The Generation Above Me

Monday, February 28, 2022

In Search of Sages

M. E. Brockman (L) and T. S. Hill (R)
United Nations photo via Creative Commons

I am teaching Late Life and Spirituality this semester. We are reading Holly Nelson-Becker's 2018 textbook Spirituality, Religion, and Aging: Illuminations for Therapeutic Practice. (Sage Publications, Inc.). In addition to taking quizzes, my students are writing short reports on living sages, aged 60 plus.

Initially, I let them select the sages. However, they were mainly choosing actors who are cast as sages in major motion pictures. All of my students are in the traditional college age group (18 to 25). I have a feeling that they restrict themselves to interacting with young adults, so it was nearly impossible for them to identify living sages.

Here are some of the people I suggested that they study as living sages who are 60 plus years old:

Wendell Berry, conservationist
Fr. Greg Boyle, activist, intervening with gang members
Jimmy Carter, activist with Habitat for Humanity and Council of Elders

Pema Chodron, devotional writer
Daniel Dennett, cognitive scientist
Pope Francis, religious leader

2022 Word of the Year

"Russian Nested Dolls"
by Images by John 'K'
is licensed under CC BY 2.0

I stopped making New Year's resolutions a long time ago. More recently, I have been selecting a Word of the Year (WODY) instead.

I have found that by choosing a focus word, I can think deeply about the meaning and application of the word. In addition, the word is more flexible, allowing me to change and grow over twelve months.

A WODY is more open, dynamic, fluid, and inviting than a resolution.

For several months at the end of 2021, I considered the word "boxed" for 2022 as a way to focus on boundaries. Then I thought about choosing (un)boxed so that I could on the one hand avoid long-held labels that I felt were restricting me. (I'm a Type A. I'm an oldest child. I'm an extrovert. I'm an avid reader.)

I wanted to entertain shedding some of these labels while at the same time setting up some boundaries. (Un)Boxed would allow me all kinds of possibilities.

By January I found myself drawn to the word SMALLER as my 2022 WODY.

For decades, I have been overextending myself, trying to study everything, meet everyone, master several skills--more, more, more; bigger, bigger, bigger.

Now that I'm inarguably in the Second Half of life, I am recognizing my limits.

Happy 10th Blogoversary

"Ten" by Gamma-Ray Productions
is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

When I was working on my master's degree in gerontology / aging studies, I wanted to place to record my growing awareness of how we age and how we can better manage the aging process.

I have a tendency to do a deep dive into topics by looking at academic journal articles, government reports, and information on websites hosted by nongovernmental organizations. I also like to read broadly about aging and watch films that feature older adults as the protagonists.

However, as the weeks, months, and years go on, I do not always remember details such statistics or the precise titles of books that I've read or the names of every leading actor in films that I view.

This blog serves as a great way to jog my own memory. I am more than happy to share my efforts with others.

Today is the 10th anniversary of this blog, or my blogoversary. During this time, I have written and published 450 posts.

The overall Top 20 has not changed much in the last few years, so here is a link to a previous blogoversary post that includes the 20 titles and their links.

Consequently, here are the posts with the most views for each year since I started this blog.