1: The setting? Harvard University.
The class? Introductory to Astronomy.
In the front row? A ninety-year-old man.
His name? Hank Behar.
How did Hank end up in this class with some of the world’s brightest eighteen-year-olds?
It started with a question from his wife, Phyllis.
In 2014, “Phyllis asked Hank what he wanted for his ninetieth birthday,” Sahil Bloom writes in his book The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life.
Hank and Phyllis are both in good health, and she thought he would want to go on a vacation or perhaps have a special dinner together at one of his favorite restaurants.
But that’s not how he answered her question.
“I’ve always wanted to see what those geniuses were up to at Harvard,” Hank remarked. “I’d like to spend a day there.”
Okay, then, Phyllis thought. She reached out to Sahil’s father, a former neighbor and longtime Harvard professor.
Professor Bloom spoke with several other professors and arranged for Hank to attend Harvard for the day.
Which is how Hank ended up in the front row of Introductory to Astronomy.
Hank “listened intently and jotted down notes on the big bang, the solar system, and the eventual fate of the sun,” Sahil shares.
“When class ended, he smiled, gathered his things, and walked out, almost blending in with the sea of eighteen-year-old Harvard College freshmen.”
2: When people ask Sahil who he wants to be when he grows up, he tells them he wants to be like Hank.
“He is, in some ways, quite ordinary,” Sahil writes. “He isn’t particularly rich, famous, or powerful—but the sum of his ordinary starts to look rather extraordinary.
“Hank spent most of his career as a Hollywood screenwriter and director and has a keen, clever wit to show for it,” Sahil notes.
“He’s been married for more than fifty years to the same woman, Phyllis, a glamorous former soap opera star whom he met on a set and, as he described it, somehow convinced to go on a date with him.
“Hank and Phyllis have three children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren,” Sahil shares.
“Hank has a sweet, loving personality that shines through, and he is always quick with a self-depreciating joke. He remains active despite his age, and he and Phyllis have been known to hop on a plane or take a cruise for a new adventure on a whim.”
3: But the quality that Sahil most appreciates about Hank is his curiosity.
The day he spent at Harvard is “much more than just a heartwarming story,” Sahil writes. “It carries a deeper set of insights and lessons with science-backed implications for how we can live a healthier, more fulfilling lives well into our sunset years.”
It turns out our curiosity is an actual Fountain of Youth. And it is very, very good for us as we grow older.
“A 2018 study found that the brain systems that are engaged by curiosity contribute to maintaining cognitive function, mental health, and physical health with age,” Sahil writes.
“Furthermore, curiosity has been connected to higher levels of life satisfaction and positive emotions and lower levels of anxiety.”
The more curious we are, the happier, healthier, and more fulfilled we will be.
“If curiosity were a pill,” he observes, “all the world’s pharmaceutical companies would call it a super-drug and clamor to sell it.”
Curiosity is the foundation of what Sahil calls “Mental Wealth.”
Why? Because “it encourages us to encourages us to search, explore, question, and learn,” he notes.
“It is through curiosity,” Sahil writes, “that we go on the journey to uncover and live by our purpose, unlock new insights and lifelong growth, and seek out the space necessary to think, reset, wrestle with questions, and recharge.”
More tomorrow!
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Reflection: How can I cultivate greater curiosity in my daily life—seeking out new experiences or ideas regardless of my age?
Action: Pursue one new activity, class, or question this week that sparks my curiosity and stretches my thinking beyond routine.
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