The Joy of Old Age. (No Kidding.) – NYTimes.com

A wonderful essay from Oliver Sacks on the approach of his 80th birthday…

My father, who lived to 94, often said that the 80s had been one of the most enjoyable decades of his life. He felt, as I begin to feel, not a shrinking but an enlargement of mental life and perspective. One has had a long experience of life, not only one’s own life, but others’, too. One has seen triumphs and tragedies, booms and busts, revolutions and wars, great achievements and deep ambiguities, too. One has seen grand theories rise, only to be toppled by stubborn facts. One is more conscious of transience and, perhaps, of beauty. At 80, one can take a long view and have a vivid, lived sense of history not possible at an earlier age. I can imagine, feel in my bones, what a century is like, which I could not do when I was 40 or 60. I do not think of old age as an ever grimmer time that one must somehow endure and make the best of, but as a time of leisure and freedom, freed from the factitious urgencies of earlier days, free to explore whatever I wish, and to bind the thoughts and feelings of a lifetime together.

I am looking forward to being 80.

via The Joy of Old Age. (No Kidding.) – NYTimes.com.

Happy Friday!

This is a great foundation – at any age 🙂

Aging Brain Facts – Do You Get Smarter as You Age – Oprah.com

 

It’s true that as you get older, your brain’s processing speed begins to slow, and your memory may occasionally short out, says Margaret Gatz, PhD, professor of psychology, gerontology, and preventive medicine at the University of Southern California. But researchers have recently made some surprising discoveries about what’s really happening in our heads as we age: “We are identifying ways in which older minds hold their own against younger ones and even surpass them,” Gatz says.

via Aging Brain Facts – Do You Get Smarter as You Age – Oprah.com.

Reinventing Old Age: The Good We Do When We Work Forever | The Business Desk with Paul Solman | PBS NewsHour | PBS

Marc Freedman: I think we’re in the middle of restructuring what a life looks like in the context of much longer lives. You can’t just fold, spindle, stretch and mutilate a life course that was set up for 20th century life spans for 21st century spans that ultimately will last 100 years. You’ve got to rethink the whole process of education, of productivity, and balance the working lives over much longer periods of time as well as human capital development.

via Reinventing Old Age: The Good We Do When We Work Forever | The Business Desk with Paul Solman | PBS NewsHour | PBS.

Own Your Grief

Good advice for the grieving…

Memory Bears by Bonnie

~~~

Each one of us will experience the death of those we care about at various times in our lives. Each of us will grieve. The depth of that grief depends upon the relationship…the closer you were, the greater the grieving.

One thing to remember when grief comes your way; the grief belongs to you, alone. Others will be there to console you and some will understand, but no one owns your grief. The point is, no one can tell you when, how and how long to grieve. Don’t let that happen. Own your grief; protect it, for grieving is loving.

~~~

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Making The Commonplace Journaling

QuinnCreative

We’ve talked a lot about Commonplace Journals, and I thought it might be a good idea to show you mine. The purpose of a Commonplace Journal is to record items you need to remember, everything from the name of a book to an idea for a future art project. It’s not formal, it’s not meant to show to others or as a brag book. It’s your memory, your imagination, and the garden of your muse.

To hold my Commonplace ideas, I bought a hand-made journal from Val Bembenek. She makes wonderful, traditional Japanese-bound journals, about 8-1/2 inches  x 5-1/2 inches, with horizontal orientation. Val ties non traditional buttons on the front as decoration. She also uses paper bags as covers.  (You can buy them from her via email, too.) This one has a wine bag front cover and a bread bag back cover. Perfect combination!

I’m not showing…

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Elderly and my Pop

Courageous, compelling, and deeply moving…

Ramblings From A Mum

I have previously written posts about my Pop but today I needed to write once more, so forgive me for not having a ‘cheery post’ to submit tonight. I simply need to be able to talk about how I feel.

I am watching my father decline rather rapidly. It is the most heart breaking thing I have had to witness (apart from having to hold my 16 year old dog as the Vet put her to sleep) and anyone who has cared for their elderly parents will know what I am writing about. This.. this is something almost unbearable to face.

He will be 86 in July my dear Pop.  

The last few weeks he has been experiencing so much trouble walking, he struggles to actually raise his leg to place one foot in front of the other. His hands also shake uncontrollably and he is embarrassed to eat…

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Full Circle

Be sure to visit the website – the photography is quite remarkable…

according to van

every so often i’m commissioned to do a shoot that catches me by surprise. my latest body of work ‘full circle’ is one of those. ‘full circle’ is currently being exhibited online by the creative collaborative collective. ‘full fircle’ examines the end of the cycle of life.

we start out as babies, unable to care for ourselves, completely dependent on those around us for our survival. our lives tend to end the same way should we make it to old age. the smallest tasks can become the biggest challenges for the aged. the simplest task of getting up and going to the toilet can become a massive challenge. loneliness an even greater one.

during our youth time flies. in old age time becomes the enemy, looking for ways to make it pass, to fill it with anything other than the thought that we are waiting for God to take…

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Ageing Gracefully

A compelling picture – there is something special about authentic unmediated dialogue…

MANDEEPSINGS

These elderly Bahraini men are among the countless such groups who come together in the evenings for their kind of social networking. One can see them at coffee shops, street corners or the waterfront. Reminds me of the days back home in India when the elderly gathered under the largest banyan tree in their village, chatting over endless glasses of butter milk or tea.
This picture was taken on the Busaiteen coast yesterday.

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Featured Site | MIT AgeLab

In 1900, life expectancy for much of the industrialized world was under 50. Today, living well into one’s 70s, 80s and beyond can be expected. How will we spend and make the most of our 30-year longevity bonus? When asked about her longevity on her 119th birthday, Sarah Knauss said she enjoyed her long life because she “had her health and can do things.”

The MIT AgeLab was created in 1999 to invent new ideas and creatively translate technologies into practical solutions that improve people’s health and enable them to “do things” throughout the lifespan. Equal to the need for ideas and new technologies is the belief that innovations in how products are designed, services are delivered, or policies are implemented are of critical importance to our quality of life tomorrow.

Based within MIT’s School of Engineering’s Engineering Systems Division, the AgeLab has assembled a multi-disciplinary team of researchers, business partners, universities, and the aging community to design, develop and deploy innovations that touch nearly all aspects of how we will live, work and play tomorrow.

via About AgeLab | MIT AgeLab.