"Moved to tears, dear Lori. Sweet, sweet tears." – Bernie DeKoven, author of The Well-Played Game and A Playful Path

“Words cannot describe how much I love this story.” – T. Asher, Content Strategist

Join city-dwelling-researcher-turned-island-dwelling-essayist-&-poet, Lori Kane, EdD, as she stays with the unhidden joy, unapologetic pain, and undaunted curiosity within herself and others to encounter a powerful form of wonder--daily--that many adults too-rarely encounter and so fail to believe in. Supported by a vast community that includes humans, trees, deer, sky, earth, seasons, and stars, Kane defines unshaken wonder, redefines playful elder, and explores what it takes to be a playful elder in an age of both increasing connectedness and polarization. With a mix of deeply personal research, community storytelling, practice and game sharing, humor, openness, and poetry, Kane demonstrates letting go of an angry, exhausted self into the always-present embrace of the playful elder community.

“Haven’t even made it through the intro – tears of joy, relief, swollen heart. So needed this book right this moment. Thank you for reminding me that she is still within me. I just forgot for a minute.” – Gina White, Photographer & Instructor at Photographic Center Northwest

“…not everyone is able to purposefully seek out a life of WONDER. And it’s even more rare to then write a beautifully articulated book about it.” – Sarah Saint-Laurent, Author of The Awakening Shakti series

"your experience is palpable – visceral – and takes me to the deepest, most vulnerable and sacred places within myself" – Christie Lynk, Clinical Director, MA in Existential Phenomenological Psychology program, Seattle University

"All the grownups in my family relative to me just flat out stopped behaving like grownups for a while. For years, actually." Unshaken Wonder book explores what it takes to become the kind of elder that we—and our world—need when all of the adults and elders around us appear to be failing us.

"A playful elder is a collective being who sheds all faith in the belief that human beings can be unimportant or disconnected from life, because playful elders are reminded daily that life herself doesn't work that way. That's the lie of human adulthood that playful elders—playful anyone really—debunk."

City-dwelling-researcher-turned-island-dwelling-essayist-and-poet, Lori Kane, EdD, stays with the unhidden joy, unapologetic pain, and undaunted curiosity within herself and others to encounter a powerful form of wonder that many adults too-rarely notice and so fail to believe in. Kane defines unshaken wonder, broadens and redefines playful elder, and explores what it takes to be a playful elder in an age of increasing connectedness and polarization. With a mix of deeply personal research, community storytelling, practice and game sharing, essays, humor, openness, and poetry, Kane demonstrates letting go of an angry, exhausted self into the always-present embrace of the playful elder community.

The book follows her journey as she moves deeper into the spiritual heart of the playful elder community. Emboldened by others as she goes, Kane uncovers much-needed reminders of the brave connected beings—creators, namers, listeners, learners, unlearners, noticers of the invisible, truth speakers, game makers, playmates, empaths, violence dissipaters, voice lifters, friend ships, poets, and planet changers—we really are.

This is not a distant planet spun from the brilliant mind of Ursula K. Le Guin. This is right there, on earth, woven from the threads of Kane's own neighbors, friends, family, muses, and their communities. "Playful elders live a different truth. Life herself listens. She learns and unlearners. She speaks. My friend Bernie DeKoven calls her 'all-embracing life.' We're all important and connected here. All loved. All listened to. All lifted up by others. All mourned for when we go. We all hold powerful wonder within us. The earth supports us all. Even when we can't see it and feel it for ourselves, life is embracing us. That's how life really works too. Life wants us here. And she wants the real us: playful, well-rested, and calling BS on the stale beliefs and practices of adulthood that sink us when we believe the lie that we can't let go of them. We're being called now to hold on to what matters most and to let go of all the rest together. We can do this. I've seen it. I see it every day now. We are this world, and we're amazing."

Lori Kane is a poet, essayist, workshop and coworking space host, occasional blogger, serious home canner, lazy gardener, Alzheimer's care partner for mom Linda, and a mystery, fantasy, and science fiction enthusiast. She lives on Whidbey Island, Washington, USA and works at Silly Dog Studios with husband Daniel Gregory, Eva the dog, and Joe, Bella, and Batman the cats alongside the chatty trees of Brakenwood forest who suggest that Silly Humans Studios would have been a more apt name for their home and business.

Other books by Lori Kane include The Grace of Dragons: Receiving the Gifts of Dementia Care Partnering, Year 2 Poet, Reimagination Station: Creating a Game-Changing In-Home Coworking Space, Year 1 Poet, Different Office: Stories from Self-Created, Soul-Satisfying Work Space, A Travel Guide for Transitions: Because Freaking Out About This by Myself Totally Sucks, and Different Work: Moving from I Should to I Love My Work. To find her other books, visit http://www.collectiveself.com/books. To find Silly Dog Studios workshops, visit www.sillydogstudios.art. To chat, stop by the Lori Kane, Author Facebook page, follow @CollectiveSelf on Twitter, or just stop by the studio if you're on Whidbey.