the juicy years

Growing old gracefully ...disgracefully ... outrageously ...or whatever other term that's been used to embrace ageing in the last few years, has now been replaced with a more optimistic term "Positive Ageing" - the principles of the Positive Psychology movement. Our ability to have a more positive experience, compared with peers who are perpetuating the old paradigm (that ageing is fraught with misery), has a lot to do with our attitude, personal qualities and flexibility. Cultivating flexibility I think is a key indicator of how we reframe our lives in these years. It requires us to feel and think differently, to counter any maladaptive patterns by engaging in life-enhancing practices. Some of these are altruistic, others may be practising gratitude, and appreciating what you have to offer to the world. Go on now, write a list of your qualities, skills and resources! And think about how some of these could be used creatively to enhance your life or the li...

Alone versus Lonely has come to my attention lately w hen I read that more women are living alone today than at any other time in herstory.  Given that therapists in the USA are a little concerned about the emotional health of these millions of women, it piqued my interest.  On googling this topic it seems there are many variables when it comes to how people feel about living alone.  As I'm a passionate informal researcher (post Social Ecology academia) of our 3rd chapter, I will continue to gather stories, and the next 20 years will no doubt attract much interest from other social researchers. To give you a glimpse of the growing singledom status, let's look at the USA for example.  1/4 of adult American women have never married Divorce has tripled since the 1950's Nearly 12 million women are widows 51% of women live without spouses The number of single person households and life alone has been gathering public health attention especially in re...