Opening Insights: The Generational Overwhelm
Many of us think of ourselves as overwhelmed and under-paid. While we may enter into a career track all bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready for a new experience, most of us get to a point where life becomes a daily grind. Many of us spend our lives constantly planning and seeking the next break, holiday or event (party, drink, drug or social media fix) to make us feel better. Some of us are better than others at managing our brave new world, others crumble and end up on the streets.
The one constant we all share is, on one level or another, we all seek the guidance and wisdom we never received from our parents, teachers, lecturers or bosses. The sad fact of the matter is, that many of us never had role models to look up to, and in our current positions, we lack the mentors and/or the ability to see and accept the mentorship of others.
So, what can we do?
Informational Insights: The Hand of Wisdom
Sometimes we just need friends, sometimes we need family, BUT MOST OF THE TIME, WHAT WE REALLY NEED IS AN OLDER WISER PERSON to not be our friend, but to “TELL IT LIKE IT IS.”
- Often, we have too much baggage to hear our family’s insight, and our friends lack the experience to provide effective wisdom.
- Often, we need someone who has walked a similar path to us – a path we admire and seek to walk ourselves.
- Often, we seek leaders and teachers, when what we really seek is a grandpa or grandma.
In the blog “A Grandpa’s Blog” the different roles of a Grandpa are explored.
Buddy – Many grandparents assume the role of a pal, secret confidante, and a lighthearted conspirator. As a result, grandchildren often feel more comfortable discussing sensitive issues with a grandparent than with their own parents.
Hero – Although the hero role can be a literal one if you have fought in or lived through wars or other extreme hardships, grandparents may also be a hero to a grandchild or young adult just for the fact that they endured for many years or that they stepped in to rescue or help your grandchild in a time of need. Being a hero gives a grandchild someone to model his or her life after and someone to inspire them
Historian – As a Grandparent, you are the living witness to the history of your own time as well as that of your [potential] ancestors. This gives the grandchild a sense of “we,” solidifying the fact that he or she belongs to a family unit – something bigger than themselves – and gives him or her a sense of safety and security.
Mentor – Grandparents are often cheerleaders, inspiring their grandchild’s imagination and their dreams, nurturing their spirit and encouraging their intellectual growth while giving them a sense of self-worth. Grandparents are especially effective as teachers because their unconditional love makes the grandchild feel safe and comfortable and loved for who they are, not how they perform.
Spiritual Guide – Your role as a spiritual guide to your grandchildren can help teach them to value and achieve spiritual rewards such as love, tolerance, compassion, reverence, joy, peace, gentleness, faith and kindness. By acting in a moral, ethical, and honest manner, grandparents set an example for grandchildren to emulate.
Gems of the Earth – Grandpas, in particular, play a special role in society.
As trusted and respected adults, they are viewed as an emblem of wisdom and strength. Their strong weathered hands show a sensitivity to life’s many storms. At heart they are young, full of stories, and full of memories. They teach others about value by simply being who they are.
Grandpas are often compared to a teddy bear or a lion. If you think about it, both carry a lot of merit. Just as the teddy bear, the warm and tender love from a Grandpa is like no other. Strong, safe, comforting and understanding. Love can be given and received without need for words or explanation. Further, just as a lion perched on the mountaintop, a Grandpa’s eyes see all. He listens with intent, he hears truth in the wind and he senses the next moment coming.
Grandpas are living history. Grandpas are storytellers with the patience and compassion only time can give. Having attained much, Grandpas are often an ideal model of what mature love between two adults can be — love being the state of exchanging:
- Attention – seeing all of a person (not just the part we want to see)
- Respect – accepting all of a person (not judging others or trying to change them); and
- Appreciation – valuing all of a person (not just one dimension)
…Different from the parent, the Grandpa’s perspective is based on understanding two horizons – the horizon behind us and the horizon in front of us.
In the horizon behind us, a Grandpa’s insight tells us not just what happened but why it happened. In the horizon in front of us, a Grandpa’s insight provides the world of possibilities… the world of what could be based upon the decisions that will be made.
It is from these two perspectives, working in parallel harmony, that today’s young adventurers will find a Grandpa (by blood or discovery) and explore the fullness of life together.
Through this process, each discovers and receives the richness of life. For the young adventurer it is for the first time. For the Grandpa it is the fullness of life …again. Both the young adventurer and the Grandpa win. And someday, the young adventurer will re-live life once again as a Grandpa.
Possibilities for Consideration: Grandpas and Grandmas for Everyone
Grandpas and grandmas will likely not solve all of our problems. However, they will fill a void within our life education and help reverse the social conditioning that we have experienced on a social cultural level.
A child needs a grandparent, anybody’s grandparent,
to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world.
CHARLES AND ANN MORSE
- What if you could have an organizational or industry grandpa and grandma just a click away?
- What if you could effectively learn, apply and experience the wisdom of your organization or industry grandpa and grandma within a safe and consistent mentorship environment?
- What if you could be mentored in a way that supports Applied Knowledge Transfer™?
- What if you could effectively learn Dot Perception, Dot Thinking and Dot Communication through a proven mentorship process?
Add Your Insights:
Collaboration, Applied Knowledge Transfer™ and Data Intelligence
provide the pathway to a bridge that links the wisdom of the past to the possibilities of the future.
RICHARD JORGENSEN
If we are to bridge this immense generational gap we must reestablish the links of the chain of social evolution. That being: child – parent – grandparent, tied into a unified thread – “The Walton Principle 101.” The HOW TO DO this is discovered within Co-Labs.