Curiosity

In the era of Coronavirus, this post may seem ill-timed, but I wrote it a couple months ago and I do deeply believe that travel is the secret to a long life. It also takes courage to travel. One of my favorite travel writers Paul Theroux agrees as he outlines in this BBC piece about his sojourn through Mexico.

Do you feel more like a silly rabbit, or a wise owl? This metaphor came up recently at our personal development workshop, Meet Your Better Half: How to Unlock Your Right Brain. A proverbial “Left Brain Thinker” confessed, “as a practicing attorney for several decades, I’ve always been skeptical about personal development work and dump it all into what feels like the dubious “woo-woo” category.”

Nobody has mastered curiosity more than a child. Give a kid a rock, and some bubble wrap and their imagination will light up with possibility. From a blade of grass to their own shadow, the whole world is a child’s playground, ready to be explored, investigated and questioned. Unfortunately, as we get older and busier, our curiosity narrows to what’s practical or will get us to the “next level.”

What do you wish you'd known ten years ago that you know now? How does that inform what you need to know ten years from now? I live in Mexico but learned French as a kid. So, at 59, I’m taking three one-on-one Spanish classes every week I’m in Baja. I know I will regret it ten years from now if I don’t make the investment now.

Plato suggested, “You can learn more about someone in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” One key lesson of our Modern Elder Academy is the value of letting our mirror neurons play dance together. The two-minute video below, shot at my home in Baja, outlines some of the reasons why I think midlife requires an openness to feel new and awkward. Click "Read More" to watch the video. Hope you enjoy it.

6:00 am Sunday, and I’m on the phone with the relentless and gumptious Richard Saul Wurman, all 84 robust years of him. We’re talking about the guy who started the TED conference, created the Access guidebooks, and the world’s leading information architect. He’s also written 90 books.

My Spanish teacher, Ivonne, in Todos Santos is pictured with me below. She aptly has a little peace sign sprouting out of her head. My first half-dozen classes were brutal. I felt so stupid on my drive home, constantly replaying that overused tape in my head, “You’re too old to be doing this!”

In an era when “digital natives” (Millennials and Gen-Z) seem to be ruling the world, it’s easy to forget the internet was created by a bunch of Boomers, who forever changed the way the world communicated with each other. Today, I’m calling for a new network, led by the same individuals.

In our fast-changing world, it’s no surprise that even death has taken on a whole new reality. You might say death is being reinvented from the ground up—call it Dying 2.0. The facts speak for themselves. Since the 1900’s we have more than doubled our lifespan, adding almost 35 years to our lives. While exciting and re-energizing, it is stunning to watch as society does little to prepare for this new shift in reality.

First off, congrats to the 2019 World Series champs, the Washington Nationals, the oldest team (age-wise) in the Major Leagues! Nice way to celebrate my birthday today, Halloween. Elders still know how to get in the groove! Why is the owl perceived as the wisest animal in the kingdom?