Guest Post

Silence. Eerie peacefulness.

When I was 25 and finishing up a temp job at a large brokerage firm, I asked the man I had been assisting if he would answer a few questions. The industry intrigued me, but I didn’t know how to get started so I asked for his suggestions.

I’ve been fretting about how someone in my marketing role could possibly find anything in “forest bathing” that is relatable to my work.

As Modern Elders, we often explore the path of unplugging from the “Whats” that have fueled earlier life chapters: the drives and ambitions we were pointed to in our early years and that marked our journeys during our young adult and midlife decades.

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.

Fresh off a Modern Elder Academy workshop entitled “The Power of Purpose”, I find myself reflecting on my experience there. And, whereas the place and the program certainly exceeded expectations, the people were clearly the most memorable and remarkable ingredient.

gratefulness is in opening your eyes in the morning and the world appears it is in this body you get to wash and each tooth you get to brush it is in the gray sky above you as you sit in traffic heading to work

Headlines, podcasts, maybe the whispered concerns of loved ones: far too much of what we hear about the aging brain fills us with dread. Memory loss, declines in processing speed, lags in habit acquisition and executive function – we’ve heard it all. It’s impossible to avoid concerning messages about how the brain changes in our later years.

After World War II, there was so much prosperity that it seemed like a grand idea for everyone to have his/her/their own everything. Suburbs grew fast. Many of us grew up in a single family home in the classic nuclear family. Suddenly everyone had air conditioning, and his/her/their own car, and nursing homes for elderly relatives.

As I see the commercials for Wakanda Forever, Black Panther 2 movie (a just-released sequel to the 6th highest-grossing superhero film of all-time), I immediately think of the extraordinary experience those of us had a few weeks ago at the first-ever Black Modern Elders workshop.