Astronomer as Poet

Life Upgrade
a five minute motivational newsletter

Issue 83
By Master Coach Ginger Cockerham

Quote
Astronomer as Poet
Life Upgrade Questions
~o^o~ Resources

"Be curious, not judgmental"
by Walt Whitman, American Poet

Astronomer as Poet

Learning more about myself and others has been a lifelong pleasure for me. I have given hundreds of personality assessments and values inventories in that pursuit.

When I heard Michael Salemon who has a Ph.D. from MIT and heads up NASA's Universe Project being interviewed on NPR recently, I smiled smugly knowing I was going to hear a lot of information and data from an analyzer. What I actually heard tilted my assumption on its axis.

I heard a poet and a dreamer. He told the story of an astronomer he had met as a child who told him stories about the universe while he dreamed of stars and space. He quoted from Walt Whitman's, "When I heard the Learned Astronomer" then said that he loved the poem but that Whitman had gotten it wrong. Whitman's poem makes the point that you can learn more about the stars by looking up into a ‘mystical moist night' than from charts and graphs. Dr. Salemon said that you can learn more by doing both- looking up in awe AND by diving deeply into the study of the universe.

Here was a scientist and astronomer who had the soul of a poet. He talked about a universe that was so filled him with wonder and awe that he woke up every day as excited as a little boy first discovering the stars and space.

Life Upgrade Coaching Questions

1. Who stereotypes you without really knowing you?
2. Do you make assumptions about others quickly?
3. What if you shifted from assumptions to being simply curious about people?
4. How can you let people in your life know more about you?
5. How can you discover more about the people in your world?

You might even discover an astronomer who has the soul of a poet.

~o^o~ Resources
The Academy of American Poets
"When I Heard the Learned Astronomer"

Ginger Cockerham, Master Certified Coach

214-342-1148
214-342-1147 (fax)

Ginger
@CoachGinger.com

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Life Upgrade
a five-minute motivational newsletter