Learning

Philosophers and psychologists have long debated the tradeoff between a life seeking happiness and one searching for meaning. While research has shown that having and raising kids gives you long-term meaning, there can often be a short-term happiness deficit. Similarly, living a life full of pleasure and fun can offer you short-term enjoyment but not a lot of long-term sustenance.

Who’s ready for another round of MEA Lingo? Today’s words: Andragogy (it’s not what you think it is).

As I look at my tattered, 1969 copy of “Man’s Search for Meaning,” I am reminded of Dr. Viktor Frankl’s influence on my life these past fifty plus years.

I have spent my entire life feeling like an impostor. As a kid, we moved around a few times from country to country, culture to culture and I became adept at fitting in wherever I was.

This quote has been attributed to Michelangelo, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Norman Rockwell, who all exhibited some of their greatest mastery later in life. However, these four words were first uttered by Seneca, the Roman philosopher, and are a perfect mantra for why people come to MEA.

I am 76 years old and am learning to speak French! It is something I could have easily put off one more time. But a session at the Modern Elder Academy convinced me you can learn new things at any age. Here is my story.

Given MEA’s mission, how could I resist a geeky white paper with this title (by Peter A. Heslin, Jeni L. Burnette, and Nam Gyu Ryu)?

"I'm often humbled by technology. It's a constant learning curve, and something that I feel is holding me back - or at least I can make myself feel it's holding me back. I'm thinking about why it takes me so much longer to adapt to new tech versus younger audiences. I guess that in our youth, we dabbled with machines, and to poke around with those was more dangerous. I'm less experimental and understanding of tech than younger audiences. How do we handle this? I worry it's going to create an artificial ceiling for my career. How did you handle it at Airbnb?" - A Wisdom Well subscriber

For those who want to draw better, the 1979 published book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain helped generations of art students and the rest of us learn techniques to draw better. (Hint: tips to help get our brain out of the way so that we can “see” the image in a manner that makes it easier to draw).

Many of you who’ve gone through MEA programs are familiar with Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi, the famous psychologist who popularized the idea of Flow, a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand that creates almost an ecstatic state.