The Wonder of Anatomy, and the Anatomy of Wonder

Without doubt, later life can be a challenge. Living well into your 70s and beyond is not for the fainthearted. As I’ve written about in these pages and in my book, A Life Yet to Live —and am currently writing about in my new book—it takes a good deal of effort to stay healthy, mobile, energetic, and content as we get older.

But as the shadow of mortality becomes a bigger presence to me so does another presence that helps put it all into perspective: wonder. I am devoting a good deal of space to the topic of wonder in my new book, The Power and Grace of Later Life. Embracing health and life has caused a rebirth of my capacity to experience wonder as I get older, for which I am very grateful. It’s as if the universe has given me a compensating benefit for all the other increased challenges, the ability to appreciate wonder on a new level.

I am also extremely grateful, and lucky, to be at a stage of life where I still have most of the health and energy I have always had (and sometimes more) as well as the leisure time that comes with not working for a living every day. My health journey and practices over nearly 20 years have matured now to the steady rhythm of how I live my life. When I first started my health journey, which began with that inspirational wake-up call on a train almost 20 years ago, the flash of insight said one thing to me: “Pay attention to your health, to your body. This is vital in order to be around for your daughters.” In that wisdom, something inside was telling me that my health was the foundation of everything else that mattered to me in life. In my case, that was being a vital, healthy father to my then 2 very young daughters, whose upbringing is my foremost mission in life.

This health journey has brought me face to face with the myriad wonders of my body and its innate capacity to heal and the wonder of existence itself, the amazing feeling of just being alive that is a big part of every day. Accepting my mortality and the challenges of getting older—in particular, accepting the limited lifespan and healthspan we all have in common— has been fundamental to my growing sense of wonder. The two go hand in hand and, I believe, are one of graces that gets sharpened in later life.

I’ve realized over the past few months that the awakened sense of wonder I now have for myself and for everything I experience and perceive has become a growing and important part of my later-life journey. Looking back, I realize that a vibrant sense of wonder has always been a big part of my life. Since childhood, I’ve always been fascinated by how things work. I’ve spent much of my professional life making things work better, whether that was in the printing business, theater, wind farms, or restaurants. Now, making myself “work better” and helping my daughters learn to continually improve themselves in all aspects—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—is an extension of that impulse.

I remember wonder being a big part of my childhood as well. It went hand in hand with the trauma of losing my father early in life and its challenging aftermath as an only child of a difficult mother. That experience helped me realize how precious life and health are, as well the tragedy of not living a full life. And while my sense of wonder went down some dark holes from those events, its lessons were never lost on me.

Wonder is a natural part of most childhoods, when everything is new. Being curious and having “wow” moments is a regular occurrence for little kids. They think this is the way life is for everyone and forever. Yet for many of us, and for many reasons, wonder is gradually replaced by the responsibility that comes with living life in our modern world or with conforming to what others expect of us and adjusting our behavior accordingly. We lose the innocent experience of perception without judgment along the way. I was no different. But I’m here to tell you that reclaiming that sense of wonder now, at this stage of life, is a bonus I hadn’t expected. The presence of wonder in my life has shown me one aspect of getting older that is a giant new vista from which to experience my life and the world around me.

Now, having turned my attention to my health and healthspan, and having gained lots of perspective as an older person, I feel that my sense of wonder has increased. I’m not sure how others think about this topic, but perhaps this time of life is meant to wonder, to be even more curious about the deeper aspects of life, including our own health and our own future as a vibrant and physically capable older person.

I am reminded of the Zen phrase, “Zen mind is beginner’s mind.” Looking at the world with wonder is an unvarnished way of seeing the world through a child’s eyes. For example, as I move through my daily activities (whether it’s practicing yoga or shopping for groceries), I am reminded of the miraculous wonder that is my body. It took countless generations of evolution over billions of years for nature to evolve a human being and, specifically, for me to becomeme. Every second of every day, the intricacy of all the biochemistry within me is ceaselessly working to keep me healthy. It is programmed and operates that way, by the universal force that created it, the same life and health force that pulses through each of us. The capacity to wonder and imagine comes from that same source, a power that is unique to us humans. We have been given a gift—the ability to wonder at just how incredible this experience of living a life really is.