Near the end of the American Discovery Trail hike I created a song about the kindness we experienced across the country. After the journey was over I composed guitar music to accompany some of my landscape photos along the way. Those two creations morphed into the two movements of Beauty and Kindness for the American Discovery Symphony, which premiered with a full orchestra ten years after the journey was over.
As a full time caregiver I discovered that working on the photos and music for sharing our 5,000 mile walk across the country to be therapeutic for maintaining my brain health. I came up with ways to continue this “hobby,” creating three more thematic slideshows and then orchestrating all of them. I spent the final year before the premiere of the symphony rounding up and engaging with the wonderful musicians who volunteered to perform.
Ever since Cindy came off of hospice last fall I have been trying to figure out how to best live life as a permanent caregiver. I ended up with a plan for the ten year Unenlightened Wisdom Project, scheduled to last until the end of 2035 (technically eleven full years, but humor me). Over the course of the next ten years (OK, eleven) a combination of publications, presentations and products will be made available to the public, designed to benefit brain health and humanity.
All of us are biased by our own experiences and the news we receive from others. News can be either information or misinformation depending on the accuracy and relevance to our own life journeys. As we expand the breadth and depth of our experiences and the news we receive, the better we can distinguish news that is accurate and relevant and the better we can transform our biases into wisdom. Unfortunately, the Enlightenment of western civilization created tinted glasses for American society that retains biases harmful to both brain health and humanity. Over the next ten years (OK, eleven) the Unenlightened Wisdom Project aims to remove these tinted glasses from our vision.
Both publications and presentations will inform and inspire others on themes ranging from brain health early on to true democracy as we head towards the year 2035. The project as a whole serves the same functions as the American Discovery Symphony. The publications will keep my mind engaged, while presentations will keep me socially engaged.
Should I no longer be a caregiver before 2035 I am committed to continue with the Unenlightened Wisdom Project until completion. You could consider this as my life’s work, as in the culmination of my in depth experiences as a long term caregiver, long distance journeyer, multidisciplinary STEM academic and multilevel educator. By the end of this project I will have turned eighty, a good time to just maximize the enjoyment of my own life.
For the followers of this website the year 2025 will feature “Top Five” lists, as in the top five blog posts for different themes such as “Bittersweet Moments” or “The Pedicab Years.” I will post excerpts from the writings of the Unenlightened Wisdom Project relevant to brain health and living well. I might also add further glimpses into my life as a caregiver, living in the same house and village where I was raised.
Over the next ten years I hope I can perform and/or present to expanding audiences at venues farther afield, but for 2025 I will start with local home gigs. Interested in discovering America? Brain health? Home caregiver wisdom? Do you live within a 50 mile radius? (I can go further if I find the coverage). Please leave a comment if you would like to invite me into your home for engaging with your circle of friends on the topic of your choosing. I ask only for free food (maybe even leftovers!) and to have a “hat” out for voluntary donations. The purpose of the donations will be to sweeten the pot for PCAs to come in and provide coverage during my home gigs.
I created a separate website called Unenlightened Wisdom Project to keep people informed over the next ten years. I am working on a third website where purchases of content and bookings for presentations can be made. This comes at a time when my current web host is merging with another, which means the first task for both the project and the sites will be to migrate them to the new host. The next posts for either site will come after the migration is completed.
Along with the migration I will work out a way to finally reward subscribers with additional content. For example, the “White Paper” for the Unenlightened Wisdom Project will be sent. Please subscribe as well to the Unenlightened Wisdom Project website (though best to wait until after the migration) and help me expand my outreach to people with content to benefit both brain health and humanity.
Please like, share and/or subscribe to further the outreach for brain health and home caregivers.
