Addison Brasil

A few weeks ago, I made my usual trek to work. I got in the car and tried to catch up on texts and emails pausing to remind myself of my goal for the week. What I had re-defined success would be for me twenty-four hours later. I took breaths, found integrity, thanked my driver, and hurried across the stars that line the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Somehow, I was already normalizing passing by the giant marquis inviting others into this project, through the lobby of the iconic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, past the Marilyn Monroe mirror, down the steps Shirley Temple learned to tap dance on and into the theater.

I recently returned home to my wisdom watering hole at Modern Elder Academy. As the guy, who was once dubbed the ‘Youngest Modern Elder,’ I get a true sense of gratitude knowing I have started this migration earlier in life and get to continue to meet those who also chose it for themselves for years to come.

A year of nomading and grieving. A year of honoring and not fixing. A year of active and empathic listening. A year of loving, not just others, but myself. A year of powerful badassery. A year exploring and navigating being Just to The Left of Death three times.

Addison wrote this poem on Monday while participating in a Sabbatical Session “awe walk” at MEA in Baja. The ocean has a thousand moods and yet, we still trust and sit with it. The sky is not controllable and yet, we still honor it.