Guest Post

Five years ago, I made my first pilgrimage to MEA in Baja. I call it a pilgrimage because I looked up the word and found that it meant a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about themselves, others, nature, or a higher good through the experience. It can lead to personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life.

"How do you create the magic that is sometimes called collective effervescence in a group? How do you do that so that people come away from it feeling like: Wow, MEA just created an event that made me feel like I love life more?" - Chip Conley

Some poems transform over time. This piece was written five years ago for a client. It was to support an initiative towards growth and transformation within the company. Five years later, I'm on my second trip to MEA. During this visit, the reminder that we are an ongoing progression brought this piece to mind.

In the warmth of my farewell morning’s sun from the patio of MEA’s Baja campus, a message came to me – one rising from the open conversations and deep learning my workshop days had offered. It rang clear and true: "Elder” is an invitation. "Elderly" is what happens when we don’t RSVP "Yes."

One of my favorite Jewish texts is found in a section of the Mishna - a code of Jewish law that dates to about 200 c.e. - called Avot. Avot means “ancestors.” It’s filled with short statements of advice, ethics, and wisdom. Sounds like a perfect handbook for those seeking modern elderhood, doesn’t it (but then, I’m a rabbi so I’m drawn to these texts of wisdom)?

The Potential Inter-Generational Gift of MEA If you’re at the older end of your “second adulthood,” don’t rule out the experience of MEA. It may seem far-fetched to think about MEA as an intergenerational experience. That wasn’t my intent, but it ended up being an important part of the experience for me. In reflection, intergenerational connections have been an important part of my entire life.

I never saw this coming. I see myself in the mirror and think, “Good God man…you are dying.”

There is no shortage of metaphors to describe midlife, but none have resonated with me quite as profoundly as Leslie Bartlett’s literal and metaphorical ‘new lens on life.’

I met someone. I told my 80-year-old parents over dinner. They’ve been worried about me being alone since my divorce a few years ago. My mom perks up and leans in.

I was on a bender of speaking events, workshops, and media interviews a short while back. Reflecting, I had a micro-ah-ha that the act of putting oneself out there, up there, and on stage contains a paradox of both separation and intimacy.