EQ

My friends and co-workers know I’m a little obsessive when it comes to being responsive to emails. When I was at Airbnb, I found that some (often younger) fellow employees might take a few days (or weeks) to respond to an email when they could have just jotted a simple one-sentence "I'll get back to you by Friday" to manage expectations.

No matter how enlightened we want to be, grudges happen and can rob you of precious time with life’s best gift … love. I learned that lesson when I reconnected with my old best friend at a hotel lobby in New York after not speaking to her for almost ten years.

at·​a·​rax·​ia (n.): "A Greek term for a state of being that most modern elders aspire to, in which one is imperturbable, full of lucid equanimity and feeling free; tranquility or untroubled mind.”

This Saturday, Sept. 18th from 9-10:30 am PT, MEA is offering a free online event that seems perfectly-suited to the times we’re living in. Are you feeling a little weary and perhaps a little less resilient with so much change coming without respite? How do we continue to regenerate our mindset towards positivity, growth and wisdom?

Ah, to live in a world of awe instead of judgment. It would be nice, wouldn’t it? Well, contrary to what cynics may say, I believe it’s possible. But only if we create the conditions for it to occur, which is precisely what we aim to create at MEA—a space where awe becomes our default response to life.

I’m a big fan of MEA alum Elizabeth White’s idea of Resilience Circles. As we all know, it’s easy to feel alone when we’re faced with challenges in midlife and beyond. We need tools and resources to navigate this minefield (and hopefully turn it into a field of daisies).

Chakra: in ancient Sanskrit, chakra means "wheel" and refers to energy centers in our bodies

"I have prayed for years for one good humiliation a day, and then, I must watch my reaction to it. I have no other way of spotting both my denied shadow self and my idealized persona."

An Algorithm for Caring: Healing the World, One Caring Conversation at a Time. Theodore Roosevelt famously said, "Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care."

Many of you are familiar with recent social science research that has shown a U-curve of happiness in which adult life satisfaction supposedly dips to its nadir around age 47.2 (your mileage may vary). The forties have been a historically treacherous and ultimately triumphant decade when mid-lifers feel a declining sense of happiness, only to start improving in the latter part of that decade.