Some time ago, I wrote a post called “Mentoring Stones” in which I outlined why the fine art of rock balancing had a lot in common with mentoring (thanks to Christine for introducing me to this art!). It’s all about presence and knowing when to take a step away and allow your stone or your mentee to stand up on their own after you’ve heard the “click.”

In English, age is an identity as in “I am 60 years old,” just like “I am a man” or “I am Asian.” Unfortunately, age is an identity that often brings shame. A friend recently said she was “65 years young,” as if being “old” is a curse. I get it. It can be a curse, but it can also be a blessing.

Thank you to so many of you who send me gems like this one from Wisdom Well subscriber, Michael Louie, who found this lovely poem written by Mario de Andrade (San Paolo 1893-1945) who was a poet, novelist, essayist and musicologist. He was one of the founders of Brazilian modernism.

In the summer of 2019, I was invited to Procter & Gamble’s Cincinnati headquarters to give a speech on creating more intergenerational wisdom sharing in the workplace. It was part of their annual Signal conference. I wrote about my visit in this past blog post, and the P&G team wrote about my speech here.

...Unceremoniously stripped naked and laid bare for all to see (or so I thought). It doesn’t always happen in midlife. I’ve spoken to many who have themselves experienced this very same event in their thirties, some even in their late twenties, but for me and thousands of others all over the world, and my guess perhaps some of you reading this, it happened in midlife.

If you’re turning 60 this year, I can relate. I experienced my 60th turn last Halloween. As I wrote about the process of turning 60 in this post dated around my birthday, this is a venerable age as we’ve gotten five auspicious rotations of the Zodiac.

The demographics of our world are shifting. This is nowhere more evident than in the rise of caregiving in families. In the last five years, the National Alliance for Caregiving found that nine and a half million people in the US alone have become carers providing unpaid care to another adult. This growth trend shows no sign of slowing.

Like many Baby Boomers or GenXers, you are probably in the midst of major transitions. If you have retired (or are about to) you may have lost the identity and structure with which to organize your life and relationships that your job once provided. This can be an unsettling time (only magnified by the pandemic).

Wisdom understands the perfect alchemy of growth and stability. Yet, development psychologist Erik Erikson suggested one of the big challenges of mid to later adulthood is juxtaposing generativity with stagnation. So, I believe this giant mind of psychology surmised that personal growth is always good.

Chip’s Note: The irony of this post is Susie sent it to me just before we had a mama whale birth a baby directly in front of MEA a week ago. It was sublime and poignant experience as those of us on the Baja beach watching could feel a certain mammalian connection with the mama and her newborn.