HUFFINGTON
02.23.14
THRIVE
reprimanding overworking businessmen, she maintained her sense
of wonder at life. And whenever
I’d complain or was upset about
something in my own life, my
mother had the same advice: “Darling, just change the channel. You
are in control of the clicker. Don’t
replay the bad, scary movie.”
Well-being, wonder. Both of
To be honest, it’s not something that comes naturally to
me. The last time my mother got
angry with me before she died
was when she saw me reading my
email and talking to my children
at the same time. “I abhor multitasking,” she said, in a Greek accent that puts mine to shame. In
other words, being connected in
Over the long term, money and power by
themselves are like a two-legged stool—you can
balance on them for a while, but
eventually you’re going to topple over.
these are key to creating the
Third Metric. And then there is
the third indispensable W in redefining success: wisdom.
Wherever we look around the
world, we see smart leaders—in
politics, in business, in media—
making terrible decisions. What
they’re lacking is not IQ, but wisdom. Which is no surprise; it has
never been harder to tap into our
inner wisdom, because in order to
do so, we have to disconnect from
all our omnipresent devices—our
gadgets, our screens, our social media—and reconnect with ourselves.
a shallow way to the entire world
can prevent us from being deeply
connected to those closest to us—
including ourselves. And that is
where wisdom is found.
I’m convinced of two fundamental truths about human beings. The first is that we all have
within us a centered place of wisdom, harmony, and strength. This
is a truth that all the world’s philosophies and religions—whether
Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or
Buddhism—acknowledge in one
form or another: “The kingdom of
God is within you.” Or as Archimedes said, “Give me a place to
stand, and I will move the world.”
The second truth is that we’re