The Story behind creative ageing
Alan Heeks writes “I believe that shipwreck and re-invention are the healthy essence of the middle-life crisis, and I did mine pretty thoroughly. Two weeks before my fiftieth birthday, I moved out of my 27-year old marriage, leaving the family home and my two daughters. The following year brought depression, a cancer scare, and the loss of my main consulting client. It took me several years of turmoil to find myself again, but I had some rich adventures on the way, including blind dating, learning to cook, tantra groups and a lot of solo time in my wood. Now, as I approach 70, I believe that creative ageing is a wonderful adventure, but calls on us to learn some tough lessons and make a lot of conscious choices. I have learned hugely from my own experience and from many other people’s and I have enjoyed sharing that in my books and workshops on creative ageing.”
NEW BOOK!
Not Fade Away: Staying Happy When You’re Over 64! Is for women and men age 60 plus, due for publication May 1, 2018.
The late sixties and beyond are a landmark: a good time to choose what you want from the years ahead, and take stock of the story so far. This short, practical book offers you valuable guidance, new skills, and resources to help you to be happy in your vintage years and grow through the tough bits.
OUT OF THE WOODS
This is a guide for the maturing man. It gathers the best wisdom and experience on enjoying these years to the full, and on the skills you need to handle the losses and shipwrecks, and crises – and find your way out of the woods.
Out of the Woods, published 2013, is focussed on men beyond 50, but is useful for both sexes.
Alan's new book 'Not Fade Away'
Explaining the key parts of 'Not Fade Away' and how it can enable you to enjoy your vintage years
Resources
These are some of the specific tools and processes which Alan has created as part of creative ageing.
- Love Me Do: reinventing partnership in later years
Love can still be wonderful in our later years, but we have to let go of some baggage first – like all the simplistic ideals from the pop songs of our youth. We can’t expect our partner to look like a twenty-something film star, and we’re unlikely to find instant sexual fireworks (remember the song Wild Thing?).
- Resource Toolkit: Change the Story
If you’re setting an intention for positive change, changing the story is an important part of shifting you or someone else out of a habitual response.
- Timeline Insights
If turning seventy is a kind of watershed, looking back over your life and seeking the meaning is a helpful step.
To see the full list of Creative Ageing Resources,
Natural Happiness Blog
Seeing life differently
Raise your spirits by changing your view Can I invite you to take a couple of minutes, and ask what gives you your sense of reality? Maybe your physical surroundings, other people, and news media and social media. But remember that most of us seek out others who share...
Losing control – the nomad way of living
A different approach to future happiness One of my big life-changing experiences was co-leading a dozen retreats in the Tunisian Sahara with Bedouin guides. They had grown up as true nomads, moving around the desert with their camels and goats, but now living mostly...
Book blog: The Mountain in the Sea, by Ray Nayler
Communication insights from an octopus If you’d like to appreciate the upsides of present times through a book about a dysfunctional future, this novel could suit you: but that’s only half its story. Without being at all didactic, Ray Nayler draws us into a deep...