Is it too late to find your Element?

Yesterday, we looked at the role mentors play in our journey to the Element.  Now, hope for those who might feel their chance to find their Element has passed them by.  Here again is more insight from Sir Ken Robinson and his book, The Element - How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.

Rhonda & the Bridgeway Team

Do you feel locked into your life?  Like it's too late to change direction, or you missed your one shot to pursue your passion?  Take heart.  Sir Ken uses this chapter to show us that, "there is abundant evidence that opportunities to discover our Element exist more frequently in our lives that many might believe."  He provides several examples - the author who published her first book at 73, and the man who thought his dreams of singing opera were over after a motorcycle accident, only to win Britain's Got Talent several years later.  Even Julia Child didn't discover French cuisine in her mid-thirties, and was nearly fifty before publishing her first cookbook.

Today, life expectancy is longer and quality of health is improving.  That gives us opportunities to do more with our lives.  Some dreams will remain impossible - skiing at the Olympics if you have never skiid before - but knowing the difference is one of the steps to finding your Element. 

Sir Ken encourages us to think of our lives as cyclical as opposed to a straight line process with no oppotunity to turn around.  "Different capacities express themselves in stronger ways at different times in our lives.  Because of this, we get multiple opportunities for new growth and development, and multiple opportunities to revitalize latent capacities."

There is a lot we can do to keep ourselves healthy as we age, to make ourselves more active and open to opportunity.  Sir Ken says we also have to reconnect with ouselves and see ourselves holistically.  Physical health affects our intellectual and emotional vitality, but our attitudes can affect our physical well being.  Our brains can continue to develop new neural pathways as we age.  We can be revitalized and reenergized, even if we've given up.  (Check out the book for Sir Ken's account of a unique program in Oklahoma that brings young children who are learning to read together with seniors.) 

What Sir Ken is trying to teach us here is that, "remarkable, life-enhancing things can happen when we take the time to step out of our routines, rethink our paths, and revisit the passions we left beind (or never pursued at all) for whatever reason."  The good news is, you can pursue your Element at any age!