Chip Conley

To be liminal is to be human. Whether we admit it or not, we are in a constant state of evolution and transition. Father Richard Rohr says it is a “graced” time, but it often doesn’t feel like grace because it may force us out of our comfort. The Latin word “limen” means “threshold,” which can be scary if we don’t know where this threshold leads.

Bob Hope (100), George Burns (100), Phyllis Diller (95), Betty White (99), Carl Reiner (98), Milton Berle (93), and Jerry Lewis (91). These comedians lived long, funny lives. Norman Lear, Mel Brooks, and Dick Van Dyke are either 100 or just about to become a centenarian. Maybe “laughter is the best medicine.”

Poop and pop, those are my post-surgery marching orders for the first week after my surgery. All my organs in my prostate zip code are going through some serious “shock and awe” drills which means I careen from constipation to having a very messy sleep - and I thought I was just passing gas all night.

Hey, you! Yeah, you on the couch, with the potato chips and bonbons dripping down your unwashed sweats as you watch Seinfeld reruns at two in the afternoon! You don’t have to live this way.

Wise, poetic wisdom, that’s the brand of Maya Angelou. One of her most famous quotes has defined how I’ve tried to live my life: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Our very first MEA cohort five and a half years ago named themselves after “Maya.”

On the last morning of the annual MEA alumni reunion (now called “Homecoming”) in Santa Fe, I had a conversation with alum Lynn Ogden who was glowing from her weekend experience. Knowing that I was one of the first board members of the Burning Man non-profit, she asked me what MEA could learn from Burning Man.

MEA faculty member Dan Buettner popularized the idea of “Blue Zones,” where nine attributes in the culture create the longest-living people. But what if certain places in the world represented “Wisdom Zones,” where a constellation of influences creates a deeper and wiser culture?

“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.” - Macdonald Carey, welcoming viewers to the “Days of Our Lives” with a large hourglass (my mom’s favorite soap opera)

WARNING LABEL: This may be more candid and graphic than my typical post.

Midlife is one of three life stages that “sprouted” in the 20th century. The word “adolescence” didn’t exist until 1904, when society realized that just because you hit puberty didn’t mean you were an adult.