MEA

Some of the most transcendent experiences in life are difficult to put into words: witnessing childbirth or someone dying, falling in love, being on the Burning Man playa at night, or attending the wedding of your oldest child. These moments are beyond language and cannot be fully expressed. I’d put this past weekend’s annual MEA alum reunion (now called "homecoming," thank you, Christine Sperber) in that category.

How do we love Chip? Let us count the ways days! (Three-hundred and sixty-six to be exact.) Wisdom Well readers have been receiving a daily microdose of wisdom online since 2019.

To our surprise and delight, over the past year, we’ve seen a huge interest in private MEA retreats, often from alums who want to share the MEA curriculum and experience with others. It’s so encouraging to see that our wisdom academy has relevance beyond just our personal worlds, and that there is a hunger to bring MEA's tools and practices to the world of business.

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

According to a study published this year by a pair of British researchers, sunsets are unmatched in their ability to inspire awe among people. They surpass the majesty of storms, the beauty of rainbows, clear blue skies, and even breathtaking nightscapes.

"Small talk" is defined as "polite conversation about unimportant or uncontroversial matters, especially as engaged in on social occasions." Sounds rather quaint, right?

Can you feel like you've taken an extended sabbatical in just a week's vacation?

This image above may look like the scary part of a kidnapper’s ransom note. In reality, it’s the MEA logo (thanks, Michael Martin), reconfigured to spell a word that is deeply part of the MEA lexicon. Special shout out and thanks to our guest faculty member, Dr. Dacher Keltner, whose new book “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life” has become a foundational part of our curriculum.

There are many reasons we chose Baja and Santa Fe to be the locations for our Academies and Regenerative Communities. There's a raw realness to both places where nature is a profound teacher.