Leadership guru Warren Bennis said long ago that the best leaders are "first-class noticers," a term he borrowed from Saul Bellow's novel "The Actual." He was referring to the idea that a combination of fresh eyes and a wise soul can help a leader see things in people and an organization that aren't as noticeable to others.

The past few days have been emotional for women all around the world. For me, our civil liberties have been diminished and I wonder about our dystopian world.

“Aren’t you spent?” I was recently asked after co-leading an intense MEA workshop week. Without thinking, my answer rolled off my tongue, “No, I’m invested.”

Here’s a question for you: Do you worry less about how you look after age 50, or are you at a time in your life where you are giving more attention to your appearance?

Is it possible to guide a life with a six-word mantra?

“Aging is no accident. It is necessary to the human condition, intended by the soul. We become more characteristic of who we are simply by lasting into later years; the older we become, the more our true natures emerge. Thus, the final years have a very important purpose: the fulfillment and confirmation of one’s character.” - James Hillman, The Force of Character and the Lasting Life

“We’re still living with the old paradigm of age as an arch. That’s the old metaphor. You’re born, you peak at midlife and decline into decrepitude…A more appropriate metaphor is a staircase. The upward ascension of the human spirit, bringing us into wisdom, wholeness, and authenticity.” - Jane Fonda

“Leisure is only possible when we are at one with ourselves. We tend to overwork as a means of self-escape, as a way of trying to justify our existence.” ― Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture

As I read this recent New Yorker article on Jimmy Buffett's retirement community (he's up to three mega-villages in Florida), I was struck by this paragraph:

Following on yesterday’s rumination on the word “retire,” a word I think should be retired, today I focus on the word “regenerate” since MEA is dedicated to regeneration, not retirement.