Chapter X with Michael Kay

Busting out of our comfort zones and opening our eyes up to possibilities takes work. And when it comes to work, we have to see the payoff before we’re willing to actually put in the time and effort. 

But there’s never been a better time for reinvention than the second half of our lives. According to today’s guest, Ski Sullivan, the key to succeeding with change is realizing that we don’t need to tackle everything at once—we just have to take small steps and follow where they lead us.

Ski is a dedicated biohacker and the mindfulness practitioner behind This Midlife. After I came across him during a Q&A session, I was so impressed with his enthusiasm that I knew I had to talk with him. In today’s episode, he talks about the idea of shaping your world to get the best possible outcome. 

We discussed:

• The big lessons we can learn from younger generations about work
• One major question that can be terrifying for newly retired men to hear
• Why changing your vocabulary can make a difference in retirement
• How the pandemic opened up people’s minds to accept different things
• 5 key areas in life that often lead to personal “mini” epiphanies

https://thismidlife.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/skisullivan

Mindfulness is the act of observing and accepting things just as they are, be it our thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, or the world around us. But why be mindful? 

The more mindful we are, the more positive emotions we tend to experience. Recently, while I was looking for ways to add a new mindfulness practice into my life, I came across the unique art of Aikido. That’s how I met today’s guest, Greg O’Connor. 

At 67 years young, he’s an internationally respected Aikido teacher and author who has devoted his energy into the practice for more than thirty years. In today’s episode, Greg talks about the power of new learning experiences in addition to engaging your mind, body and spirit. 

We discussed:

• Why Greg left his former career behind (even though he was doing work he loved)
  
  
• What he said to me when I questioned if I could really learn martial arts at age 67
  
  
• How the philosophy of Aikido is very different than other martial arts training
  
  
• The importance of maintaining and improving our balance as we age 
  
  
• Why learning a new activity that engages both the mind and the body matters

Aikido Centers 

Greg O'Connor on YouTube 

Everyone has a story, why not share yours? 

Sharing our stories helps to bring us together, feel more understood, and realize that we all have common bonds that unite us. That’s one of the ideas behind Chapter X — to create a community where we feel comfortable sharing our experiences in order to explore our past, present and future lives.

My guest today is Ken Mandel, who made his career as a professional storyteller. He’s known as an Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker. Now retired he calls himself a "serial volunteer."  He serves on the board of the Ensemble Studio Theater, the West Orange Arts Council, and created the West Orange Classic Film Festival, now in its 16th year.

In this episode, Ken joins me for a conversation about his life, career, and the art of storytelling. We discussed:

• How an industrial engineer discovered his calling as a filmmaker
• The emotional side of editing (and why it matters in good storytelling)
• How the extraordinary stories Ken told impacted him as a human
• The reason why he slipped easily into an unplanned retirement
• A powerful relationship habit that he developed during the pandemic

https://www.youtube.com/user/moghulini

https://www.youtube.com/user/HickelMovie

Choosing where we live our next chapter is one of the freedoms of retirement. But there are more aspects to explore beyond climate and location. Deciding on a home in the second half of life is not only a financial decision, but also an emotional one. 

Today I’m joined by Ryan Frederick, the Founder and CEO of SmartLiving 360, a platform to help people make informed lifestyle decisions to help increase longevity and optimize healthy aging.

His focus is on the intersection of place and healthy aging, which Ryan dives into in his new book, Right Place, Right Time: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Home for the Second Half of Life. It’s rich with ideas on how to think about where to live in retirement.

We discussed:

• Why baby boomers are trailblazers for aging, work and retirement
  
  
• 6 essential questions we should ask ourselves when we reach our fifties
  
  
• How to determine if the place you live in will be successful in the long-term
  
  
• Why regional and physical dwelling perspectives are equally important
  
  
• Thoughtful home design for aging in place (without compromising aesthetics)
  
  
• How to test your big life decisions before they become reality
  
  
• The difference between chronic and episodic health challenges 

Right Place, Right Time

Jeff Garson began his career as an attorney. After 20 years of running a thriving practice that put him ahead of the game, he experienced a serious business reverse that sent him into a depression. 

But his struggle with depression was a turning point. It pushed Jeff to think through what was important to him and how he really wanted to live. For him, that meant migrating away from practicing law to create an extraordinary life of meaning and purpose.

Now he’s on a mission to create a better world by striving for decency. He’s the author of Radical Decency: A Values-Based Approach to a Better Life and World. In this episode, Jeff walks us through how to rethink the way we interact with ourselves, our families, friends and colleagues.

We discussed:

• Why the worst time in Jeff’s life turned out to be the thing that saved it
  
  
• His “aha!” moment about the connection between personal and societal growth
  
  
• The four values that permeate our society—and why they cause dissatisfaction
  
  
• How to bring a mindset to a conversation that begins with saying less
  
  
• The deeper impact of our core values on intimate relationships

www.jeffgarson.com

This week on the Chapter X podcast, Richard Eisenberg joins us for another bonus episode with more timely resources and the latest insights from Next Avenue. However, today is a special interview as it marks Richard’s entry into his own Chapter X. 

Not only will we discuss highlights from upcoming stories at Next Avenue, but Richard will also reveal what’s coming next on his journey as he begins his transition away from working as a full-time Managing Editor into retirement.

In this episode, we go over some important stories as we turn into the new year and look forward to what the future holds.

We discuss:

• The arrival of a milestone birthday and Richard’s road to retirement
• Why living longer will change the way our society approaches finances
• 5 ways to help and support charities without spending money
• The excitement of moving forward and stepping into the unknown 
• What makes turning the page to the next chapter a gift

Next Avenue

5 Ways to Donate to Charity That Won't Cost You a Cent

Why You Might Want to Join the Buy Nothing Movement

Friends Talk Money

Bern Terry had worked successfully for more than 40 years when he was suddenly laid off early into the pandemic. By a twist of fate, he reconnected with Anna Hall only days after losing his job.

When Anna revealed that she was busy working on a new project, he was intrigued. She was in the process of building The Purpose Equation, a tool for helping people fall in love with themselves again. 

Anna guided Bern through the program and the pair soon forged a business partnership. In this episode, Anna and Bern share an inspiring message on spreading joy, helping others find meaning, and how to discover the sense of purpose that’s already inside of us.

• Why getting in touch with our sense of purpose gives us perspective
• How to discover your internal purpose (and extend it to other areas of your life) 
• What Anna has learned from older adults about living meaningfully
• Why purpose really begins with squeezing more joy out of every day
• How Anna and Bern help people rethink and retell our own life stories 

The Purpose Equation

Every person has a story that matters. We all have different backgrounds, perspectives, and life lessons. We’ve all lived through experiences that could benefit the lives of others too, if we share them.

One of the goals of Chapter X is to foster human connection. In this episode, we’re joined by  master storyteller and provider of connection, John Noltner. He’s the award-winning photographer behind A Peace of My Mind, a multimedia arts project that uses stories and photography to bridge divides and build community. 

Today we’ll hear from John about the lessons he’s learned over twelve years of gathering stories of human courage, grace, and resilience.

We discussed:

• How John pursued his values with a unique passion project about social issues
  
  
• The social power of our emotional states (and why emotions are contagious)
    
• What one man taught him about expanding our circle of compassion
  
  
• Finding ways to have productive conversations around contentious subjects
  
  
• Learning how to roll with uncertainty, transitions and risk as we grow older

A Peace of My Mind

Portraits of Peace: Searching for Hope in a Divided America

How to support A Peace of My Mind

With a longer life expectancy than humans have ever experienced before, retirement today is about much more than money. But a challenge we face during this transition is living in a culture that worships youth and disparages the elder. 

That is part of the reason why there has been little guidance for those of us preparing for the next chapter of life. In today’s episode, Connie Zweig, Ph.D., explains why this stage of life is unprecedented in human history—and how we can shift our mindset to reimagine how we want to live.

Connie is a retired therapist and author. Her new book, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, extends shadow-work into late life and teaches aging as a spiritual practice. She joins me to examine the unconscious into midlife and beyond.

We discussed:

• Why typical coping methods for a midlife crisis don’t apply to retirement
  
  
• How the unconscious impacts the way we experience big life transitions
  
  
• The importance of ritualizing your retirement as a right of passage
  
  
• Why baby boomers are experiencing a new and unknown stage of life
  
  
• The effects of internalized ageism that we carry with us through our lifespan
  
  
• How to avoid bringing external and internal noise into our relationships.

https://conniezweig.com/

https://medium.com/@conniezweig

We already know fitness is good for us. What many of us don’t know is that a specific type of workout can actually slow down the aging process. In fact, you might be surprised to learn what is still physically possible as we age. 

Today I’m speaking with Eric Levitan. Prior to leaving Corporate America, he spent 25 years working in the software industry. Now he’s the founder and CEO of Vivo, the leading online fitness program designed specifically for people over 55. 

After learning about the impact of age-related muscle loss, Eric realized that growing older doesn’t have to mean declining health or function. There’s something we can do about it. In this episode, he shares what we can do to regain strength and function at any age. 

We discussed:

• Why selling his company wasn't everything Eric thought it would be
  
  
• How he embarked on a journey of soul searching to get unstuck
  
  
• The impact of watching his parents’ quality of life change with aging
  
  
• One critical component of maintaining your independence as you age
  
  
• Partnering with scientists to help create a different mentality about fitness
  
  
• The relationship between mind and body when it comes to growing older

www.teamvivo.com