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What I learned in the desert
That it’s hard to be truly honest and authentic, in writing and in life.
After I tossed a crumpled scrap of paper into a smoking hot fire under the midday sun, I felt clearer, even cleansed. It was a group ritual I’ve participated in before, as part of a transition-navigating workshop run by Modern Elder Academy, a midlife wisdom school. The burning is meant to replace a negative mindset with something that better serves you. For me, it was to swap out what I’d scribbled on my scrap (“I don’t feel good about myself; I’m not good enough”) with a more positive inner voice, “I am human; I make mistakes, but I’m learning.”
If all this sounds woo-woo to you, it is and it isn’t… I’ve participated in a handful of MEA workshops in the past decade, at the school’s beautiful Baja, MX campus. This most recent workshop was my first visit to their stunning new campus, 30 minutes south of Santa Fe, NM. You could call it a wellness retreat; the setting is idyllic: Pueblo architecture on a four-square-mile horse ranch; a ridge you can hike, arroyos to walk through, and stunning high desert sunsets, plus organic meals, guided meditation, sound baths, and more.
But it is more than that. It’s also a school, and a community, of like-minded people, from their 30s to 80s, who are on a quest to define “what's next” in their lives and who are willing to think differently about aging.
But rather than give you more details about MEA’s mind-altering and simpatico workshops (you can read about them), I want to tell you about something unexpected.
Honesty and Authenticity
Soon after I returned from the New Mexico desert, I got into an intensely personal conversation with a good friend. “You seem different,” he said, admiringly. “You’re more open, more authentic; I think you’re starting to reveal the real Debbie.”
I thought about that for a minute. Was it true? Then I remembered what I had experienced during my recent week at MEA.
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