Emotions

Why do I love my dog Jamie so much? Oh, let me count the ways.

Hollywood seems to be getting hip to the fact that older people matter. Here are my favorite films with themes associated with midlife (and later) transitions and discovery. Any would be perfect for an MEA slumber party. I’ve ranked them from 1-5 in terms of my favorites.

A rockin’ mattress, that is! Check out my video for a commentary on my favorite and least favorite gifts this year.

American anthropologist Clifford Geertz writes in The Interpretation of Cultures that humans are “suspended in webs of significance” which we ourselves have spun. Some of these webs have served us well, giving meaning and order to our lives, while others have resulted in systems of oppression and alienation from one another, and even from ourselves and our own embodied experiences.

Yesterday, after a surf session, I paused to admire the beautiful head-high waves rolling in. It was a peaceful moment on this fall day during yet another surreal election season.

It’s breathtaking to witness the purity of emotions of a four-year-old. One moment, they’re bawling their eyes out, and the next, they’re giggling with their puppy.

“I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being!” - Hafiz

On safari in Botswana, everything is primal, basic and, within hours, I can feel my senses and my instincts sharpen. Before sunrise we are bundled up, and head out to witness life as it has always happened. I watch the world begin to wake, the birds, the grasses, the big cats. It is such a privilege to participate in the magical and mundane; a mother giraffe and her babies are on the move.

These days - for good reason - economists are obsessed with inflationary expectations. The high cost of living was cited as the number one issue for American voters two weeks ago.

I read Chip’s post “Longevity is Becoming "Shortevity“ and couldn’t help but think that the problems shortening our longevity: overdoses, suicide, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, gun violence— are all problems of not belonging to one other.