I spent my college summers working with master artists & makers all over India. I learnt way more about myself, the world and life in those few days than “school.” I left feeling inspired, supported and armed with new skills.

Definition: "When a modern elder, who is as curious as they are wise, creates a catalytic effect on a team full of smart, focused, occasionally EQ-challenged young leaders."

Excerpted from "The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul," her book which was released this week. After 30 years as a psychotherapist, my attention was moving away from the work, and my heart was opening in other ways.

Every summer I watch my family prepare themselves for our epic drive north from Baja California to the United States. We bundle into our minivan and take four days to traverse some of the most desolate and striking countryside I have found on the North American continent.

I once met a man on the Metro North train from Connecticut to New York who said he’s been heading to the same job on the same train for 35 years. At the time, I was young and that seemed mighty impressive.

"Usually sometime around midlife, we come to a point where we’ve seen enough of our own tricks and we come to feel that my shadow self is who I am. We face ourselves in our raw, unvarnished, and uncivilized state...

Oh, how I loved Roald Dahl’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” as a kid. Yes, it was a story about how avarice, gluttony, envy, and all kinds of other deadly sins proved to be, well, deadly. And, of course, Charlie was the perfect little boy to which I aspired. But it was really the chocolate I was after!

Recently, I came across an intriguing campaign promoted by a wine brand owned by Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits.

The New York Times has created a new series focused on mid-lifers and beyond pursuing their dreams. The first story was about a woman who learned how to swim at age 68. It’s an encouraging story about resourcefulness and resilience. In the interview she says, “Finally I decided if I don’t try, it’s never going to happen.”

As entrepreneurs, we tend to focus on our wins and greatest successes. But what about our greatest failures? After all, it is these lessons that lead to much of our wisdom.