“This is the year that I turn 60”.

I wrote those words in my first blog and this event is the reason that I started this conversation about “the Third Act” in the first place. Well, it is official now as this month I actually celebrated my 60^th birthday. It was a bit of a non-event actually. Not because we did not celebrate it; we did celebrate it after all with a wonderful stay in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. And not because I felt that “no one remembered” because I received some of the most endearing cards and letters that I could have ever expected. No, it was more of a non-event emotionally because I had decided to “turn 60 in my mind”, months before the actual date. My decision to do so brings into focus some of the research that comes out of the neuroscience labs that inform us that if we can “bring the target closer”, “get started on the goal sooner”, it gives us a sense of momentum and we feel like we are much farther along the way. That’s how I feel.

One of the things that I am most excited about is that there are so many things to be excited about. We live in such an interesting world and as I stated in my last blog, if I (we) can stay curious, stay mindful, or as one of my good friends would say, pay attention to your life, then we open up ourselves to so many wonderful possibilities. Another one of my friends calls this “the Joy of Discovery”. I like that.

One of the most inspiring books that I have read recently is Big Magic. It is written by Elizabeth Gilbert (those of you who have either read the book or seen the move, “Eat, Pray, Love” will recognize that name). This was a wonderfully engaging book. One of the things that I really liked was how she described ideas. She sees ideas as living, breathing things. Things that are moving around us. Things that are looking for people on whom they can land and potentially take up residence. People who will respect them, treat them with care, muse upon them, and then, take them somewhere. That gave me an insight into why I love ideas, why I love learning so much. By staying curious, staying mindful, we may find ourselves the recipient of a great gift – that being of an idea that was meant just for us. That’s the “Big Magic”.

Now, there is a big responsibility here. As Elizabeth Gilbert points out, if we do not accept ideas properly, if we do not treat them with the respect that they are due, if we fail to do anything with these ideas, they might (they will!) just give up on us and move on to someone else. We had better pay attention, then.

And that is exactly what I want to do in my third act. I want to learn how to pay attention. I believe that I have been a good receiver of ideas in my first and second acts (I hope I have!) and now I want to learn even better how to be on the lookout for them. I want to come to the end of my life and be able to say that; “I did not learn everything that I wanted to learn AND I learned all that I could in the time that I was given”. The poet Mary Oliver states it beautifully and much more eloquently:

‘When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement.

I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I made of my life something particular, and real.

I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.’

“I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world”. What a powerful set of words. Words that should resonate deep within each of us. May I (we) all step into this day with a spirit of anticipation, because who knows, this just might be the day that an idea comes to us, quiet and respectful, hoping that we will be a faithful and caring receiver.

Onward…