Align your own creative power within the divine The essence of creation spirituality is this idea: that the creation of our world was not a one-off event billions of years ago: it is a process continuing in every moment, and each of us can contribute. As Neil Douglas-Klotz puts it: our job description as humans […]
Digging for Maturity: Cultivating Yourself in Riper Years
My fourth planned book explores how gardening analogies can help people’s wellbeing, and I’ve started to ponder what insights they offer for creative ageing. This was groundwork for a weekend I co-lead at Hazel Hill Wood, in June, called Fruits of Maturity. In a garden, it’s clear that you can’t simply leave nature to do […]
Elderwoman: book by Marian van Eyk McCain
Is elderhood different for men and women? Yes and no! The question of gender differences in elderhood was a big one for me as I approached leading a mixed workshop on this theme for the first time, at Findhorn. I’ve discussed the gender question with women and men elders I know, and by reading Elderwoman, […]
Life lessons from the movies: Hope Springs
Is changing a relationship like changing a lightbulb? You may recall the old joke about how many therapists it takes to change a lightbulb. The answer is one: but the lightbulb really has to want to change. It may take one therapist or less to change a sterile long-term relationship, but both partners have to […]
Amour: French film about love in old age
A picture of joy and pain: in equal measure? Stunning is a word much over-used, especially by estate agents, but stunned is the best way to sum up my feelings at the end of this film. I have never seen a whole audience leave a cinema in such deep silence. The gist of the plot […]
The recent BBC4 biopic on Richard Burton and Liz Taylor was magnetic and illuminating. It showed why these two had such fascination for each other, and us: and it also showed many of the don’ts for men and women in relationships beyond 50. The film’s focus is the year when Richard and Liz got together […]
Autumn Gold: The first Men Beyond 50 workshop:
New life skills, new friendships, new inspiration The weekend of November 11 – 13, 2011 at Hazel Hill Wood was a big occasion for me: the first weekend workshop, in fact the first open event of any kind, for the Men Beyond 50 project. After 13 months of working on faith that men beyond 50 […]
The Lost Elders: Who are we? Where’s our voice?
At 21 million, if we’re not a major blessing, we’ll be a major problem Over-fifties are one third of the whole UK population, but this huge group has no collective name, voice, or sense of purpose. Many of these over-fifties are relatively well-off for time, money, and health, and yet there are major worries on […]