Wisdom

Chip Note: Jonathan is such an accomplished doctor and role model, but what’s most interesting and inspiring about him is his humanity.

I hit rock bottom at 47. My relationship was on the rocks. My adult foster son was going to prison. My friend, Chip, had taken his own life (and I was having suicide ideation myself…I lost 5 midlife male friends between 2008-2010). I was running out of cash as we were opening 15 boutique hotels in 21 months just as we were catapulting into the Great Recession. I felt handcuffed being CEO of this gargantuan company I’d created over the past two decades. I feared everything was going to crash and I dreaded the idea of being a public failure.

A couple of years ago, I wrote this blog post (https://www.meawisdom.com/wisdom-well/post/is-intuition-a-form-of-wisdom) pondering whether Intuition and Wisdom were the same thing. Since then, I’ve come to see that intuition feels broader in its scope as it leverages wisdom, our subconscious ability to recognize patterns that our conscious mind overlook, by tapping into the “higher mind” of the collective unconscious, maybe even tapping into psychic abilities.

Chip’s Note: Rabbi Daniel has become a good friend since his time in Baja and has been helping to spread the word that midlife can be a chrysalis, not a crisis.

"Those who are wise won't be busy, and those who are too busy can't be wise. The wisest man is therefore he who loafs most gracefully." -- Lin Yutang, Chinese philosopher

The first half of our lives is influenced by our tuition, paying for access to schools and teachers that allow us to accumulate knowledge. The second half of our life is influenced by our intuition, the gut instinct that is a conduit to our wisdom. Yet, while we’re used to paying tuition, how do we invest in our intuition (that’s a great topic for an MEA workshop, right?)?

Gravitas and levity are Latin words that represent seriousness and lightness, respectively. The wisest people I know intuitively recognize when a group could use a bit more of one or the other.

Recently, I found myself wrestling with the skepticism of an experienced luxury hotel professional. During his visit to our sprawling 2,566-acre MEA ranch campus near Santa Fe, he remarked, “You’re quite a risk taker.” Indeed, he wasn't wrong, but his tone felt like it might be less cheerleading and more cautionary. This led me to a day of introspection, pondering whether our ambitious project was a leap too far into the realm of the unconventional.

Chip’s Thoughts: Love the photo in Douglas’ guest post as I feel like I was there with him on this roadtrip.

Chip’s Editorial Comment: Jeff Hamaoui, one of my co-founders, is a poet and deep thinker. I always feel blessed when he channels something like this and WhatsApp’s it to me.