This image is the cover for the book Claiming Your Place at the Fire

Claiming Your Place at the Fire

A practical guide to living your later years with wisdom and purpose, featuring inspiring stories and thought-provoking exercises.

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.


Claim Your Place at the Fire invites you to approach the second half of your life as an empty canvas, ready to be filled with a new and vibrant sense of purpose. It shows you how to stoke the wisdom you’ve gained to burn more brightly to light the way for yourself and others. Through stories and exercises, you will learn to look at yourself with new eyes and answer four key questions: 

Who am I?
Where do I belong?
What do I care about?
and What is my purpose

Richard J. Leider, David A. Shapiro

Richard J. Leider is a founding partner of The Inventure Group, a coaching and consulting firm in Minneapolis. A National Certified Career Coach, he has been helping people to discover their life’s purpose for more than thirty years.


David A. Shapiro is Education Director of the Northwest Center for Philosophy for Children, a non¬profit organization that brings philosophy and philosophers into the lives of young people through literature, philosophical works, and group activities. Together Leider and Shapiro have coauthored the bestselling books Repacking Your Bags and Whistle While You Work.

Berrett-Koehler