Cultivating Purpose with guest faculty Christine Carter
Coming Into Your Own: Reconnecting with Who You Are
Feb 17 - Feb 22, 2025 in Santa Fe, USA Led by: Christine Carter, Lori Schwanbeck
Purpose is what makes you feel alive, connected, and whole.
The science proves it: living with a sense of purpose plays a significant role in improving our mental and physical health and wellbeing.
It can extend our longevity, improve our physical and cognitive functioning, reduce our risk of disease, alleviate stress and anxiety, and strengthen social connections that are vital to our happiness and sense of self-worth.
But how do you find your purpose when you’ve already lived half your life and have no idea where or how to get started?
(Especially if you think the whole concept seems a little… “woo.”)
The answer is to pay attention to the things that are important to you, own your strengths, commit to making the effort to show up consistently as your best self – then simply get started. As you continue, the path forward will become clear.
In this Cultivating Purpose workshop co-facilitated with Dr. Christine Carter, Founder and former Executive Director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, you will discover proven science-backed strategies that will help you live a life of purpose that brings you joy and fulfillment. (No “woo” required.)
What you’ll gain
Through a combination of our MEA Cultivating Purpose curriculum and Christine’s proven science-based experiential activities, you will:
By the end of your five days with Christine and the MEA faculty, you will be bursting with confidence, clarity, and excitement to start living your purpose more fully in the world.
You will feel energized and empowered and hopeful about your future – and inspired to show up in the world as the fully realized person you’ve always had the potential to become.
Meet your faculty
Christine Carter, Ph.D.
Founder and former Executive Director of the Greater Good Science Center
Sociologist | Author | Speaker | Coach
Christine Carter, Ph.D., has dedicated her life to redesigning the way we work—so that we can lead our most joyful, productive, and fulfilling lives. She combines scientific research and practical application to offer her clients, readers, and audiences practical tactics to cope with modern pressures and truly thrive.
For many years, Christine was the executive director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center (GGSC), where she remains a sociologist and Senior Fellow. Now she’s a leader at BetterUp, where she designs one-to-many coaching experiences that drive transformation for people, teams, and organizations.
Christine writes an advice column for Greater Good magazine that is syndicated on PsychologyToday.com and many other websites. She has appeared on dozens of television and radio shows, including the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” the “Dr. Oz Show”, the “TODAY” show, the “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” PBS, NPR and BBC Radio, and has been quoted or featured in every major newspaper in the US, including The New York Times, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and The Wall Street Journal. Her most recent TedTalk was in the top 5 most viewed in 2021.
As a sociologist, Christine has sought to inspire large-scale, systemic change in our most common and influential social structures: corporations, families, and schools. She has a particular interest in how cultures and institutions foster certain behaviors, beliefs, and emotions while inhibiting others.
What Christine's workshop participants had to say...
Her workshop was nothing short of magical.
As a long-time admirer of Christine Carter’s research and writing, I entered the week at MEA with high expectations, all of which were not only met but exceeded. Christine has an extraordinary ability to foster a truly transformative experience, blending her wisdom, engaging interaction, and practical tools. I left with not only a clear plan, but also a profound sense of purpose and clarity. Her workshop was nothing short of magical.
Hope Wisneski
Christine Carter has rock-star allure.
Christine Carter has rock-star allure. She is analytical, creative, pragmatic, sharp, goal-driven, and sensitive. I was lucky enough to attend her MEA seminar, ‘Reconnect with what you are and what you want,’ which helped me realize that I can mastermind my own life. And now, after years of doubting, thinking, wanting, and wishing, I am well on my way.
Margriet Krijgsman
I knew what this would be like (amazing) but it was SO much more than I even dreamed.
Christine’s workshop was incredible. I have read her books and though I knew what this would be like (amazing) but it was SO much more than I even dreamed. It was amazing times 100,000,000.
Laura Beth Neilsen
Christine gently guides you through mind-blowing exercises that help you reflect on your strengths, desires, and what makes you feel alive
Christine gently guides you through mind-blowing exercises that help you reflect on your strengths, desires, and what makes you feel alive in the pursuit of cultivating purpose. The real beauty of Christine's approach is that she's not just instructing—you’re on this journey together. She shares her own vulnerabilities and works through the MEA curriculum alongside her students. It's a safe space to explore whatever arises, leaving you with a sense of direction and optimism.
Julie DeLoca
Her workshop was life-changing in the best possible way.
Christine’s wisdom is a perfect alchemy of deep and broad knowledge of the research, the science behind the how and why of who we are, and an intuitive, grounded, and empathetic connection to the humanity that hums through each of us. I felt such trust in the spaces she created, and joy in wonder in the learning she guided us towards. I left not only with an abiding sense purpose, but also with the understanding that I had a forever resource in Christine. Her workshop was life-changing in the best possible way.
Blossom Beatty
This workshop is for you if...
You feel like your life is lacking any real meaning and you’re looking to reignite your joy
You’re experiencing burnout at work or home and finding it hard to feel motivated or inspired
You’ve been putting other people’s needs before your own for a long time – now you’re ready to focus on you
You’ve lost touch with who you are and what you want your life to look like
You’re great at what you do – but it’s not in integrity with who you want to be in the world
You struggle with self-doubt and worry that you don’t have what it takes to live a life you love (spoiler: you absolutely do)
You’re looking for deeper meaning and fulfillment in everything you do
You’re willing to explore new science-backed practices that can help you form habits that will help you succeed
Santa Fe, USA
Rising Circle Ranch
An upscale regenerative ranch featuring traditional Pueblo architecture and spanning nearly 2,600 acres of wildlife, hiking trails in the arroyo, with ancient petroglyphs, and awe-inspiring beauty. Close to historic Santa Fe, an artisan’s mecca.
Meet your MEA facilitators
In addition to the powerful sessions conducted by Christine, you will be guided through the core MEA Cultivating Purpose curriculum by our faculty members:
Lori Schwanbeck
Mindfulness Teacher
Lori is a passionate advocate for creating lives of meaning and engagement in both the personal and professional realms. She is a senior faculty member at Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), an organization born at Google, where she mentors and trains teachers, and designs and facilitates both in-person and virtual mindfulness based emotional intelligence programs.
Lori holds an MA in psychology and is a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, trained by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach through the Greater Good Science Center. She is currently involved in a 2-year project in Bhutan working in partnership with the Gross National Happiness initiative bringing SIYLI’s program to all levels of the Bhutanese government.
She is also curriculum contributor and facilitator at: LinkedIn, Purpose Blue, Wisdom Labs, Mindfulness Rx and the Mindfulness Training Institute, and leads nature-based mindfulness retreats at MEA, Esalen Institute, and Canyon Ranch.
A near fatal bicycle accident in her early 40’s triggered a humbling re-evaluation of her values, actions and identity. Recognizing that while our lives are short, our choices have a ripple effect on the world around us, Lori is committed to living in alignment with awareness, integrity and whole-heartedness – and dedicated to supporting others who desire to have a similar positive impact.
Purpose isn’t something you find. It’s something you create.
You don’t have to embark on some mystical journey into the inner depths of your soul to discover how to live a life of deep meaning and fulfillment.
You simply have to pay attention, have confidence in yourself, and be willing to make the effort – and trust that your journey will lead you to where you want to be.
And the results you will experience include greater happiness, better health, closer relationships, and a longer, happier life.
