What’s Life Like As an Elder?

Dr. Marc B. Cooper joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to continue their talk about aging with purpose and intention. They talk about higher consciousness and self-understanding. They ask how a higher consciousness and self-understanding can impact your life.He writes, "After 80 years on the planet, my life’s been anything but linear. In our Western culture, my adult journey followed a prescribed path for success: college, dental school, a residency in periodontics training, and an advanced degree in immunology. This was followed by two years in the Air Force as a periodontist and oral surgeon at the tail end of the Vietnam War. Post-service, I settled into private practice in Bellevue, WA, moonlighting as an associate professor at the dental school for my first few years."Then, after a little more than a decade, I pivoted. After a decade of drills and scalpels, I traded my dental chair for consulting. I began coaching individual and small groups of dental and medical practices. In the ladder part of my consulting career, my clients included national and international healthcare organizations, hospitals of hospital systems, for-profit and nonprofit boards, business incubators, C-suits, insurers, VCs, vendors, Fortune 500 companies, think tanks, and government agencies. "Existentially, I’ve been on my own walkabout. I completed the est training in 1979 (now Landmark Education) and became a program leader for them until 1984. I participated in programs and sittings at Naropa University, a Buddhist university, where I sat, learned, and added Eastern practices of consciousness. I also spent quality time with Native and Aboriginal elders, which profoundly shaped my current understanding of what it means to be an elder."Marc is currently CEO of the Contemporary Elder Institute. He leads small group programs and does Elder coaching, applying higher wisdom to client's issues, concerns, and problems. Marc is the author of, "Older to Elder: The Thinking and Being of a Contemporary Elder." Visit his websites www.requestingwisdom.com and www.drmarcbcooper.com."Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks.