A guide to working through the inner obstacles of late life and embracing the spiritual gifts of aging
Offers shadow-work and many diverse spiritual practices to help you break through denial to awareness, move from self-rejection to self-acceptance, repair the past to be fully present, and allow mortality to be a teacher
Reveals how to use inner work to uncover and explore the unconscious denial and resistance that erupts around key thresholds of later life
Includes personal interviews with prominent Elders, including Ken Wilber, Krishna Das, Fr. Thomas Keating, Anna Douglas, James Hollis, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Ashton Applewhite, Roshi Wendy Nakao, Roger Walsh, and Stanislav Grof
With extended longevity comes the opportunity for extended personal growth and spiritual development. You now have the chance to become an Elder, to leave behind past roles, shift from work in the outer world to inner work with the soul, and become authentically who you are. This book is a guide to help get past the inner obstacles and embrace the hidden spiritual gifts of age.
From the Author: "In this book I share eight exercises and the reasons why they have helped clients regain their balance.These particular exercises have helped clients stop tripping and falling and to regain the ability to feel safe in movement again. I also share some short stories of clients who all have various reasons for losing their balance. A range of personal and specific factors may play a role in the body’s balance and walking gait as they become off-kilter. This leaves people feeling unsafe in their movements, which, in turn, causes the walking gait to change and slow down because they feel out of balance or unstable. At this point, individuals may find themselves tripping often and/or falling down. At any age, but often as we get older, the body can become weaker. That can be due to illness, lack of exercise, neurological challenges or a diagnosed condition."
The decisions we make from our heart, using good guidance and information, are often the best ones. Our culture focuses on reactionary health care rather than proactive life decisions. Often, we wait until there is a crisis before we really address the root cause. This approach can be devastating if we wait too long to choose a positive living environment. The answer is to seek the best quality of life in our aging years. This book will show you how to:
Make proactive, educated decisions versus reactive, crisis-driven decisions
Identify the key influencers and their roles in the decision process
Define independence and what it means to you
Live life to the fullest not just survive day to day.
Aging is one of the most compelling issues today, with record numbers of seniors over sixty-five worldwide. Gray Matters: Finding Meaning in the Stories of Later Life examines a diverse array of cultural works including films, literature, and even art that represent this time of life, often made by people who are seniors themselves. These works, focusing on important topics such as housing, memory loss, and intimacy, are analyzed in dialogue with recent research to explore how “stories” illuminate the dynamics of growing old by blending fact with imagination. Gray Matters also incorporates the life experiences of seniors gathered from over two hundred in-depth surveys with a range of questions on growing old, not often included in other age studies works. Combining cultural texts, gerontology research, and observations from older adults will give all readers a fuller picture of the struggles and pleasures of aging and avoids over-simplified representations of the process as all negative or positive.
Have a desire to continue living a purposeful life, no matter what your age.
Are interested in learning how to maintain a positive attitude from adulthood to elderhood.
Want to learn how to create a living legacy and serve as a role model for future generations.
WHY EMBRACE AN ATTITUDE OF INCLINE?
For the first time in history we are not only living longer, everyone has an important choice to make: commit to a meaningful, purposeful life of "Incline" as we get older or believe that a new stage – one of steady "decline" – is inevitable. What is not helping is that in the media and society in general there continues the somewhat negative connotation surrounding the concept of aging. And while, at least not now, we cannot do anything about the chronological process of becoming 60, 70, 80 years and beyond, we can change the mindset for it. Embracing change and looking at life with a keener sense of curiosity will lead to living with increased courage to live life to its fullest.
Recommended by AlzAuthors.com, Life Giving Dementia Care guides you to be a confident, compassionate caregiver for your loved one and for yourself. It’s like you’re chatting with a friend who has “been there and done that,” candidly sharing their own fears, pain, joys, and lessons learned as a caregiver. Part how-to, part memoir, this dementia caregiver guide shows you step-by-step what to expect and how to plan from early symptoms and diagnosis through estate settlement as you and your loved one are dealing with dementia. Inside, you’ll learn about:
Understanding and recognizing symptoms & diagnosis
A most delightful, sometimes painful, always truthful picture of the realities of our near inevitable future, yours’ and mine, in a Nursing Home. A picture painted with overwhelming love and clarity in the colors of individuals for whom these realities are already present… or past. A must read for anyone over seventeen as insight can transform the present, rewrite the future. “Polka-Dot Bath” stands courageously alone as it opens our societal closet, shedding a glaring yet hopeful light on the dusty shelves of whispered secrets long, and often deliberately, tucked away so as not to draw attention.
What if what you’ve been told about aging is wrong? What if I told you pain, and sickness are not a normal consequence of aging? Do you believe you possess the power to restore health and youthful energy regardless of your age? Few of us consider how important our health is until we are confronted with declining health, chronic pain, or a life-altering diagnosis. While many people are living longer, we are not enjoying longer health spans and our quality of life is declining. The good news is that anyone who wishes to recover their health or remain healthy can actively take part in the process using the information in this book.
