Tag Archives: aging

Material Simplification, Part 1

Posted on September 26, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

I’m midway through a series of posts on simplification in late life. The idea for the series came from twentieth-century theologian Lewis Joseph Sherrill, who proposed that the most important psychological task of late adulthood is simplification, by which he … Continue reading →

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Conversing With Dementia

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

I recently read a Next Avenue interview with Jonathan Kozol, author of the memoir The Theft of Memory: Losing my Father One Day at a Time. Jonathan’s father Harry, a psychiatrist and neurologist, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in his late 80s … Continue reading →

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Physical Simplification, Part 3: Disability

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

I’ve been writing recently about physical simplification–the process of accepting and affirming rather than rejecting or resisting the physical changes that occur in us as we age. I wrote first about accepting changes in appearance, then about accepting changes in physical … Continue reading →

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Physical Simplification, Part 2: Performance

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

I have been writing about physical simplification in later adulthood. According to Lewis Joseph Sherrill, to simplify physically is to accept the changes that occur in our bodies as we age, focusing on those physical features that are most important … Continue reading →

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Physical Simplification, Part I: Appearance

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

This post is part of a series on simplification in late life. The series is inspired by twentieth-century theologian Lewis Joseph Sherrill, who proposed that the most important psychological task of late adulthood is simplification, by which he means “distinguishing … Continue reading →

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Simplification of Status

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

This is part of a series of posts on simplification in late adulthood. For some context on the concept of simplification, consult a previous post in the series. In this post I’ll focus on simplification of status, especially on the way theologian Lewis Joseph … Continue reading →

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On The Ladder of The Generations

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

I spend most of my time staying with my mother, who is 89 years old. She functions pretty well in her own house, preparing her own meals, dressing without assistance, and doing her laundry. She doesn’t drive or use a … Continue reading →

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Midlife Complexity to Late Life Simplicity

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

I wrote in an earlier post that the main psychological challenge of late adulthood is simplification. In middle adulthood, many of us had more complexity in our lives than we had ever had before. At work we took on more responsibility … Continue reading →

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What is the Primary Psychological Task of Late Adulthood?

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

Psychologists usually view human development as consisting of a series of tasks or issues, each of which must be dealt with in turn. Thus infancy is about learning to trust, adolescence about independence and identity, and early adulthood about intimacy. … Continue reading →

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The Old Age Style

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Bob Ritzema

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 →

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