Not Fade Away: The Story Behind The Book

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Nov 212020
 
Not Fade Away: The Story Behind The Book

Alan Heeks shares the roots of his fresh approach to creative ageing… I believe that shipwreck and re-invention are the healthy essence of the mid-life crisis, and I did mine pretty thoroughly. Two weeks before my 50th birthday, I moved out of my 27-year old marriage, leaving the family home and my two daughters. The […]

How NOT to have a midlife crisis

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Nov 212020
 
How NOT to have a midlife crisis

Therapy: the book by David Lodge The ‘hero’ of this book is Tubby Passmore, 58: balding, bulging, and thoroughly lost.  Although he’s outwardly successful – well-off, modestly well-known as scriptwriter for a top sitcom, with a steady if dull marriage, Tubby is depressed and confused. Through the book, we piece together his life story, and […]

A view from age 74: Giles

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Nov 212020
 
A view from age 74: Giles

Advice to those in their sixties: Delegate to others more than you think you can safely do!  You can’t do it safely.  How did you learn? Don’t delay this! Get out into nature and meditate, pray, ask questions of yourself – your god or whatever you call that thing. Recognise crises as invitations to break […]

A view from age 71: Gay

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Nov 212020
 
A view from age 71: Gay

Staying happy in your seventies Be proactive in caring for mind, body and soul. For me this begins with daily yoga and meditation practice. Be ever open to new experiences and ideas. Keep the brain working in whatever way is best for you. (I learn the words to happy/positive songs and sing them out loud […]

A view from age 56: Jane Sanders

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Nov 212020
 
A view from age 56: Jane Sanders

Two score and ten –  fifty years and growing It is said that you know you are getting old when doctors and policemen look impossibly young. I had this experience about a year ago when I encountered an orthopaedic consultant who told me bluntly that ‘at my age’ they would not want to offer me […]

A Realistic and Positive Book on Ageing: Also helpful for the ‘young-old’

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Nov 202020
 
A Realistic and Positive Book on Ageing: Also helpful for the ‘young-old’

The warmth of the heart prevents your body from rusting: Marie de Hennezel. This is the best book on ageing I have read: well-informed, realistic, as well as warm-hearted and inspiring.  Marie is one of the leading French experts on ageing: she has been studying this field for years, and draws on some excellent role models […]

Vita Sackville-West on Triumphant Elderhood: All Passion Spent

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Nov 202020
 
Vita Sackville-West on Triumphant Elderhood: All Passion Spent

If Vita Sackville-West is known at all these days, it is as a landscape gardener, Bloomsbury bohemian, or as the role model for Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. In fact, she is a superb novelist too: perceptive, witty and elegant. The central figure of her novel All Passion Spent is an 88-year-old widow, whose last years prove a triumphant liberation […]

Age is just a number: Charles Eugster

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Nov 202020
 
Age is just a number: Charles Eugster

Re-inventing your health in later life Charles Eugster is a pioneer in health regimes for people over 65, and well beyond. He has won medals for rowing and sprinting in his eighties and nineties! However, his book offers a lot of help for oldies less fanatically fit then he is. Charles is a Fellow of […]

Life Threatening Crises for Friends

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Nov 202020
 
Life Threatening Crises for Friends

Alan writes about his experiences of friends suffering from life threatening illness. In the past few months, the wives of two close friends have had late diagnoses of advanced cancer which could be fatal.  The husband of another friend has had a stroke.  At the Summer School I go to each year, two couples from […]

Fresh adventures for creative ageing

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Nov 202020
 
Fresh adventures for creative ageing

Discover yourself and have some fun as you grow older. Everyday life these days can be uncertain and unsettling for anyone, and getting older may just seem to make that worse. It may feel tempting to settle into your rut, retreat into safety. In fact, you’re likely to be more happy and resilient if you […]