EQ

Three things have helped me get through this crisis so far – healthy food, music, and human connections. Food is obvious for survival, but with a little creativity on my part and support for my favorite local establishments, it’s also been a way to feel a bit more like my normal self.

During the Great Depression, Mexican artist Pedro Linares became very sick and was in and out of consciousness for weeks. One day, while unconscious, he dreamt of a strange place resembling a forest. Suddenly, some peculiar animals showed up.

This is the fifth and last video in my Monday series of leadership lessons in a downturn. It may turn you upside down in terms of how you look at your life and the world. Hopefully, you’ll get a little chuckle from the short video including the surprise flying guest at the end.

One of the core principles of the Modern Elder Academy is that we can apply a growth mindset to midlife and beyond. So often, we focus more on loss than gain during our later years. Or we adopt a fixed mindset in which we’re more focused on proving ourselves and winning than improving ourselves and learning.

Welcome to April, a month when the COVID-19 virus is expected to overwhelm the United States and many other places. Yes, this year has felt like one big April Fool’s hoax, but maybe we’re just building a social muscle that has been atrophying during the past couple decades.

I miss hugs. You probably do too. Hugs get you high. In fact, I’m now ending all my emails with a “Huge Digital Hug.” Of course, it’s not the same. Still, studies show that hugs are good for our physical and mental health.

At the center of our logo is a heart. A year into MEA we realized that empathy is the core of all our work. Empathy emerges when we recognize ourselves in others. When others are no longer others, when they become us, and become ours.

I write books to make sense of my life. Ten years ago, when I was going through my most challenging era, I realized I wasn’t very fluent in my emotions. In the hospital, after having gone flatline that day, I was reading Viktor Frankl’s landmark book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which was conveniently with me on this trip (I’d gone flatline on stage after giving a speech in St. Louis).

Is it true that as we age, we develop a smarter heart and a more passionate brain? There is growing social science research that suggests our EQ may increase with age and lead to higher levels of subjective well-being in midlife and later. Science aside, I couldn’t agree more.

I was recently introduced to the word “Smeeze,” as in Subject Matter Experts (SME’s). I was talking to a doctor friend of mine in Seattle, who now works for Amazon (she said with a chuckle, “Someday, we’ll all work for Amazon”).