Dying With a Little Patience: The Three I’s of Identity, Inclination, and Intention

In this episode, Scott Bryson, PhD, introduces three deceptively simple questions that can help orient us in the second half of life.Who are you?What do you want?Where are you going with your life?They sound straightforward. But when we sit with them honestly, they open up much deeper territory.We explore what Bryson calls the “Three I’s”: Identity, Inclination, and Intentionality. The questions are simple, but they often become especially powerful in the third quarter of life, when many of the roles and scripts that once defined us begin to loosen or fall away.Together, we look at what it means to ask: Who am I now?—beyond job titles, achievements, and expectations. We reflect on inclination: what genuinely draws us forward, what lights us up, and what we may be ready to move past. And we consider intentionality: the shift from living on autopilot to becoming more conscious authors of the lives we’re living.The Three I’s aren’t a productivity system or a midlife formula. They aren’t about dramatic reinvention or rejecting ordinary pleasures. They’re ongoing questions—questions that help us stay awake instead of sleepwalking through this stage of life.Stories, myths, novels, songs, and films often help illuminate these questions. They don’t tell us exactly what to do, but they help us see more clearly.And that’s the spirit of this channel: a place where we can keep these questions in view together, even when the answers are still unfolding.