A Journey Called Aging presents an insightful exploration of the years between the entry into older adulthood and death. This text examines the significant changes and major landmarks of older persons between 60 and 90. Grounded by a developmental framework based on empirical research, this book presents a new way of looking at older adulthood, describing the older adult years in intensely human terms through both anecdotes and research-based findings to engage the reader as both guide and traveler. Using a series of sequential stages as a framework, A Journey Called Aging discusses the experiences of older adults addressing the challenges and opportunities presented at each stage. This clear analysis can be used as a guide to help persons plan their own odyssey through the older years. Topics in A Journey Called Aging include: research and results of the study entering older adulthood the long stable stage of Extended Middle Age Early Transition Older Adult Lifestyle Later Transition the stable stage near the end of life the final transition A Journey Called Aging is crucial reading for professionals who work with older adults, including pastors, attorneys, facilities managers, and program directors; gerontology educators and students; and older adults themselves, their families, and those who care for and about them.

In Speech of the Grail, storyteller and ceremonialist Linda Sussman explores a new way to speak, one that heals and transforms. She takes for her guide Wolfram von Eschenbach's epic tale of the Grail, showing how it depicts a path of initiation toward healing speech--to "doing the truth" in word and action. "The Grail! The word stirs a deep response in the Western imagination. Joseph Campbell called the medieval stories where it is first mentioned 'the founding myth of Western civilization,' because 'according to this mythology, there is no fixed law, no established knowledge of god, set up by prophets or priests, that can stand against the revelation of a life lived with integrity in the spirit of its own brave truth.' Campbell and many other scholars, artists, and seekers have seen the Western wisdom path disclosed in the image of each knight entering the forest where no one else has made a path. The quest is to recover the elusive Grail, thereby returning its sustenance to the world. The presence of the Grail nurtures an invisible web of relationships that connect individual destiny to service of others and to the earth, thereby granting meaning" (Linda Sussman, from her introduction). Sussman begins with a beautiful retelling of the story, allowing readers to inwardly reproduce the potent inner images of the text. Then she shows that it is not so much a path toward perfection as a recovery of the proper relationship with our own imperfections. She shows, too, that it is a path in which male and female aspects work together to overcome evil.

In the tradition of Atul Gawande and Sherwin Nuland, Marc Agronin writes luminously and unforgettably of life as he sees it as a doctor. His beat is a nursing home in Miami that some would dismiss as ''God's waiting room.'' Nothing in the young doctor's medical training had quite prepared him for what he was to discover there. As Agronin first learned from ninety-eight-year-old Esther and, later, from countless others, the true scales of aging aren't one-sided - you can't list the problems without also tallying the hopes and promises. Drawing on moving personal experiences and in-depth interviews with pioneers in the field, Agronin conjures a spellbinding look at what aging means today - how our bodies and brains age, and the very way we understand aging.

A uniquely comprehensive discussion of vocation from infancy to old age Do infants have a vocation? Do Alzheimer's patients? In popular culture, vocation is often reduced to adult work or church ministry. Rarely do we consider childhood or old age as crucial times for commencing or culminating a life of faith in response to God's calling. This book addresses that gap by showing how vocation emerges and evolves over the course of an entire lifetime. The authors cover six of life's distinct seasons, weaving together personal narrative, developmental theory, case studies, and spiritual practices. Calling All Years Good grounds the discussion of vocation in concrete realities and builds a cohesive framework for understanding calling throughout all of life.

Why has the life span of the average American increased from 48 to 75 years in this century alone? . . . If the body is a machine that simply wears out, why do some cells seem immortal? . . . Is there an aging gene? And can we control it? . . . Can antioxidants and hormone therapy actually slow the aging process and extend life? Steven Austad s compelling book investigates the history, the theories, and the personalities behind the quest to understand the nature of aging. Here is hard evidence from the front lines of research that science is finally closing in on the fundamental processes of human biology and life. "Austad s book can be read with pleasure and profit by any intelligent person with a smattering of biological knowledge." Science "In this clear, engrossing overview, Austad takes the sting out of a subject that will ultimately capture us all." Publishers Weekly "Why We Age is remarkably rigorous in its analysis and thorough scope. . . . A comprehensive examination of its topic." Science Editors, Amazon.com "The problem with long life is that one keeps getting older; here s an able and clearly written summary of the latest theories on why we age and what might be done to ameliorate the process." Kirkus Reviews

Through the lenses of three time-honored metaphors for thinking about life - life as story, life as journey, and life as adventure - William Randall and Gary Kenyon see wisdom not as an unattainable ideal nor as the sole province of experts or educators, geniuses, therapists, or saints. Rather, the see it as potentially within reach of everyone, not as a commodity but as a quality of life; as a matter of being, not of having. Insofar as everyone of us is on a journey and has (or is) a story, everyone of us has access to a type of wisdom that can be called "ordinary wisdom", and that it behooves us to explore and express. Besides being of great relevance to thoughtful older adults themselves, seeking to age as positively and wisely as they can, this book will be of particular interest to theorists, researchers, and students of the process of aging, working in a variety of disciplines and fields, including gerontology and psychology, psychotherapy and theology, philosophy and education.

Sooner or later, all people begin to dwell on the fact they are aging. How they handle or act upon their thoughts is what David Petty hopes to help them with. In Aging Gracefully he shares his passion: to equip readers with "tools" that can make this stage of life all God intends it to be.