Discover Your Unique Gift
“Creative aging is a choice…. If we remember that transition always begins with endings, moves on to a wilderness period of testing and trying, and only then do we reach the beginning of something new, then we can embrace this encore period of life with hope and curiosity, remembering always that it is our true nature to be creative, to be always birthing new ways of sharing our planet together.” —from the Epilogue
In a practical and useful way, Marjory Zoet Bankson explores the spiritual dimensions of retirement and aging. She offers creative ways for you to share your gifts and experience, particularly when retirement leaves you questioning who you are when you are no longer defined by your career.
Drawing on stories of people who have reinvented their lives in their older years, Bankson explores the issues you need to address as you move into this generative period of life:
Release: Letting go of the vocational identity associated with your career or primary work
Resistance: Feeling stuck, stagnant, resisting change
Reclaiming: Drawing energy from the past, discovering unused gifts
Revelation: Forming a new vision of the future
Crossing Point: Moving from stagnation to generativity
Risk: Stepping out into the world with new hope
Relating: Finding or creating new structures for a new kind of work
“Precious and insightful … will teach you how to age consciously as well
as respect your limitations and joyfully reclaim your purpose and call.
A treasure. Don’t grow old without it.”
—Rev. Holly W. Whitcomb, author, Seven Spiiritual Gifts of Waiting
“Aimed at but by no means limited to the boomer generation, hits the right note … aging is not just about giving back, but about giving forward … offering ourselves for some larger purpose rather than simply protecting what we have.”
—Fr. Tom Ryan, author, Soul Fire: Accessing Your Creativity
“A great gift to everyone in the field of aging. With gentle, deep encouragement ... [it] walks readers through what has been lost, mourned, reclaimed, and points toward finding the creative call in the later years…. Strongly recommended for everyone in the third stage as well as professional and interested laypersons.”
—Phoebe Girard, hospice worker; co-founder, Conscious Aging Network of New Mexico; former editorial board member, ASA Forum on Religion, Spirituality and Aging
“A must-read for anyone who wants more out of their later years than the traditional retirement experience…. A unique contribution to the field of literature on aging and retirement.”
—Molly Srode, author, Creating a Spiriting Retirement and Keeping Spiritual Balance as We Grow Older
“A deep and stirring reminder that the later years of our lives can be creative, rich, and even more fulfilling than those that went before.”
—Deborah Sokolove, artist and director, Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion; associate professor of art and worship, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.
“[A] refreshing blend of deep wisdom, relational authenticity, and practical tools … a book that will make a difference. My list of the people I want to give this book to is growing.”
—Doug Wysockey-Johnson, executive director, Lumunos (formerly Faith At Work)
“A road map of wisdom for the crossroads of life. [W]eaves insight and story [to] illuminate the phases of transition that we all will face in the future…. Encourages us to move the conversation about such change from our head to our hearts.”
—Terri Lynn Simpson, contemplative programs consultant, Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage, Washington National Cathedral
“Assures, encourages, challenges readers to embrace the questions, fears, and most significantly the gifts of aging. The shared stories of elders comfort the reader who is walking the labyrinth of aging and seeks a spiritual path of dignity, grace, faith and love.”
—Jean M. Richardson, executive director, Kirkridge Retreat Center
“Powerful and compelling … deserves to be read and practiced by anyone, regardless of their age, who wants to reconnect with their spirit and live a life worth having.”
—John J. Scherer, author, Five Questions That Change Everything; founder, The Scherer Leadership Center
