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Category Archives: Culture
“Bring an Item That Holds Great Personal Value”
The psychology practice where I work part-time recently had a one day retreat. Everyone who attended was asked to bring a bag containing: 1) A favorite hat, scarf, or other personal item (tee shirt?) that you enjoy wearing 2) One … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Psyche
Tagged aging, driving, health, mementos, older adults, reminiscence, valuables
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Ageism Through the Ages
Ageism is prejudice or discrimination against those who are middle-aged or elderly. Psychiatrist Robert Neil Butler coined the term in 1969, but of course ageism existed well before that. What attitudes did people have toward the elderly a hundred or … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
Tagged ageism, aging, attitudes, elderly, faith, history, older adults
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Aging Well the Puritan Way
Where should we look for models of how to age well? Who has a good understanding of what makes for good psychological, social, and spiritual functioning in old age? Well, how about the Puritans? That, at least, is where Maxine Hancock … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Psyche, Spirit
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I Went to a Concert by Myself. So Can You.
Last month I went to a baroque music concert by myself. I’m not dating or married to anyone, and trying to find someone to go with me seemed too much trouble. The Grand Rapids Symphony did a marvelous job, as … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Relationships
Tagged elderly, living alone, norms, older adults, one-person households, seniors
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The Old Age Style
Some time ago I ran across an article from 1972 on the style characteristic of elderly artists. The author, Kenneth Clark finds in their works several common features, which he identified as follows: “Now let me try to summarise the characteristics of the old-age style as they … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Spirit
Tagged aging, art, elderly, faith, God, older adults, Richard Rohr
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Success, Then Poverty: William McPherson’s Story
I recently wrote a post that alluded to the struggles of the working poor after they reach retirement age. It’s not just the working poor that spend their last years mired in financial difficulties, though. Consider the lot of a Pulitzer-winning … Continue reading
Posted in Body, Culture
Tagged elderly, older adults, poverty, retirement, William McPherson
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Retiring Among the Like-Minded…Or Not
Ever since switching from full time to part time employment I’ve been thinking about what constitutes a good retirement. I’m sometimes surprised by who has something to say about the issue. Jack Dickey, a 24-year-old writing for Time magazine, put … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Relationships
Tagged aging, diversity, elderly, older adults, poverty, retirement, retirement communities
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Retirement: “Do we have to do what we want to again today?”
I’ve recently been reading Learn to Grow Old, published in 1971 by Swiss physician Paul Tournier. Dr. Tournier practiced what he called the medicine of the person, an integrative approach to care of body, mind, and spirit that now would … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Psyche
Tagged aging, elderly, older adults, Paul Tournier, retirement, successful aging
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Ash Wednesday: You’re Gonna Die
I’m writing this a few days before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Christian calendar. Most Ash Wednesday services give participants the opportunity to have ashes–a symbol of mortality–rubbed on their foreheads. The presiding minister says something like “Remember … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Death
Tagged aging, Ash Wednesday, Christianity, elderly, Ernest Becker, mortality, older adults
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Retirement Leisure and the Protestant Work Ethic
I’ve written before about retirement and the leisure ideal. I described how in the middle of the 20th century government and business in the U.S. wished to get older workers out of the workforce to make way for younger workers. … Continue reading
Beyond Halfway 