Instead of accepting the notion of a career as an arc that rises in youth, peaks in midlife and declines into retirement, we stand poised to chart a new trajectory, one that for many will reach its apex of meaning and impact at a juncture when others in past generations were heading for the sidelines.

Marc Freedman, Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life encore.org

Too many of us have given in to find ourselves doing unsatisfying, empty work.  Too many of us are stuck in jobs too small for our spirits, jobs that don’t challenge us or allow us to optimize the potential we know we have within.

Cynthia Good, founding editor, Pink Magazine, pinkmagazine.com

Over the course of the millennia, all the ancestors in your tree, generation upon generation, have come down to this moment in time, to give birth to you. There has never been, nor will  be, another you. You have been given a tremendous responsibility. You carry the hopes and dreams of all those who have gone before you. Hopes and dreams for a better world. What will YOU do with your time on this earth? How will you contribute to the ongoing story of humankind?

Lawrence Overmire

To claim one’s place at the fire means to live one’s life on purpose.  When we claim our place at the fire, we enter into the circle of vital elders who have been the source of wisdom in society since time immemorial.  We do this by courageously reexamining and rediscovering who we are, where we belong, what we care about, and what our life’s purpose is.

Richard Leider, Claiming Your Place at the Fire