There are numerous studies and books related to the drivers of Human Flourishing. Once we enter the 3rd Age of life, i.e. post-career and living on a fixed income, many of these drivers are no longer conveniently set for us by external sources such as our jobs, raising a family, or keeping up with the Jones.
The Harvard Flourishing Program identified a Flourishing metric based around five domains: happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships.
If you are serious about taking the road less traveled that will lead to a more meaningful life, The Praxis Way philosophy provides a few guideposts along the path. A recurring theme from across the ages is to first “know thyself”. Finding your purpose (Telos), and continuously cultivating it, will provide a reliable compass for your unique journey to the top of your life’s Second Mountain.
The following books shed light on many key drivers of a life well lived :
From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur Brooks:
https://a.co/d/0Yp93Ra
No athlete will be performing, and specifically winning, at a world-class level into old age. If peak performance was an athlete’s sole purpose for life, they would be setting themselves up for serious frustration and eventually a life of embarrassment and disappointment.
Yet this is what many of us do, especially after a wildly successful career in the 2nd Age of life.
There is a season for everything. This book celebrates that life provides plenty of exit ramps from that first ‘mountain’ of external validation with careers, raising a family, and accumulating “things” – it also offers some nice on-ramps to a new sense of sustainable purpose and meaning in the 3rd Season of live.
The Second Mountain: How People Move from the Prison of Self to the Joy of Commitment by David Brooks (no relation to Arthur btw)
https://a.co/d/3ps4sbB
Similar to the message of “From Strength to Strength”, David Brooks highlights a way out of the superficial aspects of modern society with its emphasis on old definitions of “success”.
The first mountain is mostly about Ambition/ego and clawing to the top of the corporate ladder or maybe the local non-profit, only to realize this ladder is leaning against a building where love is scarce and few find lasting happiness.
Far better to be ascending a ladder up the “Second Mountain” that is grounded in Vocation and deep meaning/purpose. This level of purpose ultimately requires commitment, if not uncomfortable personal sacrifice, for the sake of love.
The Second Mountain is home to those timeless things that result in a Life well Lived. Brooks does a great job of pointing to that destination.
The Praxis Way 
Leave a comment