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elderhood
REAL PEOPLE
BELONGING
and  keeping on the sunny side

T

" Elderhood "

 REAL PEOPLE  &  BELONGING

You are action-oriented and don't like the idea of being marginalized or patronized. Nor do you feel frail, inconsequential,  irrelevant or slightly -“off-your-rocker"-  What's up with all that, anyway?

At 50-something you painted your first canvas. At 60-something, you conceived an entrepreneurial adventure that paid off in more ways than money. At 65-something, you learned how to design and develop a website- and expect many intriguing new adventures as time goes by. Right now, for example, you are exploring new technologies - especially a lifelong dwelling place and home automation.

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Practicing the Art Form

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Aging is an art form- one involving numbers of self-guided learning tours.  There is a creative aspect to a life well-lived. This is especially evident when it is expressed as respect for who you are and how you have value as a human being- alive in each of us - equally.

10 ways to keep on the sunny side

You may have raised a family, taught school,written your opinion to the local paper, attended church, created a publication whose goal is peace for all the children of the world- a prayer and action group  with a newsletter every two months- volunteered in a nursing home for years or at the hospital, helped tutor in the schools, taken Spanish, Japanese and History  classes and  Flower Arranging too. And listened. Always listened.

At 70-80-90-something you expect to lead and join in meaningful conversation while practicing the art form of a life well-lived.

1. Stay involved with creative people.
2. Take good care of you – body, mind, emotion and spirit.
3. Keep up with news you can use –trends, issues and non-issues.
4. Walk or swim or do yoga- but exercise, for sure.
5. Come up with a new recipe to be shared with your family.
6. Play with your pet.
7. Spend time helping and talking with children.
8. Engage teenagers in conversation.
9. Learn to see something in a  new way as often as possible.
10. Be the 365-day valentine to inspired elderhood.

ELDERHOOD IS

A Combination of Sage and Fire

 Elderhood  

“Ageist Attitudes and Ageism” - stereotyping and prejudice directed at individuals and groups because of their age “- is expressed in negative terms that can be both patronizing and demeaning  such as:: frail, elderly, golden years, feisty, spry, grandmotherly, 70 years young, "still" (can drive, can dance, etc.)....

In reality, deep maturity can be an ever unfolding landscape opening new perspectives on the landscape of Honors and of Belonging when Post-50-People keep on the sunny side.

In the next segment,  The Sage Companion Project's  Positive Aging Guru, Richard Ambrosius points to the a negative attitude you can remedy.

The current dim view in our cultural and sociological narrative about maturity, late life, the purpose of elders, the nature of retirement communities (as custodial and repressive), and the relationships between older adults and younger generations- is pervasive. He offers ways to counteract this challenge.

Boomerhood  Elderhood The Human Neighborhood

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