their advice to deal with the coming disaster was simply to not “Look “Up.” I suppose they were thinking that if you do not see the comets in life they simply do not exist.
I discovered that “Looking up” is a vocation and life stance whether I am retired or not. And it requires a looking in as well as a looking out. This brings up a question. How can I “Look Up”, be totally appalled by the situation and not allow the coming disaster to alienate me from those people who see the disaster differently or simply refuse to “Look Up”.
“Looking Up” does not erase differences in priorities or solve conflicts in values or morals.
“Looking up” gives me a self righteous point of view, but does not produce any solutions to the predicament. Only actual conversations and understanding of each other’s heart can bring that. This begins with knowing and sharing what is important to each of us, and hearing the truth that is the person in front of you. I believe that those incidences of hearing are points of social and personal transformation that moves society forward. It is also the personal juice that gives this retired “kept man” a reason to have a future.
https://www.co-creatingdesiredfutures.net/(opens in a new tab)