“But creating art is an exercise in opening the self, and one of the big benefits of aging is realizing why not? Why not write about the things we’ve tended to hide? Why not unearth supposedly shameful experiences and let them breathe in the world?” Love this! I write about growing up with parental mental illness. At age 50, I find myself brave enough to break my silence and find my voice to tell my childhood stories.
I love this! "At age 50, I find myself brave enough to break my silence and find my voice to tell my childhood stories." Keep telling those stories ...
I worked for over 30 years at Synectics, a leading consultant in creativity and innovation, as a senior partner. One of the founders, George Prince, as he aged began experimenting with creativity for oldsters. He found that the main issue was they had lost the ability to "image" and that it was a relatively easy skill to reawaken. I know he designed some workshops around that but I'm afraid they were lost when he passed.
Besides writing I have a trick to deal with aging. After sixty I started adding a year to my age. SO when I turned 65 I considered I was in my 66th year, and when asked said I was 66. But I knew it wasn't true. Then. When I turned 66, it was duh! I've been saying that for a year : )
Oh, thanks for the tip re: Synectics and creativity for oldsters. I just found three books on the subject, so I'm very interested in learning more. And ... I like that mental trip, of "buying" a year, haha.
What a great interview. Your words about aging remind me of those images of sand under a microscope. Have you ever seen them? Colorful and jagged. A million different shapes. Like hidden treasure. More beautiful up close. ☮️
Interesting and thought provoking. I did my 1984 doctoral dissertation on Erik Erikson's personality theory last stage (of 8) in life. The last Erikson stage called "Ego Integrity vs. Depair" was expanded to include 4 types descriptive of late life personality development, which is the focus of your post here. Your references to earlier phases or stages in life is also consistent with the Erikson theory of personality development. Good luck with your journey as a writer and as a person!
very true, that's been my experience too. I haven't read that oldster interview yet but will do soon. And thanks for the great quotes 🙏 💕
To the list of "most people lead lives of..." I would like to add self-deception, self-denial, self-betrayal, self-sacrifice... perhaps not all at once at the same time
“But creating art is an exercise in opening the self, and one of the big benefits of aging is realizing why not? Why not write about the things we’ve tended to hide? Why not unearth supposedly shameful experiences and let them breathe in the world?” Love this! I write about growing up with parental mental illness. At age 50, I find myself brave enough to break my silence and find my voice to tell my childhood stories.
I love this! "At age 50, I find myself brave enough to break my silence and find my voice to tell my childhood stories." Keep telling those stories ...
Excellent article. Two comments:
I worked for over 30 years at Synectics, a leading consultant in creativity and innovation, as a senior partner. One of the founders, George Prince, as he aged began experimenting with creativity for oldsters. He found that the main issue was they had lost the ability to "image" and that it was a relatively easy skill to reawaken. I know he designed some workshops around that but I'm afraid they were lost when he passed.
Besides writing I have a trick to deal with aging. After sixty I started adding a year to my age. SO when I turned 65 I considered I was in my 66th year, and when asked said I was 66. But I knew it wasn't true. Then. When I turned 66, it was duh! I've been saying that for a year : )
Oh, thanks for the tip re: Synectics and creativity for oldsters. I just found three books on the subject, so I'm very interested in learning more. And ... I like that mental trip, of "buying" a year, haha.
What a great interview. Your words about aging remind me of those images of sand under a microscope. Have you ever seen them? Colorful and jagged. A million different shapes. Like hidden treasure. More beautiful up close. ☮️
Thanks, Mamie! I haven’t seen the images of sand under a microscope. I’m curious, so I’ll do a search…
They’re kind of magical.
Interesting and thought provoking. I did my 1984 doctoral dissertation on Erik Erikson's personality theory last stage (of 8) in life. The last Erikson stage called "Ego Integrity vs. Depair" was expanded to include 4 types descriptive of late life personality development, which is the focus of your post here. Your references to earlier phases or stages in life is also consistent with the Erikson theory of personality development. Good luck with your journey as a writer and as a person!
Oh, wow, thanks for this, David! I’m collecting resources on aging and creativity, so I’ll check out Erickson. Age well. Write well. Be well…
very true, that's been my experience too. I haven't read that oldster interview yet but will do soon. And thanks for the great quotes 🙏 💕
To the list of "most people lead lives of..." I would like to add self-deception, self-denial, self-betrayal, self-sacrifice... perhaps not all at once at the same time
Thanks, Veronika! And ... you're right about those extras to add to the list.
Great post Grant
I read your interview. I had the opportunity- such a great life review.
Thank you for sharing so much of yourself. I enjoy reading your posts!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Prajna!
I really appreciated this essay, thanks, Grant.
Thanks! This was great to read a day before my 62nd birthday. Wow! Did I just say that out loud?!
Happy birthday, Dan!
Thanks Grant!
These are large, vague questions. The only problem with large, vague questions is they lead to large, vague answers : )
Haha, you can fill them in with your specifics!