Purpose

Dr. Bill Thomas has been a thought partner of mine since before I wrote “Wisdom@Work.” For those who know his story, he was appointed the medical director of a nursing home in upstate New York more than 30 years ago, which he described as “a repository for old people whose minds and bodies seemed dull and dispirited.”

“Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm.” - Helen Keller

I recently heard Seth Godin being interviewed and he shared a story about an experience he had swimming in the ocean in which he almost drowned. He said that although he was a strong swimmer, that morning, he found himself struggling with a serious undertow.

“Purpose is the middle of the compass. It’s the arrow pointing to the true north; the values are the four cardinal points (north, south, east, and west). Values serve as the roadmap to tell us how we will achieve the purpose. They guide and tell us how to make decisions. Purpose and values together increase engagement, someone’s willingness to make a strong contribution to work.” - Anne Loehr

On January 2 after having a lovely fever dream about the common thread of my personal narrative, I published this blog post, Designing Your Own Hero’s Journey. Since that time, this idea of writing one’s story evolved into a full chapter in my book that will be published next January, “Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better With Age.”

One of my happy places is in the middle of a culinary market, such as a shuk in Jerusalem amid sweet and savory halvah cakes, and pyramids of marinated olives, dates, apricots, paprika and za’atar.

During my second Modern Elder Academy course, Living and Working on Purpose, I was inspired by the distinction Chip Conley shared about having a job, a career, or a calling. In my journal, I illustrated it as stairs leading to the ultimate goal: living out my calling.

If you are familiar with my writing and work, you know how much I love to garden. It's not simply the act of gardening but the garden as a teacher. A garden is potted poetry. It's not beautiful because each section is beautiful, but because each part is beautiful in relation to the other.

What if you were to imagine your life as a Hero’s Journey? This could be due to a change of career or where you live, a divorce and starting to date for the first time in 30 years, going back to get a masters in midlife, or exploring a new spiritual path.

As Modern Elders, we often explore the path of unplugging from the “Whats” that have fueled earlier life chapters: the drives and ambitions we were pointed to in our early years and that marked our journeys during our young adult and midlife decades.