There is something sacred about being part of your parents doing what they love.

Growing up, I spent many hours in the kitchen with my mom.  She was an exceptional cook – always trying new recipes, presenting a stunning table at dinnertime, and baked everything from scratch. She always had the proper tools and had the perspective that food was both nourishment and celebration.

In my teens I took up flying with my dad.  That was his passion. He could name any aircraft that passed overhead and was featured in a flying magazine because he took his small, private plane on short hauls to visit customers. The flying club was my social setting outside of school or the skating rink, and bonding time with my dad was something sacred.

Those many moments were like mini masterclasses.  Not only were my parents skillful they owned a perspective of respect, purpose, patience … and in those hours together were laughter, silence, mentoring, collaboration, overcoming adversity – I realize I was not simply spending time with them, I was inheriting wisdom.

I am now experiencing a world that increasingly overlooks wisdom for convenience. It laughs at those who are not proficient at the latest technology yet who are wickedly organized with cursive lists, who fix something before discarding it, who are lightning fast at problem-solving because they can pick up a phone, who don’t care if the system goes down because they have cash in their pockets and can do math in their heads, and call upon their memories for the name of that town, or singer or address.  

The snapshot of now is that we allow phones to take over our thinking.
Thumbs and AI to take over our writing.
Screens to take over our socializing.
Artificial connections to replace real intimacy.
Medicine to replace responsibility for our health.
Leaders to replace our connection to Source.

But what if the people we are discarding understand life more deeply than the people we are applauding? What if wisdom does not move quickly because wisdom has learned what speed destroys? What if convenience has become dependency?

Aha! ~ “No man is free who is not master of himself.” ~ Epictetus,

Today, many people are more technologically advanced than ever while becoming less capable of governing their own minds, emotions, impulses, and attention.  And dependency weakens the very muscles that make us human.

Maybe that is why so many people feel exhausted despite having more tools than any generation before them. Because the soul was never designed to thrive through outsourcing.  It was designed to thrive through consistent effort, trial and error, celebration and humility, and the same principles that made generations thrive before us.

Earl Nightingale defined success as “the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” Not the accumulation of followers. Not appearing successful while quietly feeling empty. Not disconnection at all costs.

A worthy ideal.

The truth is human beings have not fundamentally changed. We are still imperfectly perfect and still wake up hungry for purpose. We still heal through love. We still need community. We still long to be seen. We still flourish through challenge, responsibility, contribution, and growth. Those are the muscles we need to exercise daily.

The “good ol’ days” were not good because life was easier. They were good because people were harder to replace. 

They were good because people knew how to build and fix things, how to grow things, sit together, tell stories, think independently, be an essential part of their community …. and took pride in building their worthy ideal because they built themselves in the process.

Perhaps the greatest wisdom our elders carry is this: Life was never supposed to be convenient enough that we forget why we are alive.

Become harder to replace.

This Aha! is dedicated to millennials who can’t quite figure out life.  The principles, work and what drives us haven’t changed … and won’t. The last line says it all. You have my permission to share this!  Find the link on www.ahumanapproach.com under “blog” to post on social, or simply forward the link.