Modern Elder

For those of you who missed my animated interview with Arthur Brooks upon the launch of his #1 New York Times bestselling book “From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life,” here’s the video.

One of my first Wisdom Well posts from two and a half years ago was called “WeWork, Uber, and Theranos.” The post touched a nerve and went crazy viral in the social media world.

Why do I admire this man, who passed away at age 95 back in 2005? The answer is simple: Peter Drucker epitomized the ultimate “modern elder,” someone as curious as he was wise.

I’d never heard of the Harvard-founded concept of "Deep Smarts" until last month, or the book title by the same name.

Recently, I saw this poem by Arden Mahlberg in the newsletter for The Center for Conscious Eldering.

Historically, society has been very clear about expiration dates for certain professions.

The power of the “Modern Elder” paradigm is that those of us 40 and older are entering fertile new territory, building on years of life and career experience to stay interconnected, adding value to the world.

Are there people in your life who are living parallel lives with you? You seem to be going through similar paths even though you might only catch up with each other every year or so? Jeff Krasno, co-founder of Wanderlust lifestyle festivals and the Commune community and courses, is one of those people in my life.

A flock of seagulls. A pride of lions. A quiver of cobras. A dazzle of zebras. A prickle of porcupines. A charm of hummingbirds, A drove of donkeys. A parade of elephants. A conspiracy of lemurs. An army of frogs (or ants). A bloat of hippopotami. A pandemonium of parrots. A rafter of turkeys (live, not on your dining room table).

Say the word alchemy, and it will likely conjure up thoughts of mysticism, quests for gold, and Fatima, the alchemist character in Paulo Coelho’s book, The Alchemist. While historians consider the Age of Alchemy to be somewhere between the centuries 1300-1700, no definitive timeline has been given for its newly discovered offshoot—the Alchemy of Age. Ask this historian, and I’m guessing it reigns today!