Guest Post

Two-time MEA alum Pat Whitty has been leading a 12-week course based on Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. While doing his morning pages exercise, this poem just appeared, as Julia predicted, and I started writing it down.

It is exactly a month since my Sabbatical Sessions experience at MEA. And since my return from Baja, the last couple of weeks has provided the opportunity for perspective as the honeymoon charm has subsided.

The space in between, Neither in nor out, Not one thing or the other, The one left out?

The title says it all. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" is a song by Simple Minds and played during the opening and closing credits of the John Hughes film The Breakfast Club. For many of us, that movie was the Pièce De Résistance of films defining our generation - Generation X.

Breathing new energy into old ego patterns can sometimes ‘ventilate’ habitual entanglements that we have built up over a lifetime. Ventilating these built-up patterns is important for disentangling complex ego defenses that have in fact served us throughout our life, however, without the ability to self-reflect, our own minds can become an obstacle to wisdom and growth.

The day before I turned 55 I received a letter from my bank. The auxiliary checking account I'd opened for online transactions would soon be assessed an $8 monthly fee unless I maintained a $1000 minimum balance or deposited $250/month, neither of which was feasible for me.

Midway into our second year at our company Next For Me, some of our advisors and readers questioned the tone of our corporate story and consumer message. It was filled with what they considered too much negative messaging rife with doomsday predictions for 50+ audiences.

One of my favorite songs as an adult is “One of These Days” by Neil Young. The lyrics speak to me so strongly. One of these days I’m gonna sit down and write a long letter

Do not expect cocooning To be easy. It is not a time of rest But of rebirth. They used to think That the Caterpillar

The days bleed into each other. I wake up later than usual. It’s nice to get more than 7 hours of sleep every night. I go for a run. I go to work. Mostly, I’m the only one there. When I get back home, I take a shower, meditate and do stretches.