A short reflection on reading Dr Angela Robertson’s book ‘Changing Gears: Entrepreneurs @ 50+’ I think that some of my friends know that I am preoccupied at the moment in a piece of writing relating to our spiritual lives post retirement. It has happily emerged out of a number of conversations where colleagues and […]
Reading Such a Long Journey : A biography of Gilbert Shaw, Priest
Posted on by James Woodward
I believe that I may have had at least two copies of this book written by Rod Hacking ( now a neighbour in Salisbury but then an incumbent in rural Ely) and published by Mowbray in 1988. What happened to them I know not – beware of lending books out – they have a habit […]
Re-reading – Transitions and the Life-course :Challenging the Constructions of ‘Growing Old’ by Amanda Grenier
Posted on by James Woodward
Transitions and the Lifecourse Challenging the Constructions of ‘Growing Old’ Amanda Greener 256 pages, pbk £26.99, Policy Press 2012, ISBN 978 1 84742 691 8. I have been glad to revisit this book that explores the way we narrate age. It has helped me ( again ) to think about how we frame age. […]
Does Belief change in Old Age?
Posted on by James Woodward
On re-reading – Belief and Ageing :Spiritual pathways in later life Peter G. Coleman (Editor) Paperback, 192 pages Policy Press Bristol 2011 I agreed to offering a session at this years Sarum Centre for Formation in Ministry on what the Bible might show us about flourishing in older age. I grabbed a few books […]
Seeing beyond the immediate: listening and learning alongside older people
Posted on by James Woodward
From 1998 through to 2009, I had the privilege of working with many hundreds of older people in an Almshouse charity. We lived together in rather splendid seventeenth-century buildings which were surprisingly adaptable for modern use. It was an intentional community with a Church, primary school and a community of older adults living together. I […]
Resourcing Ministry with Older Adults : BRF and Sarum College
Posted on by James Woodward
If I have time on a Sunday morning it is (usually) good to catch up with the religious news of the week with the Sunday Programme. This was followed by a superb act of morning worship that marked the music of William Byrd on the 400th anniversary of his death. Just as I moved towards […]
Visiting the Memory Café ; Embracing better Dementia Care
Posted on by James Woodward
Visiting the Memory Café and other Dementia Care Activities Evidence-based Interventions for Care Homes Edited by Caroline Baker and Jason Corrigan-Charlesworth. Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2017, ISBN: 9781785922527 £16.99 They can be few families who are not affected by an individual who is engaging with some degree of significant memory loss. For some the prospect of […]
Posted on by James Woodward
Confused Angry Anxious? Why working with older people in care can be really difficult and what to do about it Bo Hejlskov Elven, Charlotte Agger and Iben Ljungmann Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2017 192pp ISBN: 9781785922152 Positive Communication Activities to reduce isolation and improve the well-being of older adults Robin Dynes Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2017 200pp […]
The Age of Potential
Posted on by James Woodward
An address given to the pupils and Staff of Bishop Wordsworth School Salisbury Cathedral Shrove Tuesday 28th February 2017 I wonder what your perfect age is? What number would be your choice? Perhaps that number – your ideal age – uniquely individual as it will be reflects something of your relationship to time, your priorities […]
Jim Birren
Posted on by James Woodward
REMEMBERING JIM BIRREN One of the towering figures in gerontology has died : James E. Birren, founding Director of the Andrus Gerontology Center, at the University of Southern California, died at the age of 97. His achievements were extraordinary Foremost among these, is creation of the Andrus Gerontology Center at USC, as well as the Leonard […]
The Quest for meaning in later life
Posted on by James Woodward
P. G. Coleman, D. Koleva and J. Bornat, eds., Ageing, Ritual and Social Change: Comparing the Secular and Religious in Eastern and Western Europe. Farnham and Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2013. Pp. xviii, 283. Pb. £19.99. ISBN 978-1-4094-5215-7. This volume is a compelling and authoritative contribution to the literature that seeks to understand our quest […]
CONFUCIUS AT SEVENTY
Posted on by James Woodward
“At fifteen I was committed to learning. At thirty I took my rightful position. At forty, I was no longer totally perplexed. At fifty, I began to understand the unfolding of my true nature. At sixty, I was in harmony with contradictions and ambivalence. A seventy, at long last, I may follow my heart’s […]
Looking your Age??
Posted on by James Woodward
DO YOU LOOK YOUR AGE? Last month my wife and I were on a Road Scholar trip in Europe and we were having dinner with a Japanese woman. We got to talking about age and she asked how old I was. “Seventy” I replied, thinking of Gloria Steinem’s apt phrase, “This is how 70 […]
What is Age?
Posted on by James Woodward
“Age puzzles me. I thought it was a quiet time. My seventies were interesting and fairly serene, but my eighties are passionate. I grow more intense as I age… We who are old know that age is more than a disability. It is an intense and varied experience, almost beyond our capacity at […]
Seeing beyond the immediate: listening and learning alongside older people
Posted on by James Woodward
From 1998 through to 2009, I had the privilege of working with many hundreds of older people in an Almshouse charity. We lived together in rather splendid seventeenth-century buildings which were surprisingly adaptable for modern use. I remember meeting one frail older woman on her admission for care into our community. This move was for […]
PABLO CASALS ON AGEING
Posted on by James Woodward
On my last birthday I was ninety-three years old. That is not young, of course. In fact, it is older than ninety. But age is a relative matter. If you continue to work and to absorb the beauty in the world about you, you find that age does not necessarily mean getting old. At […]
Understanding Age? Face the Future….
Posted on by James Woodward
It has been a great pleasure to offer a Forward to this stimulating contribution the literature on old age by the delightful William Cutting Foreword – (Face the Future. Book 2. Challenges, Joy and Faith for Seniors) Like many of you reading this book I am thankful for my satellite navigation system. It is […]
you will greet yourself…..
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LOVE AFTER LOVE The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your […]
THE ASTONISHMENT OF AGE – learning from Jung
Posted on by James Woodward
When my friend’s mother developed dementia, he was discouraged that each day she seemed to be losing so much. Then he remembered a saying from Taoism: In the way of learning, each day we gain more and more. In the way of the Tao, each day we have less and less. So often […]
Memories
Posted on by James Woodward
We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life. Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain. Yet if we are bold, love strikes […]