Author: Rick Bellingham

Several years ago, I joined a rafting expedition down the Zambezi River in Zambia, Africa.  The Zambezi is known to have the best category 5 rapids (most dangerous) of any river in the world. Our expedition had two rafts with six people on each raft.  Each raft had an expert guide and was accompanied by a safety kayak in case a raft capsized.  We were all warned about the alligators, hippos, potential for accidents, and Read More

I don’t know where this post is going.  I’m just going to get started and see what happens.  Let’s explore some paths to peace that may lead to a better place. As is likely true for most of you, I’ve been feeling assaulted lately by the continuous bombardment of bad news.  I read the New York Times and find very little uplifting news.  Quite the opposite.  I hear about: Corporate exploitation Pharmaceutical misrepresentation FBI/CIA machination Read More

“When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.”  Victor Hugo   “A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.”  Fidel Castro   “Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness.”  Alice Walker   Given all the disinformation proliferating in the world, it seems to me that we should be more concerned with convolution than revolution.  Are we living in the midst of the next Read More

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” Jimi Hendrix “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Albert Einstein “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Mahatma Gandhi “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” John F. Kennedy “You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” Virginia Woolf “We can never obtain peace Read More

“There are four questions of value in life:  What is sacred?  Of what is the spirit made?  What is worth living for and what is worth dying for?  The answer to each is the same.  Only love.”  Lord Byron “Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.”  Joseph Campbell “Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles Read More

“A life that doesn’t know possibility takes in only half the truth.”  Pico Iyer “I’m being rowed through paradise on a river of hell.”  Haga Shahid Ali “Once in a lifetime, hope and history rhyme.”  Sophocles A mentor of mine, Dr. Bill Anthony, told the story of his experience teaching psychology at Boston University.  Bill was the Director of Psychiatric Rehabilitation there and taught graduate and undergraduate classes to students who aspired to be in Read More

We are all familiar with the bias that strategic plans are a waste of time.  Many people hold the belief that too much time and effort are invested in developing strategic plans because, after they are done, they are put on a shelf and collect dust.  The reason that this belief is so widely held is because it’s often true.  The plan becomes a static document that quickly loses its relevance as conditions change.  It Read More

When does an iteration become an aberration?  That’s the question I’ve been struggling with for the past few months. Aberration is defined as a departure from what is normal, usual, or expected – typically one that is unwelcome.  An aberration is something strange that rarely occurs, for example when the thermometer tops 90 degrees in January in Minnesota.  Although, given the acceleration of climate change, that may turn out to be more of an iteration Read More

“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today.  No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.  This means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fiction way of thinking.”  Isaac Asimov “Man is something that shall be overcome.  Man is a rope, tied between beast Read More

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customers so well the product or services fits them and sells itself.”  Peter Drucker “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”  Mahatma Gandhi In these turbulent and stormy times, sailing can be perilous.  Who knows when a rogue wave in the form of some technological disruption may capsize your boat?   At what point might a tsunami of Read More

“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” Brene Brown “The highest ecstasy is attention at its fullest.”  Simone Weil “The way we experience the world around us is a direct reflection of the world within us.” Gabrielle Bernstein “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way.”  Margaret Wheatley Ezra Klein recently wrote a brilliant column in the NYT Read More

My family and friends would tell you that I have a hard time sitting still.  I’m always looking for the next adventure.  “Hey Gary, do you want to go for a bike ride?”  “Are you ready, Bobbitt?”  “Mobilize Ezra, let’s go!”   And my after dinner favorite, “Ok, time to leave – people are waiting.“ My poor family has never seen an encore at a concert because I’m halfway to the parking lot before the last Read More