This talk outlines Gandhi’s early life and the training as a lawyer that took him to South Africa where he experienced first-hand the prejudice and violence that led to his becoming an organizer, and then a leader in peace activism, first to free the 46,000 Indians in slavery in S. Africa, and later to lead the peace movement to establish “Home Rule” in India. The theme of the paper is the concept of Erikson’s “Identity Cohesion” and the ways that Gandhi integrated childhood identifications that led to the confidence and courage to be successful in his career and his life calling.

Viktor Frankl was a doctor of philosophy, a doctor of medicine, a neurologist, a psychiatrist, a surgeon, an author, an elite mountain climber, a composer, a cartoonist, a playwright, a pilot, and the creator and energetic force behind the worldwide movement of Humanistic psychology he called, Logotherapy, and later, Existential Analysis.

Antoni Gaudi i Cornet was born 10^th of June, 1852 in Reus, Catalonia, Spain. His paternal family originated in southern France
from a long line of artisans, having moved to Catalonia in the 7^th century. Both sides of his family were coppersmiths.

Developmental psychologists would say that our earliest and most lasting influences come from our families and caretakers. If we are fortunate to be raised by loving and attentive people, we internalize values and develop the capacity for connection and intimate attachments, and we construct psychological defenses to provide just the right amount of protection agains negative influences.

I believe it is out of the crucible of crisis that we grow ourselves into full maturity. That perception alone, that there will be a pearl at the end of the grinding-down, can help us as we persevere through the purgatory of life events that lay us low and sometimes feel impossible to cope with.

Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Some of us, during particular life transitions, would opt for nothing – a little nothingness, a drop in the adrenaline, a simple diminution of stimuli, or as one of my friends says at times of chaos, “I need to just sit on my bed and suck my thumb.” We long for time to emotionally regroup.

Do we wish to consider our worth in terms of money? Should we be concerned about how worthwhile we are in the eyes of others? Or might we reflect upon and honor our intrinsic worth as human beings? In the historical context, we recall that women have been devalued and seen as worth less than men for the past several thousand years. As we greet the next thousand years, might we at the same time reveal to ourselves what our true worth is? Could we together create a magical millennium wherein we elevate ourselves, along with our brothers and sisters and children, by a transformation of consciousness?

All of us sometimes feel that there is “not enough time” in our lives to focus on work, family, community, and personal creativity. We fret about time management, time pressure, running out of time, finding time, time crunch, and quality time. The common denominator in this concern with time is a desire for and a fantasy about having greater control over our busy lives. I’ve often voiced a wish for more time in the day. “If I had more time, I could accomplish so much more, couldn’t I?”

When I think of the term “character,” I wonder if I want it applied to me as a noun or an adjective. Is it something I wish to have or to be? Would I like to be viewed as a “real character” or as “having character”? In my clearest moments I choose both. I believe that when we grow into our most mature selves we manifest the values, personal integrity, and assertiveness that create success in our work and joy in our relationships.

On a commuter flight to Los Angeles one morning, I was reading the paper, intentionally ignoring the condescending instructions on how to fasten my seatbelt, when my ears picked up the following statement: “Should the air pressure drop in the cabin of the aircraft, an oxygen mask will fall in front of you. After you stop screaming, place the mask over your nose and mouth.” Laughter erupted from the passengers as we realized that the stewardess had turned her normally boring, informational talk into a comedy routine.

On our life journey, every change presents us with a new horizon. Sometimes these horizons are breathtakingly beautiful, and other times they appear bleak and barren. The New York City skyline now looks empty, the missing towers representing tremendous loss and pain. At the same time, a new spirit has arisen from that place of seeming desolation. People have turned within and come together to support the transformation of grief into renewed strength and life-giving energy. Their creativity has given many forms to the expression of this loving care, so that as we become accustomed to the new horizon we can know it is filled with a new spirit of interaction.

How much excitement can you stand? How much joy can you tolerate? How much pain? Well hold on, because if you want passion, intense passion in your life, you may be in for a wild ride. Let’s look at the areas into which passion pulls us, because, after all, passion is powerful energy, the highest level of desire and focused intention.

The meeting I just attended in Thailand and Viet Nam was one of those profound life experiences I have to write about now before the memories slip into the arteriosclerotic areas of my brain, like lost socks from the clothes dryer.

Painter Georgia O’Keeffe said, “The days you work are the best days.” She was referring to her art, of course, which was her passion. In this New Year, let’s begin to view all of our work as our art. In doing so, every activity in which we invest our passionate energy will become our personal creativity. In my new book, From Crisis to Creativity, I define creativity as “the art of growing self-expression.” In every way that we express and idea, a thought, a plan, a feeling, we give someone – including ourselves – a gift.

When Beauty was confined to the Beast’s castle, she wasn’t expecting to find happiness. When Snow White discovered the forest home of the dwarfs, she wasn’t expecting a rescue by Walt Disney, but only survival. The message for young women from these stories is not about finding Prince Charming, but about hard work, learning to believe in oneself and knowing the power of love.

What is success? Someone has said that a person is a success “who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; whose life is an inspiration, whose memory is a benediction.”  Given that definition, why would I choose to discuss the Biblical Job as an example of success? At first recall, the story of Job is one we don’t willingly wish to revisit.

Madeline Albright is the first woman Secretary of State. My friend Roberta Ramo is the first woman president of the American Bar Association. Miss Piggy is the first porcine woman to become an international star. These are clearly exciting times for women, and yet most of us will not become “the first woman” to achieve political or public stardom.

A review of Gail’s latest book: Midlife Crash Course