Author: Rick Bellingham

In French, the word for wine is vin.  If you want to order a glass of red wine, you say:  “Je voudrais un verre de vin rouge, s’il vous plait.”  In this post, I’m going to use VIN as an acronym to discuss the importance of finding connections with people according to Values, Interests, and Needs.  I like VIN as an acronym and vin as a drink because they represent the flavors of connections as Read More

 “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”  John Maynard Keynes “Old friends pass away, new friends appear.  It is just like the days.  An old day passes, a new day arrives.  The important thing is to make it meaningful:  a meaningful friend or a meaningful day.”  Dalai Lama “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”  George Bernard Shaw Read More

I joined the Army in 1967 identifying as an IBMer and was honorably discharged in 1970 feeling more like an SDSer. (Student for a Democratic Society).  I interviewed for a job at IBM before I started basic training at Fort Knox in the hopes they would keep me in mind when I got out.  The Army told me they would send me to Monterrey, California for 6 months of German language training and then on Read More

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.  And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”  Dalai Lama “Service is the rent we pay for being.  It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.”  Marian Wright Edelman In my work with organizations, I am often asked to facilitate strategic planning sessions.  I always start the process with three questions: Why do you Read More

Come gather ’round peopleWherever you roamAnd admit that the watersAround you have grownAnd accept it that soonYou’ll be drenched to the boneIf your time to you is worth savin’And you better start swimmin’Or you’ll sink like a stoneFor the times they are a-changin’ Bobby Dylan In 1988, I spent a couple of weeks investigating the health and safety infrastructure in China because my employer at the time, Northern Telecom, was working with the Government of Read More

“Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer.  I feel stronger for confession.”  Mahatma Gandhi In a recent Krista Tippett interview with Elaine Pagels, Krista asked Elaine what great books she had recently read.  One of them was A Confession by Tolstoy.  I immediately purchased it on Kindle for $.99.   It was the best buck I’ve spent in a long time.  As a relevant Read More

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