Aging as a Spiritual Practice

Aging as a Spiritual Practice
Author: Lewis Richmond
Publisher: Avery
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2012-12-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1592407471

Offers a Buddhist perspective on aging well, with anecdotes of the author's experiences with illness, aging, and transformation, and guided meditations.

Aging as a Spiritual Journey

Aging as a Spiritual Journey
Author: Eugene C. Bianchi
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2011-07-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725230062

Bianchi's wide-ranging book draws together insights from the social sciences, the humanities, and religion to establish a holistic framework for a spirituality of aging. He argues that middle life and late adulthood present opportunities for turning inward for a deeper contemplative life within the context of active, worldly endeavors. This can also augur a reform of social relationships--beyond individual development alone--toward the creation of a more cooperative, just society. In this way, physical decline is countered by a spiritual ascent. He summons aging persons, fortified with universal values and concerns gained from age and experience, to return to the centers of decision making. Throughout, the author ponders such questions as personal power, identity, fear, freedom, contemplation, sexuality, the church, faith, suffering, and hope. In candid interviews, older religious leaders reflect on their early value formation, personal traumas, choice of careers, midlife transitions, experiences of old age, and the prospect of death. In dwelling mainly on human spiritual dilemmas of the aging cycle, Bianchi offers a strong, clear message of hope--one that stands against the tide of our culture which tends to shunt older people to the outer eddies of life's stream. Aging as a Spiritual Journey is immensely valuable to all laypersons and those in the helping professions who are concerned about the quality of the aging process.

Ageless Soul

Ageless Soul
Author: Thomas Moore
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2017-10-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1250135818

An inspiring, dynamic way to reimagine aging, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Care of the Soul.

Aging Faithfully

Aging Faithfully
Author: Alice Fryling
Publisher: NavPress
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2021-11
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1641583592

Would you like to grow in life-giving ways as you age? Do you have the courage to let go of former ways of thinking to receive God's love and life in new ways? As we age, we experience the loss of physical stamina, independence, and career fulfillment. Yet within each of these losses is a holy invitation to grow. God calls us to let go of our need for accomplishment and embrace the gift of fruitfulness so that we might be transformed in this final season of our lives. In Aging Faithfully, spiritual director Alice Fryling explores how to navigate the journey of retirement, lifestyle changes, and new limitations. In this season of life, we are invited to hold both grief and hope, to acknowledge ways of thinking that no longer represent who we are, and to receive peace in the midst of our fears. We all age differently, and God calls each of us to new spiritual birth as we mature. When we embrace the aging process, we grow closer to God and experience his grace as he renews us from within. Whether you are approaching the beginning, middle, or end of your senior years, you are invited. Come and be transformed. Aging Faithfully includes questions for group discussion and suggestions for personal meditation.

The Spirituality of Age

The Spirituality of Age
Author: Robert L. Weber
Publisher: Park Street Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015-10-01
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 9781620555125

A compassionate guide for transforming aging into spiritual growth • Engage with 25 key questions guiding you to mine previously untapped veins of inspiration and courage • Find a constructive role for regret and fear and embrace the freedom to become more fully yourself • 2015 Nautilus Gold Award As we enter the years beyond midlife, our quest for an approach to aging takes on added urgency and becomes even more relevant in our daily lives. Empowering a new generation of seekers to view aging as a spiritual path, authors Robert Weber and Carol Orsborn reveal that it is by engaging with the difficult questions about loss, meaning, and mortality--questions we can no longer put off or ignore--that we continue to grow. In fact, the realization of our full spiritual potential comes about not by avoiding the challenges aging brings our way but by working through them. Addressing head-on how to make the transition from fears about aging into a fuller, richer appreciation of the next phase of our lives, the authors guide you through 25 key questions that can help you embrace the shadow side of aging as well as the spiritual opportunities inherent in growing older. Sharing their stories and wisdom to both teach and demonstrate what it means to feel energized about the possibilities of your later years, they explore how to find a constructive role for regret, shame, and guilt, realize your value to society, and embrace the freedom of your later years to become more fully yourself. Coming from Catholic Jesuit and Jewish backgrounds respectively, as well as drawing from the latest research in psychological and religious theory, Weber and Orsborn provide their own conversational and candid answers to the 25 key questions, supporting their insightful and compassionate guidance with anecdotes, inspirational readings, and spiritual exercises. By engaging deeply with both the shadow and light sides of aging, our spirits not only learn to cope--but also to soar.

Spirituality and Aging

Spirituality and Aging
Author: Robert C. Atchley
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2009-03
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0801891191

Separating spirituality from religion--something few books on this topic do--Spirituality and Aging offers a plan for incorporating spirituality into gerontological scholarship, research, education, and practice.

Spirituality and Ageing

Spirituality and Ageing
Author: Albert Jewell
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Total Pages: 194
Release: 1999
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781853026317

Spirituality and Ageing presents the experience of ageing as an opportunity for spiritual reflection and affirmation of life. The contributors are religious and spiritual leaders and ethical thinkers from a range of different backgrounds. They define 'spirituality' not just as a religious concept but as the fulfilment of the universal human need for purpose, values and relationships - a sense of wholeness in life. This spiritual dimension helps people face the emotional and psychological challenges of growing older, such as memory loss, dementia, bereavement and fear of death. Existing systems of social care often focus on the material and physical needs of older people; this collection proposes that the spiritual needs of older people are as vital a consideration for their welfare. Through their spirituality, older people can attain a fuller appreciation and understanding of life, which can also inform and enrich the lives of others.Spirituality and Ageing will be an invaluable resource to carers looking for a holistic and more reflective approach to work with older people.

The Journey of Life

The Journey of Life
Author: Thomas R. Cole
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 1992-11-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521447652

The Journey of Life envisions growing up and growing old as a voyage down a river flowing inexorably to the sea. With this image of the human life cycle, the author explores the historical shoreline of later life, charting its cultural forms and sounding their depths. The result is both a cultural history of aging and a contribution to public dialogue about the meaning and significance of later life. The core of the book shows how central texts and images of Northern.

Ageing, Spirituality, and Well-being

Ageing, Spirituality, and Well-being
Author: Albert Jewell
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2004
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781843101673

Using selected conference material, this text explores how well-being among the elderly does not depend solely on physical health but also on having purpose in life and ongoing spiritual growth, and offers guidance on meeting the spiritual needs of this age group and providing meaningful care and support.