In a unique collaboration, 33 of the nation's top experts in life planning and positive aging distill the most critical issues regarding the challenges of aging in the 21st century.

In this newly revised and updated edition of Conscious Living, Conscious Aging, you will find an empowering guide with practical tools to help live a passionate, fulfilling, growth-oriented life. The baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age with unprecedented good health and resources, and is no longer satisfied with their parents’ approach to aging. Many older adults are seeking an empowering vision for their future but find that hard to come by in a world that glorifies youth and has largely forgotten the gifts that can accompany the life stage of elderhood. With this expanded and updated 10th anniversary edition of Conscious Living, Conscious Aging, you will find a contemporary manual filled with practices and tools to help you navigate your elder years with purpose and clarity. Ron Pevny’s provocative model of “conscious eldering” opens the door to the rich possibilities of intentionally growing into elderhood, as contrasted with merely growing old. Through advice, practices, and personal stories, this book will help you distill wisdom from your many years of life experience, navigate loss and grief, identify new passions and goals, and remain engaged and relevant as you enter life’s later chapters, creating a lasting legacy and a healthier world for the generations to follow. It’s time to engage with family, community, your spiritual source, and the world, which needs your talents. Don’t just grow old. Aim high and claim the gifts of elderhood.

The essential guide for couples to create a happy, healthy, and successful retirement! Retirement can be the best time of your life, but for couples, there's far more to it than cashing in on your 401(k). The most important asset you have during retirement is each other, yet many couples aren't sure where to begin to prepare for retired life or what to consider as they do. The Couple's Retirement Puzzle reveals ten key conversations couples should tackle before retirement to ensure a rewarding second half of life together, including: • Do we have enough money to support the lifestyle we want? • Should we retire simultaneously or separately? • Do we stay put or explore new frontiers? • What's the best way to stay healthy and fit after fifty? • How do we meet new friends and create new interests outside of work? • How will we balance time together and time apart? • And more! Filled with smart practical advice, engaging anecdotes, and helpful exercises,The Couple's Retirement Puzzle will guide you and your partner to a fulfilling retirement you can enjoy and celebrate together.

Relational-Cultural Therapy (RCT) is developed to accurately address the relational experiences of persons in de-valued cultural groups. As a model, it is ideal for work with couples: it encourages active participation in relationships, fosters the well-being of everyone involved, and acknowledges that we grow through and toward relationships throughout the lifespan. Part and parcel with relationships is the knowledge that, whether intentionally or not, we fail each other, misunderstand each other, and hurt each other, causing an oftentimes enduring disconnect. This book helps readers understand the pain of disconnect and to use RCT to heal relationships in a variety of settings, including with heterosexual couples, lesbian and gay couples, and mixed race couples. Readers will note a blending of approaches (person-centered, narrative, systems, and feminist theory), all used to change the cultural conditions that can contribute to problems: unequal, sometimes abusive power arrangements, marginalization of groups, and rigid gender, race, and sexuality expectations. Readers will learn to help minimize economic and power disparities and encourage the growth of mutual empathy while looking at a variety of relational challenges, such as parenting, stepfamilies, sexuality, and illness. Polarities of “you vs. me” will be replaced with the healing concept of “us.”

A practical yet humorous guide to aging solo gracefully and achieving a happy retirement. In Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers, certified retirement coach Sara Zeff Geber coins the term “Solo Ager” to refer to the segment of society that either does not have adult children or is single and believes they will be on their own as they grow older. This book explores the path ahead for this group. That includes choices in housing, relationships, legal arrangements, finances, and more. Geber reviews the role of adult children in an aging parent’s world and suggests ways in which Solo Agers can mitigate the absence of adult children by relationship building and rigorous planning for their future. Geber shares her expertise on what constitutes a fulfilling older life and how Solo Agers can maximize their opportunities for financial security, physical health, meaning and purpose in the second half of life, and, finally, planning for the end game. Through real-life stories and anecdotes, the author explores housing choices, relationships, and building a support system. You will learn about: · different levels of care and independence in various types of living arrangements · how to initiate discussions among friends and relatives about end-of-life treatment · “what if” scenarios · who to talk to about legal and financial decisions And it’s not just the Solo Ager that can learn from this book. Financial advisors, elder law and estate attorneys, senior care managers, and others whose clientele is on the far side of sixty will benefit as well.

Make the post-career phase of your life the happiest and most fulfilling time of your life! So much changes as you move from your career into the Third Act of your life! You have to redefine your identity, find a new reason to get up in the morning, build a new structure for your days, and replace part of your social network. Some people slip easily into their new life and others struggle. Many of us fill our days with fun and relaxing things to do but get to the point where we want something more – then we feel a bit empty. You know you need a financial portfolio to retire but did you know you also need a Happiness Portfolio ®? This book is a practical guide to creating your Happiness Portfolio ® and flourishing in your Third Act. It includes valuable information and thought-provoking exercises to design your retirement life so you enjoy it to the max and feel that your life is fulfilling. You will explore: • Why this change is sometimes so difficult • How to structure your life so there is plenty of time for both fun and doing things that make you feel like your life is worthwhile • What it really means to be happy • Some tools for dealing with the bumps you are certain to encounter along the way This book is right for you if: • You intend to retire soon or • If you retired in the past five years or so Scroll up and click on “Look inside” to learn more or just add it to your cart.

Praise for the First Edition: "[This book] represents a significant advance because it looks at the issues from a bio-psychosocial perspective. To a social worker who has worked mainly in a medical and nursing environment, this is a great step forward." --Bereavement Care "[Offers] valued sensitivities, knowledge, and insights, and most importantly, age-appropriate interventions for a range of significant losses....Counselors will want to keep this indispensable work close at hand." -Kenneth J. Doka, PhD, Author, Counseling Individuals With Life-Threatening Illness This unique text for undergraduate and masterís level social work and counseling courses on loss, grief, and bereavement is distinguished by its biopsychosocial perspective and developmental framework. The book addresses grieving patterns and intervention strategies according to the life trajectory and provides clinical intervention tools and strategies for coping according to the developmental stage of an individual. It incorporates losses beyond death loss, with special focus on losses related to maturational development. The second edition reflects new research that has clarified and underscored the value of theories examined in the first editionóparticularly in the areas of continued bonds, disenfranchised grief, and ambiguous grief. It describes how grieving is influenced by biological responses to stress, psychological responses to loss, and social norms and support networks. The second edition includes significant new information on trauma and resilience and addresses the use of mindfulness practices with grief and loss. It focuses on the changing role of technology including expressions of grief and loss in social media and public forums. Updated information is provided regarding hospice and palliative care, , along with housing issues in aging. A completely new chapter examines grief and loss counseling with emerging adults, and changes in the DSM 5 are covered as well. Additional new features include chapter objectives, discussion questions, an instructorís manual, PowerPoint slides, and updated resources. New to the Second Edition: New information on trauma and resilience Using mindfulness practices with grief and loss Updated theory and empirical findings The changing role of technology in grief Expressions of grief and loss in social media and public forums Transitions due to economic and health changes Changes in the DSM 5 New chapter on emerging adults (ages 18-25) Instructorís manual and PowerPoint slides New information on hospice, palliative care and aging Housing issues in aging/disability New information on issues facing young and older US veterans and families Updated resources Chapter objectives and discussion questions Key Features: Uses a developmental framework for grief and loss Incorporates notions of loss beyond death, including unique maturational losses Integrates new grief theories with empirical findings and intervention techniques Utilizes neurobiological and biological information within a counseling text Focuses on non-pathologizing approaches to sadness, loss, and grief