I sat outside, enjoying the early spring sun, listening to the melodic song of a northern cardinal perched in a nearby tree. I closed my eyes and focused intently on the sound. The notes of its song played over and over in the same rhythmic pattern, creating a beautiful mantra that seemed to call all nearby beings into the present moment. This is why I’m here, I thought to myself as I succumbed to its spell, to remember who I really am by returning to this place of presence.

Who am I, really? This is a question we often start to ponder more seriously as we age… if we’re lucky. As we enter midlife and consider our mortality, we’re motivated to reflect on who we are on a deeper level, what our lives mean, why we’re here, and where we go when we leave our bodies. If we take these questions to heart and get serious about exploring the answers, we often find that life leads us to the perfect classrooms.

For me, I’ve always been passionate about people, the brain, personal growth, and spiritual evolution. As I’ve entered my wisdom years, I’ve also become fascinated with neuroscience and understanding consciousness at a fundamental level. This week, life led me to a man who, I believe, is onto something big.

Federico Faggin is a physicist-turned-consciousness researcher who visits the 24^th episode of the Telepathy Tapes in Season 2 to talk with its founder Ky Dickens. Federico invented the microprocessor that underlies much of the world’s technology, and after a spiritual awakening in the middle of the night, he devoted a significant portion of his life to the intersection between spirituality and quantum physics.

After listening to their conversation and watching other interviews with him on YouTube, I was excited to see a scientist put language to what many of us know to be a deeper truth about life. I highly recommend you listen to their conversation, because I predict this man will turn science on its head when it comes to the truth of who we are and why we are here.

There are so many ways to take care of ourselves as we age – fostering a healthy body, healing the history that keeps us stuck, letting go of outdated beliefs, old resentments, and the physical clutter of the past. What doesn’t get talked about enough is the opportunity to enter a new educational stage of life where we turn our attention to the areas of interest that keep gently tugging at us, wanting more of our attention. For me, it was learning an instrument, another language, and the science of consciousness. And it’s been a wonderful experience to study without the pressure of getting good grades, meeting deadlines, or needing to use what I’ve studied to achieve a specific outcome.

Learning for the pure joy of it has become a blessing in my wisdom years.

Last week, during our Zoom gathering about becoming brave as we age, we talked about exposing ourselves to new ideas, listening to conversations that challenge our assumptions, and taking risks that open us to more than what we already know. We shared ways to feed the kind of hunger that nourishes the soul.

If you want to feel more alive and excited about your life, the prescription is clear: Be a good student. Question everything. Stay open. Heed life’s invitations to pivot. Do something different.

If you need a little encouragement, you’ll find it by listening to the replay here.

Love,

Cheryl